Toxic Reasons - Biography

Toxic Reasons were a prolific band that went through many changes in both personel and musical direction over the years. The core group consisted of Bruce Stuckley (lead guitar/vocals), Bertram "Tufty" Clough (bass/vocals), Jimmy Joe "JJ" Pearson (drums/vocals), and Rob Lucjak (guitar/vocals). None of the latter three were present when Stuckley started the band in Dayton, Ohio - 1979. At that point he was playing bass, Joel Agne was on guitar, Mike Patteson played drums, and Ed Pittman was the lead singer. This line-up only stuck around long enough to record a two-song single, 1980's War Hero 7". After a second 7" recorded with East Bay Ray, Toxic Reasons began work on their first full-length LP: Independence. They recorded with the Zero Boys' Paul Mahern in Indianapolis. By this time Joel had left the band, Bruce took over his lead guitar parts, Rob Lucjak joined on guitar, Rob Stout joined on bass, and JJ replaced Mike. Part way into the LP sessions, the struggling band decided to hire a manager, Terry Hammer. Unhappy with Stout's bass work on Independence, Hammer fired him and had Lucjak redo all Stout's bass tracks. Eventually, the album was finished with Rob, JJ, Bruce, and Ed being the only musicians to play on it. The 1982 LP is a hardcore classic- mixing the gruff UK82 punk sound with early USHC and melodic Canadian hardcore.

The Zero Boys, with who Toxic Reasons stayed during the recording, were in the process of breaking up. They recruited Zero Boys' bassist Tufty to go on tour and relocate to San Fransisco, a more happening punk rock city than Dayton. Ed Pittman quit after Independence and the band continued without him in what would become their most stable line-up. Losing their lead singer and the guitar player who had given their first LP its melodic drive, Toxic Reasons was bound to change. The new incarnation found all four members sharing lead vocals, and the albums after Independence were remarkably diverse. During this time band created a logo showing the US, Canadian, and British flags joined together. The symbol represented their tri-national roots (JJ from Canada, Tufty from England, and Bruce and Rob from the US) but also came to symbolize the diversity of their sound, which mixed fast US hardcore with melodic Canadian guitar lines and British influences like reggae-punk and more mid-tempo anthems. The latter influence dominated 1985's remarkable Within These Walls LP, while '84's Kill By Remote Control and '86's Bullets for You still retained a hardcore element among other aspects. By Bullets..., Rob had left and was replaced by Terry Howe. Since then, Toxic Reasons have continued on and off to this day. There have been countless other releases including bootlegs, reissues, videos, and new material by the band. Many post-"Independence" records came out on their own label, T-Reason, and some were distributed in the UK by Alternative Tentacles and Rough Trade. The group has recently released a CD-ROM with new music and a interactive presentation on their history. For those without computers, the Kill By Remote Control-era line-up was captured in a 1986 concert for Target Video.

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