Toxic Holocaust return 6 years after “Chemistry Of Consciousness” with a brand new album titled “Primal Future: 2019“, a viscious slab of trademark thrash metal with jolts of punk injection. The mastermind behind the whole operation, Joel Grind has once again given fans some more of that old school goodness but this time he adds a few minor changes just to keep things fresh and lively, we talk to Joel ahead of an upcoming tour across the US to find out what he’s been up to over the last 6 years as well as how the new album came together.
Andrew: So how have you been? Obviously getting ready for the new album to be released?
Joel: Yeah man gearing up for a tour also so been pretty busy lately, it’s been good.
Andrew: Yeah seems a lot happening in the band at the moment. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you guys actually so I know you’ve been busy during that time so it’s exciting to see some new music from Toxic Holocaust.
Joel: Yeah it’s been a long time coming man, it’s good to get some stuff out there.
Andrew: Tell us a little about these new songs. I’ve been having it on my playlist non-stop ever since I had the preview of the album, it sounds fantastic, I absolutely love it!
Joel: That’s awesome, thank you I really appreciate that. Yeah I kind of wanted to do something a little different from the last record, kind of expand on that but not something so drastically different that it was left field for Toxic Holocaust. Still sounds like a Toxic Holocaust record but I just didn’t want to do what was on the last one basically.
Andrew: Sure and I guess there’s a bit of a theme behind some of these songs, a sort of cyberpunk, dystopian technological kind of future. What was the inspiration behind that?
Joel: Just a lot of those 80’s sci-fi movies and post apocalyptic movies, a lot of the Italian stuff like Texas Gladiators and After The Fall Of New York and stuff like that. Just really kind of low budget, kind of cool post apocalyptic movies from the 80’s, just kind of got the wheels turning when I was watching some of those and kind of wanted to do something similar to that.
Andrew: OK cool it fits the music really well. The first time around listening, the thing that I took away from it, and I guess you’ve always had a bit of a strong punk rock in your sound anyway but it seems like you were leaning even more towards that sort of sound on this album.
Joel: Yeah man I think it always comes out unintentionally really, just kind of my roots. I think it’s what sets Toxic apart a little bit from a lot of the other thrash bands is just the way I incorporate that, it’s just kind of my own thing I think. It’s definitely punk influenced for sure.
Andrew: Yeah and even on the vocals, your vocals sound a bit different, especially compared to the last album. Was that sort of an intentional thing as well?
Joel: Yeah I just kind of think this kind of vocal style fit the music more a little bit on this. I went in there kind of trying to do “my normal sounding vocals” that I normally do and it just wasn’t really fitting, it didn’t sound the same to me. It didn’t sound like it was the right backdrop for those kind of vocals so I kind of went in there and did this and I’m happy with the way it turned out. It’s sometimes good to challenge yourself and do something a little different.
Andrew: It says in the press release that you pretty much did everything yourself on this one, what was the reason behind that? Was it basically that you wanted to return to how you first started with this band?
Joel: Yeah it all kind of tied in together, being the 20 year anniversary I was kind of like, ‘It would be cool to kind of go back to the roots’. So basically in 2013 I did a solo record and ever since then people have non-stop been hitting me up saying I should make a Toxic record like that, so that was in my mind. Also switching record labels I also self funded this album, I wasn’t on a label at the time I did this record so that was a factor too, I could do it at home. So there was a lot of factors involved in having it come back to the roots basically.
Andrew: Was it a long process coming up with ideas for the songs? Because I mean it has been 6 years since the last record, so what was the reason for the long absence between the two albums?
Joel: So basically I had a lot of songs written during that time period, a lot happened in between those two records. I started a business which basically I record and mix bands so that’s one of those issues where it’s really hard to turn down clients when you’re starting out a business and it was one of those things where I was so busy doing that, that I was having a tough time saying no and turning things down. So I wasn’t getting any time for personal stuff, it’s like the last thing you want to do when you mix a record that day of another band is go and then work on your own stuff and do the exact same thing you just did all day! So there’s those issues and I moved and bought a house and just life stuff, all kinds of shit like that. Looking for a record label too was another kind of ordeal, it took a while to track down a label to release this too so it was a whole bunch of stuff that happened, kind of a perfect storm scenario so that’s why it took so long.
Andrew: Working with all these bands as well, did any of that have an influence on the music writing process at all?
Joel: I think it really lended to getting more experience like doing something on my own. When I did the first record there was a lot of fly by the seat of the pants type thing, didn’t know what I was doing which there’s a charm to that as well but filtering that through 20 years of learning and getting experience and stuff really helped to do this one. So I think that helped a lot working with other bands and coming up with a work flow method to recording records too helped which a lot factors in.
Andrew: So you mentioned 20 years since you first started all this, looking back on that now and this record and how it plays it’s part on the whole career, how do you view how you have come so far musically speaking? Do you feel that this is maybe some of your best work you have done so far?
Joel: I’m really happy with it, I kind of refrain from saying this is my favorite record because I think any musician that does a new one probably will think it’s their best one because of the fact that you were in that headspace when you wrote the record so you kind of automatically think that’s the best. But I’m really happy with the way it turned out, we’ve only dropped one song so far and the response has been really good. Like you said there are some differences with the vocals and stuff, you know how metal fans are sometimes [laughs], sometimes they’re not open minded to change and stuff so that was a pleasant surprise to see that people were pretty stoked on the new stuff. Basically as a musician you basically just do it and then see what the world thinks, you can’t really be thinking about, ‘Will people like this or not’ because that will just screw you up! You want to do it for the right reasons then, but the response has been good. I’m happy with it, seems like the fans are happy with it so I guess we will see how the response is to the rest of the record.
READ THE REVIEW OF PRIMAL FUTURE: 2019
Andrew: It still sounds like Toxic Holocaust to me and for anyone that’s familiar with all your stuff, I mean even though there are subtle changes here and there it’s got all the signature trademarks. I guess when you take these songs out on the road, you’ll be looking to play more than just the one new song from the record?
Joel: We’re probably going to do two new songs and then the rest is going to be like older stuff. I kind of refrain from doing the whole new album live because I’ve seen some bands where they do that and it’s usually a bum out, most fans are going to see maybe some new songs off the record but most fans want to see the old stuff. That’s what got you there to begin with so I like to incorporate some new stuff and then basically put a lot of old stuff still in the set.
Andrew: With a new album I guess the task is coming up with a setlist to please all those fans, is that getting more difficult with each new album?
Joel: Yeah it’s funny, we have so many songs and especially the older songs they were so short we could fill a set with 20-30 songs no problem! But the new stuff is a little longer so incorporating that is a little more challenging because it means we’re probably cutting two songs out, so we just want to make sure we’re cutting the right stuff and incorporating the right new stuff. That’s the challenge really, doing something that will make us still have fun because it gets old playing the same songs over and over so it’s nice incorporating some new stuff but we also don’t want to bum out the fans either.
Andrew: Speaking of the live aspect, I always felt that you guys definitely have a very lively feel in your song writing as well, do you ever think about when you are writing songs how they would actually translate to the live stage?
Joel: Sometimes and that’s something I didn’t really think about in the early days and after playing live for so long, there are parts where I’m like, ‘This would be really cool if we…”. Usually a lot of stuff I’d shorten this part up or whatever but now I’m like, ‘This would be cool if we let this part breathe a little bit because live it would be really enjoyable to have a part like this’. Things like that do come in my mind now sometimes when I’m writing but it’s something that again comes with experience, it’s not something that when I first started out I thought about.
Andrew: There must have been some moments I guess where you found some songs didn’t really work that well live, I guess the only way you can find that out is play it and gauge the crowd reaction I suppose.
Joel: Yeah the unfortunate part is we can’t all be like Metallica where they are able to jam, they have a jam room when they tour so they can jam songs that they haven’t played in 20 years and then go test it out live and if it works, they incorporate it in the set. Unfortunately for bands on our level we jam a set and hopefully it works out well because that’s the one we jam [laughs]. So it’s hard to mix it up a little bit but yeah, it’s basically trial and error and see. I try and read the audience and I can see parts that go over well better than others and I keep that in my head.
Andrew: So you are taking these songs out on the road very soon with some great bands including Gwar and Sacred Reich and Against The Grain, speaking from Australia we saw you guys about 4 or 5 years ago and it was fantastic seeing you guys down here. Are we looking to see you guys down here at some point in the future?
Joel: I would absolutely love to come back down there. I don’t really have a contact for going down there yet but I would love to come back down, I love playing there so absolutely it’s definitely on the radar, I’ve been happily looking for someone to bring us down. It’s a definite maybe I guess you could say [laughs], but it’s not for us not trying because we definitely want to.
Andrew: I know you’re doing some dates with Municipal Waste I think in Europe?
Joel: Yeah that’s Europe, we’re going over there for three weeks with them and that’s going to be really cool doing the UK and Germany and stuff like that so it will be killer.
Andrew: You guys seem to be the perfect fit and the reason I ask is speaking of touring down here, there’s been a number of people that I know that are fans that would love to see those two bands here in Australia and I think someone needs to make that happen!
Joel: Let’s make that happen, that would be amazing! That would be the ultimate tour for Australia and stuff, that would be really killer.
Andrew: Well I better let you go but congratulations on the new album, it sounds absolutely killer and I love it and it will probably be in our top ten by the end of the year I reckon.
Joel: Oh man thank you!
Andrew: Thanks again for your time, really appreciate it and I hope we get to see you down here at some point!
Joel: Yeah let’s hope man! I appreciate it, thank you very much.
TOXIC HOLOCAUST TOUR DATES
w/ Gwar, Sacred Reich, Against The Grain:
9/16/2019 The Intersection – Grand Rapids, MI
9/18/2019 The Majestic – Detroit, MI
9/19/2019 Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
9/20/2019 The Mill & Mine – Knoxville, TN
9/21/2019 The Tarheel – Jacksonville, NC
9/22/2019 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
9/23/2019 Vinyl Music Hall – Pensacola, FL
9/24/2019 The Ritz Ybor – Tampa, FL
9/25/2019 Revolution Live – Fort Lauderdale, FL
9/28/2019 The Cone Denim Entertainment Center – Greensboro, NC
9/29/2019 Rams Head Live! – Baltimore, MD
9/30/2019 Opera House – Toronto, ON
10/01/2019 Town Ballroom – Buffalo, NY
10/02/2019 Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
10/04/2019 Franklin Music Hall – Philadelphia, PA
10/05/2019 Upstate Concert Hall – Clifton Park, NY
10/06/2019 Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
10/08/2019 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
10/09/2019 Wooly’s – Des Moines, IA
10/10/2019 Slowdown – Omaha, NE
10/11/2019 Skyway Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
10/12/2019 CrossroadsKC – Kansas City, MO
10/13/2019 Summit – Denver, CO
10/15/2019 The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT
10/16/2019 Virginia Street Brewhouse – Reno, NV
10/17/2019 The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
10/18/2019 Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
10/19/2019 Knitting Factory Concert House – Boise, ID
10/20/2019 Knitting Factory Concert House – Spokane, WA
10/21/2019 Showbox SODO – Seattle, WA
10/23/2019 Tioga-Sequoia Brewery – Fresno, CA
10/24/2019 The Belasco Theater – Los Angeles, CA
10/25/2019 Garden Amp – Garden Grove, CA
10/26/2019 Fremont Country Club – Las Vegas, NV
10/27/2019 The Marquee – Tempe, AZ
10/28/2019 Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
10/30/2019 Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
10/31/2019 Gas Monkey Live! – Dallas, TX
11/01/2019 Empire Garage – Austin, TX
11/02/2019 Warehouse Live Ballroom – Houston, TX
11/03/2019 Joy Theater – New Orleans, LA
11/04/2019 Exit/In – Nashville, TN
11/05/2019 The Vogue – Indianapolis, IN
