Just a message on Facebook asking me to give him a call when I had the chance.
“I had a call from the promoter who did the Todd La Torre-fronted Queensryche show back in March here in Toronto a few weeks before it went down. He offers a very recent example of what he’s had to deal with since Slik Toxik packed it in almost 20 years ago. Something that’s going to take a while to catch on, particularly at home from Walsh’s first-hand experience. I don’t mind saying I’m the guy from Slik Toxik but I don’t want that to be a focus for people. Now I see stuff saying ‘Featuring Nick Walsh of Slik Toxik, who gave us that great sleaze rock album Doin’ The Nasty!’ I’m like, ‘Really?’ (laughs). “It’s like ‘What happened to the 20 years in between? Why weren’t you people using it then?’ (laughs).
“The label is actually utilizing the Slik Toxik name as a positive thing, which is odd for me,” Walsh admits. A record deal with German label Dust On The Tracks, a new self-titled debut in stores, Famous Underground is now more than just a cool idea and Walsh is on his way out from under Slik Toxik’s shadow after almost two decades. Walsh held a singer’s course, however, and pursued various projects before forming Revolver with bassist Laurie-Ann Green, a band that enjoyed middling success but never hitting that Slik Toxik high.Ī name change in the fall of 2011 to Famous Underground came with a new focus, however, and the pieces of their long-unfinished puzzle began to fall into place. Slik Toxik died a quiet death in ’94 after releasing their second album, Irrelevant, and the band members went their separate ways. Songs like ‘Helluvatime’ and ‘White Lies, Black Truth’ from their Doin’ The Nasty record were MuchMusic staples through ’92 / ’93, and Walsh was the kid with a huge voice that overshadowed / excused his pin-up status depending on your sexual persuasion. For those that find themselves here thanks to the buzz created by former ST frontman Nick Walsh’s new band, Famous Underground, all you need to know is that before grunge showed up to ruin the party in the ’90s they were a big deal at home, with a smaller contact buzz in the United States. If you’re a Canadian that lived through big-haired rock/metal scene in the the late ’80s and early ’90s, you don’t need the history lesson that comes with the name Slik Toxik. Continue reading SLIK TOXIK – Irrelevant (20 Something Anniversary Re-Issue) Posted on OctoOctoAuthor carl Categories Reviews Tags Doin' The Nasty, Irrelevant, Perris Records, Slik Toxik, Twentysomething, White Lies / Black Truth BW&BK Interview: FAMOUS UNDERGROUND – Cracking The Surface Less surprising was the drive towards Alice In Chains territory with ‘Dive’ and ‘Drained’ given the times, the latter being the weakest song on Irrelevant. The bigger shock, however, turned out to be tracks like the introspective ballad ‘Liquid Calm’, the smokey bar blues of ‘Blue Monday’, and the acoustic led south bent ‘Mother Machine’. On the one hand Slik Toxik went from being cock rock to a nailgun-carrying metal band, quite unexpectedly bashing people over the head with ‘Twentysomething’, ‘I Wanna Gun’, ‘Kill The Pain’, ‘Fashioned After None’ and ‘Just Fade Away’. Looking back on said review in the wake of Perris Records opting to release a 20th Anniversary edition of the record, two things are readily apparent: I knew what I was talking about even as a wide-eyed newbie to the music biz, and Slik Toxik were way ahead of their time.Īnd thanks to the internet age I’m not restricted to a tiny column in trying to explain why Irrelevant works, units sold in the past be damned.Īs stated in my original review (photo below), Irrelevant was a diverse platter that deftly avoided being a scene-sucking travesty with regards to their roots (that’s what I tried to say, at any rate). Irrelevant failed to make the same impact its predecessor had, and ultimately turned out to be Slik Toxik’s swansong. It was a darker and dirtier record compared to their official debut, Doin’ The Nasty, written and released at a time when hair metal / cock rock bands were well into taking a beating from the grunge scene takeover.
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Twenty years ago I wrote a review for Slik Toxik’s second full length album, Irrelevant.
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