-
Tosspints: Committed to a High-Energy Show
[+ Show ]
Photos © Tyler D. Griffis Photography, 2009
Article by Jeremy Benson
On Halloween night, the cro...Photos © Tyler D. Griffis Photography, 2009
Article by Jeremy Benson
On Halloween night, the crowd at White's Bar could tell by mere looks that the Tosspints meant business: literally in the case of guitarist Don Zuzula, who dressed as a white collar Viking, while John Johnson kept the drum set holy enough in his nun's habit, and Zak Zuzula, bassist, received plenty of handshakes and nostalgic stares for his vintage Ghostbuster proton pack. The band opened its performance with a sustained chord and a shout to the crowd—a cymbal crashed, and they were off!, barreling into their 45-minute set with all the kinetic energy Newton's laws of motion allow for a three-piece Celtic punk rock band. From there, the momentum only amplified. "We use our music like a hammer," says Don. "You don’t have time to stop to take a breath."
The escalating energy of a Tosspints show mimics the band's overall trajectory, from their beginnings as a standard bar band playing covers for beers, to the present, as they prepare their first full-length—and completely original—studio release, 11 Empty Bottles.
The trio, composed of brothers Don and Zak Zuzula and family friend John Johnson, have a wealth of experience, having previously played in punk bands together, as well as in outside projects. Don got his start entertaining in coffee shops before playing bass and guitar in a variety of punk bands. John, a food supply distributor by day and disc jockey by night, plays in local potty-punk band Beer Softened Stool with his son Tyler, and regularly lends his 41 years of precision timekeeping to jazz outfits. While Zak, in addition to teaching and adjusting to recently-attained fatherhood, has played bass for metal and punk bands, including Untamed Addiction, and once accompanied a country ensemble, which he calls "the worst few months of [his] life."
They formed the Tosspints in 2007 when Don returned to Michigan after five years of military assignment in Texas. There, along San Antonio's Riverwalk, Don frequented Waxy O'Connors pub, where guitarist Joe Walmsley entertained guests with Irish pastorals and Scottish pub tunes. Don, whom bandmates say can teach himself to play a new instrument in an hour, quickly learned the songs, and Walmsley invited him to strum along. "I ended up being his back-up act when he couldn’t make it to work." It was his first chance performing Celtic folk, although his interest in the genre first piqued in the 90s, when he saw Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys at Warped Tour. From there he sought out more traditional Irish music, which supplemented an early familial crash course in folk music—the Zuzulas' Scottish grandmother played accordion. "It was something I listened to before and I knew. I got an opportunity to do it live, and it was more fun than anything I've ever done." He recalls phoning Zak and John from Texas: "I called them, and I said, 'I'm really liking what I'm doing right now, and I want to keep doing this when I come back.'"
Went Back to What They Already Knew
Their first attempt as an acoustic Irish threesome fell more than a little flat. "It turns out I'm a terrible acoustic musician," Don admits. "We were going to have two guitarists and a percussionist, but [Zak] can't play guitar at all." He adds that John had trouble getting comfortable with the right drum kit. "He couldn't play that thing worth a damn … so we just went back to what we already knew." Don plugged in his guitar, Zak returned to the electric bass, and John assembled a street punk drum set. They started playing the pub-punk style of Ireland's original bad boys, Shane Mcgowan and the Pogues—"Tosspint" is the name of a Pogues' song—dropping "the flutes and lutes" known to accompany standard Celtic music and adding their own sense of American rebellion. "You have to find where you belong," says Don, "and that's what happened with this." They had found their groove.
In the last year, however, two events further solidified the group's identity and catalyzed major philosophical changes in how the band writes and performs. During a shared show with the Goddamn Gallows in Lansing last winter, the Tosspints sat slack-jawed at the Gallows's polished and energized performance: "They just played," says Don. "They had a set list, and they just played for 45 minutes." The band talked little and allowed limited downtime between songs—if a guitar had to be tuned, there was still music playing. "We went home and said, 'That's what we have to do … If you want [respect], you have to earn it, and we can earn it like that.'"
A Gogol Bordello show in June 2009 left a similar impression on the Tosspints, who wrote on their Myspace Music page, "Yesterday I witnessed a musical act that helped me transcend onto a higher level of consciousness." Gogol Bordello, a 9-piece gypsy-rock performance band hailing primarily from Eastern Europe, played for a continuous hour and a half, followed by a 45-minute encore. The entire concert flowed together, with individual songs coexisting as a single cinematic musical experience. While others around him danced and sang along, Don stood silent, tunnel-visioned to his epiphany while absorbing the theatrics on stage: "Watching someone in a similar genre do this, it was just shock-and-awe. I was elated." Soon afterward, the Tosspints revamped their stage presence, restructuring their set list and committing themselves to give their audience a high-energy show.
Committed to a High-Energy Show
Don says that's also when they began concentrating on writing. "We had a couple songs of our own, but that's when we phased out all the traditional stuff … We're going to do our own material, and we're going to chain it in a way that it all flows together." The Tosspints are now putting the finishing touches on 11 Empty Bottles, their first full-length album, containing 14 original songs recorded at Detroit music man John Reece's studio. The band wrote the album collectively, in its unique writing style: one member writes lyrics and suggests chords for a song, then passes this to another member, who interprets the music for himself. Decisions are made at rehearsals, when they bring together their individual interpretations and figure out what fits the song. Though not every song made the cut for the record, Don says he personally writes about "15 songs for every one song that makes it into the band. We all have this ratio. I crank out a lot of songs. So does Zak. But a lot of them don’t fit." The album will be released December 4 and 5 at back-to-back twin shows—the official release party on Friday at the Hamilton Street Pub in Saginaw, and a Saturday night street punk revue at Bemo's in Bay City, both with special guests the Waxies and the Hexbombs.
These are two events among many upcoming gigs for the Tosspints, who like to perform beyond the Tri-Cities as much as they like playing to audiences at White's Bar or the Hamilton Street Pub. Fans won't find them playing in Saginaw every night, or even weekly, as they prefer their act to remain fresh for local fans—when they book a local show, they like to bring in bands from out of town, so fans and bands alike will gain broader exposure. However, they can be found at Firkin and Fox in Burton on the first Thursday of every month, usually playing out their three-hour set of both traditional and original songs. More information on upcoming shows can be found on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/thetosspints, where you can also hear music from their demo tape and 7-song EP Blood, Sweat, and Beards—both available, with other merchandise, at any Tosspints appearance.
© Jeremy Benson, 2009
-
The TossPints The Vomiting Skull and Illuminated Manuscripts
[+ Show ]
It’s an understatement to say that the Tosspints are an unusual trio of musicians. First off two of ...It’s an understatement to say that the Tosspints are an unusual trio of musicians. First off two of ‘em are brothers – Don and Zak Zuzula of the tribal Zuzulas – and the drummer John - you doesn’t have to call me Johnny – Johnson is dating their mom. What happens to the band if John and mom break up – do they lose their Johnson? Secondly, what is Celtic Music, anyway? The Celts as an identifiable race are long gone…ya know any? Hell No - so Celtic music is one of those loose terms that cover a whole swathe of musical traditions from the Scottish-inspired music of Donnegal to the folkish lyricism of Clare. In essence, Celtic music covers traditional music of Celtic countries – Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany (in France), Galicia (in Spain) and areas that have been influenced by these folk/world traditions such as the United States and Canada. Ultimately it’s a moot tosspoint – doesn’t really matter - ‘cos they play a hybrid of the genre called Celtic Punk that eschews the prettier aspect of Celtic Music – the flutes and Lutes and violins - and rocks yer knickers like a “truck that kicks ass”. It’s a major commitment like Dickey Betts on a 3 month jag to their unique musical vision, carving out an identity that doesn’t automatically follow the steps of the old wave Celtic Punk traditionalists like the Pogues, DropKick Murphy or Flogging Molly. They have a staunch following of loyalists that know the lyrics to their original tunes and will sing-a-long during the shows. It takes awhile for the newly baptized fan – they may want and Irish wake only to encounter a Viking funeral with the pyre ablaze. This is music for the ages whether it is Hail-up-good-friend-and-we-shall-die-together drinking songs or political barn burners that deal with injustice and subjugation.
I must admit this was a difficult interview for me having to reign in this incendiary group of misfit intellectuals and musical radicals. I was forced to edit out the most salacious, dastardly and profane bits – and that was just my questions. Yeah, the Tosspints brought out the best in me. This close-knit threesome literally takes the bull by the horns and runs the game. I could hardly keep up. I was like a post-Exorcist Linda Blair grousin’ about the demon inside her back when she was doin’ the super-freak with Rick James. At times I felt like a red-faced parent draggin’ the kids to yet another excruciating soccer game. But I was both the parent and the child and the Tosspints were priests giving me communion and forgiving me my sins.
When did the band first get together?
Zak: Well, Don and I have been brothers for a few years and John is dating mom and so we’ve been together as brothers and friends for awhile Don: As a band we’ve been together four years. We started playing in a different band together - a punk band. We came up with a name PCOA after playing a game of Balderdash. That acronym was one of the questions; it stood for Prosecutor Club of America…though we came up with a different meaning. It was great fun. We wrote songs we could go to jail for. John: Don was in the military and he heard some bands in San Antonio and told us about this great form of Celtic music Don: I was in the military for four years and then served in the reserves so I was out and back to Texas several times and hung out at this place called Waxy O’ Connors and that’s where I found the inspiration for the Tosspints.
Can You recite any memorable Celtic limericks?
#####**%$$%#^%^$%^(^^(^&
Whose your leader and why does he drink so much Guinness?
Don (the Leader): We don’t really have a leader we’re a democracy
Zak & John: YES SIR
Does each member have a particular role - like the quiet Tosspint, the cute Tosspint, the Piss-offed Tosspint?
John: Don’s all three
Don: I’m the emotional entity in the band.
John: I’m the salesman. Don does production. Zak does marketing…
Don: and all his business is done on the golf course
Are you a drinking band?
Zak: We’re really not a drinking band but we like to have a good time. (Hmm, it’s 9am - can I have another Guinness…oops – you’re not writing that down, are you)
How did you come up with TossPints – what does it mean?
Don: It was the title of a song by the Pogues. It’s about a guy who is considered worthless by his village because of his political views and is burned at the stake. He says goodbye to his wife and children and tells them that what he did was right and moral. It’s about the last day of his life.
John: It’s a rebel song about the plight of the Irish – very sad.
Don: But it’s really about any government that exploits people
Describe Your music - what’s Celtic punk?
Don: It’s Celtic music but it’s got more attitude that we are just…
Zak: playing our own style
Don: Yes, it really came from the Pogues. It’s Celtic but it’s not traditional and it’s not rock. John has this phrase it’s not flutes and lutes…
John: Yes…It’s not like Riverdance with flutes and fiddles. Other Celtic bands look at us like we’re the red-headed step child. We don’t use traditional instruments. When we first started out we played a lot of the Pogues and traditional tunes. Back then people were saying the Pogues were the new traditional
Who are your influences?
Don: Shane McGowan of the Pogues. He’s an icon
Zak: He’s huge…I like the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly
John: The Murphys are criticized for taking traditional songs and adding a punk beat. They deserve credit for keeping it alive.
Don: I also like the Dubliners and the Chieftains. These are the groups you typically hear.
Do you play any far out instruments like a Bouzouki, concertina, flutes, mandolin, Bodhran and the like
Zak: Don can play them all. He can pick up any instrument and teach himself to play it in an hour. He actually plays the Tin whistle and mandolin on some of our s
Your music has tremendous energy – it’s seems to have a goodtime feel yet you sing several songs that have a political current running through them – do you see yourselves as a fun beer swilling band or a fun beer swilling political band… like the Clash?
Don: Tough question. I like to have fun but I also like to write songs that have perspective and meaning. Some of our song selection has a rebellious side.
John: The rebel songs are all like that– when I learned about the potato famine I was in tears. It went on for over four years.
Don: Celtic Rebel songs can start fights in bars – songs like Join the British Army or Johnson’s Motor Car. We do a song that is 100 years old, Fields of Athenry, about the first Irish Revolution
Why do you think Van Morrison frowns so much…constipation…ancient celtic orneriness?
John: I don’t know the guy but I’d like to drink with him
Don: Maybe it’s because the guy has released umpteen albums and had only one hit
John interrupts –“ Here Don, I saved this for you.”
Don unfolds a strip of paper from a fortune cookie and reads, “Our first love and our last love is self love”
Don: I’m a chronic self lover – it’s an obsession
You’re known to wear kilts onstage - How often do you get a tilt in yer kilt?
In unison: EVERY NIGHT
John: It’s one thing to show up for gig in full kilt and a whole nuther deal to set up…
Don: It’s like people shouting, “I can see TP up yer crack”
Zak: I get offers. Once this girl – very attractive girl – says I gotta deal for YOU. I wanna lay on the back and look up your kilt. She kept it up all night long….it was hard playing with a girl between my legs.
Don: At gigs people will come up and ask me…”Is it true what they say about a Scotsman’s kilt?”
So … What do they say?
Don: It’s a kilt if don’t have underwear on; It’s a skirt if you do. They wanna look and see for themselves. I get a lot of Guinness that way. It’s perfect for making knuckle children
Do you have any really bad jokes – remember I’ve seen your show!
John: OK – I have a bad joke…but you gotta do it in dialect
Whoaye deed thee ald Irrrrishmaun pat anly 239 bins hin ‘ees soup?
‘Cas ane more whood maak it too farty
Do you have any plans to record?
Don: We have a CD in the works – all originals.
John: I love playing our songs – I could play 12 hours straight and never get tired of it.
Don: OK John – we’ll see how you hold up in March. On St Patty’s Day we’re doing a private party and then a gig– over six straight hours of music.
John: We are tentatively booked for studio time…Don Lajiness from 2nd System (an incredibly talented local metal band- author) might produce it. I was surprised how much he knew about sound.
Don: We wanted someone who could capture our sound…and metal bands LOVE to record. They know what sounds good.
I love the traditional tunes that you recorded as a promotional EP - the Celtic waltz of Black Velvet Band, the punched-up folk of Johnny Jump Up and Join The British Army – a rebel song with a high speed shuffle
John: Those songs were our favorite songs when we first got started. We liked playing them the most
Don: We also included a cover of Sean McGowan’s Tuesday Morning – one of the new traditional songs.
Zak: We love the traditional songs…our audience requests them, songs like Danny Boy…it’s like wipeout - the traditionalists want to hear it.
John: But you can’t mess with it
Don: I’d like to try to punk it just to see if I get beat up
The Tosspints are a group determined to hone their craft and break down barriers that pigeonhole music and narrow musical perspectives. They are talented songwriters with a catalog of original world class compositions. Tosspint music is for all seasons not just March, not just for St Patrick’s Day. This is music for the ages – written in a perfect dialectic of irreverence and good times while giving a message that is at once rebellious and life affirming. Listen to Don Zuzula’s Sing To Kill, written while he was stationed in Iraq, a minor chord masterpiece that speaks to the rebel life in a war where power and repression sometimes trump courage and sacrifice. I Wanna Mulligan is John Johnson’s just naughty enough ode to America’s favorite National Pastime -through the lens of a Irishman – Baseball, mom, and apple pie…hell no - drinking, donnybrooks and debauchery is more like it…oh, yeah - and a little golf too. Zak Zuzula’s Soldier’s Song is inspired by the movie Braveheart – I love you, always have – it’s celtic punk with jangling guitars and a too real message of the fear and isolation a soldier experiences as he contemplates an unkind fate.
-
New CD a Masterpiece of Revolutionary Music Bordering on Dadaist Truth
[+ Show ]
by Bo White
I’ve learned never to underestimate The Tosspints. As soon as one thinks they know t... by Bo White
I’ve learned never to underestimate The Tosspints. As soon as one thinks they know their bag, they come out of left field throwing musical knuckleballs that leave one scratching one’s head. In 11 Empty Bottles the Tosspints reach down deep to tell a story of such abject misery that I had to listen with my headphones on and the volume muted. The resolution of the sorrow comes with self knowledge and acceptance. It is the only way out of hell. That the band has a collective appreciation of dark humor helps gives the disc its humanity.
Welcome to 11 Empty Bottles, a ragged punk symphony that reaches toward a spiraling netherland that few want to travel. The music is nothing less than revolutionary.
The Tosspints primitive sound poems battered my brain and annihilated my senses. I was disturbed by its terrifying images of fallen humanity and totally blown away by their stark honesty.
Zak Zuzula writes most of the songs while the chief cook and bottle washer brother Don seems comfortable in the back seat, gazing out the window. However, his presence is clearly significant and his songs and singing are the highlight of the disc, with two crucial exceptions (both sung by Don) Zak’s Death is a Funny Thing and Johnny Johnson’s incredible I’ll Give You Nothing.
Let’s get started…grab a Guinness, hunker down and don’t forget to fasten your seat belt.
I’m F#$*in’ Drunk rumbles like an earthquake, it opens that disc with a frantic speed like Bowles ditching Holmes at Daytona Beach. Zuzula does not mince words or spare feelings. He paints a vivid picture of despair with a quality of nouveau realisme. The song contains a strange paradox in which an ugly truth may prove to be liberating.
Young Girl, Bad Idea is like a Shakespearean comedy with equal measures of tragedy and humor cloaked in punk rhythms. The tongue-in-cheek tension is between the Apollonian and Dionysian – music and poetry versus ecstasy and intoxication. The song is a winner with a well conceived hilarity wrapped around a time-worn sexual paradox…should I or shouldn’t I…it wouldn’t hurt… just this one time. Underneath this potent froth is a serious issue.
Satan’s Little Whore is an emotional train wreck. Johnson’s sloppy drum riffs set the pace and they couldn’t be more perfect in creating a musical landscape of despair. This is how a broken heart speaks to you. Nothing is rehearsed. Zuzula reaches down to the fifth circle of hell where he can find no joy in the universe. And he lets his anger spill out and froth without any editing. It ain’t pretty.
Land Far Away is Zak’s 4thinstallment of the first suite of songs on the CD that describe the events that lead the protagonist to go off to war. It offers a refrain of the themes of infidelity and betrayal that crushed the spirit of our protagonist and led him to sign up with the military and bid adieu to family and friends and the familiar. It provides a neat segue to Soldier’s Song, an honest portrayal of a young man’s fear and loneliness in the trenches fighting someone else’s war. Johnson’s brutal drumming keeps a breathless pace that signals the urgency in the lyric…”Let me go home, Lord I want to go home”.
Death is a Funny Thing is one of the best songs on the CD. Johnson pounds the bass drum like a heartbeat in a short story by Edgar Alan Poe while Don Zuzula plays an incredible nuclear powered rhythm riffs like Townsend in ’72. Zuzula takes each verse, every phrase and reaches into the core of his being. He is paying witness to a friend’s dying. The tension builds into a crescendo and as the song races to its conclusion Zuzula’s voice erupts like a volcano.
The Wreck of the Medusa is an epic punk symphony with tempo changes, minor chords, strong lead singing, echoed vocals and whispered pleas. The song is inspired by an actual event in 1816 that was immortalized in a painting by Theodore Gericault. The sinking of the Medusa was a turning point in the revolt against the Bourbon Monarchy and became the catalyst for the French Revolution.
Zuzula molded this epic tale like a sculptor molding and shaping diverse tonal elements into a cohesive and remarkable sound. This is an historical piece that is unrelated to the basic concept of 11 Empty Bottles. But somehow it fits-in quite nicely. The refrain echoes the similar themes about death and war…”Don’t let me die this way.” It is a masterwork!
I Couldn’t Do It Alone riffs along like Lotte Lenya doing Kurt Weill on speed. The sound is a sonic firestorm. Everything – the guitars and vocals are up front in the mix and HOT – giving the song and incredible emotional valence. It’s loud and cacophonous…explosive - the sound of a heart breaking. Lyrically sophisticated, the song tells the story of a soldier that makes a promise that is impossible for him to keep, to bring his comrade home safely. This is very difficult to listen to. It’s like watching No Country for Old Men with one eye shut and your head averted.
My Own Sinking Ship. Johnson’s speeded up shuffle offers a counterpoint to Zuzula’s steady full-bodied baritone. The dark humor in the lyric is a beacon of light and hope in an otherwise drastic message. The la-la-las in the chorus are like a tongue in the cheek, offering respite from an unrelenting ennui and a sense that life is like a sinking ship. He’s gotta learn to swim real fast. Great Fun.
Almost Home is a bare acoustic ballad just Don Zuzula and his guitar, honest and down home. It’s a story about longing and maybe just a few regrets. It’s about life on the road as a musician where life can be a series of a minute at a time, sitting back and watching it all go by. Every moment on the road gets him closer to his goal. This is a song you can listen to over and over again… exquisite.
11 Empty Bottles and 1 Beer, 1 Shot 1 Memory are companion pieces that reprise earlier themes of infidelity, booze, loneliness. In the first song the singer is nearly mad with grief. The second piece reveals the singer’s growing acceptance for who he is and his uncertain future.
Sing to Kill is a classical tone poem about courage and integrity. Zuzula’s imagery is a fascinating evocation of something ancient and true from English prison ships, ocean moons, skin so faire and light, and van diemens land. He paints his songs in broad metaphorical strokes about our modern empire and speaks directly about his hopes to control his own destiny and live the life he chooses. The Rebel’s Life.
I’ll Give You Nothing is the sleeper on this CD. John Johnson’s sole contribution may be the finest song on the disc. It’s deeply ironic and breathtakingly open and honest. Don Zuzula sings it masterfully as if it were his own:
“I won’t have the ending you’ve been waiting for all your life
The one where we ride off with everyone waving
The one where my life is still somewhat worth saving
If you take me under your wing
But kill every thought I’m left to sing
I’ll give you what’s inside of me
I’ll give what’s inside
I’ll give you nothing”
With this disc the Tosspints are moving away from the “Celtic” part of punk to fashion their own unique sound, a mixture of hard rock, baroque tone poems, and acoustic folk layered by reoccurring themes that reach an imperfect but very human resolution as the disc ends.
This is revolutionary music that borders on dadist truth. Don Zuzula offers this story as an example:
While stationed in the sands and heat of Iraq, Don was part of a armored truck division. Each driver would spray paint a patriotic phrase on his vehicle for inspiration. Many of the phrases were typical of the spirit of the times. Phrases like: Death to Al Qeada, only Don wrote instead…No Fat Chicks.
-
Unsigned Band Watch: November 2011
[+ Show ]
The Tosspints are a family of tough-as-nails, hard-drinking, hard-working, blue-collar Michiganders ...The Tosspints are a family of tough-as-nails, hard-drinking, hard-working, blue-collar Michiganders who play no-nonsense street-punk rock with an Irish twist. Their stage show is mean, gritty and super energetic. Imagine The Pogues if they had the energy and cacophony of Black Flag and you’re getting close. Definitely for fans of Flogging Molly or Gogol Bordello.
Albums to get: “11 Empty Bottles” or “Cenosillicaphobia”
-
The Tosspints Take it All
[+ Show ]
The Tosspints
An Irish Red Ruckus & The Fear Of An Empty Glass
It isn’t everyday that one band...The Tosspints
An Irish Red Ruckus & The Fear Of An Empty Glass
It isn’t everyday that one band emerges out of the pack to lead a cultural change that is as astonishing as it is necessary. The Tosspints have been an integral part of the water clock bringing ancient sounds and stories back to the future in perfect calibration with our innate need to hear music and feel rhythm. The Tosspints create music of beauty and discord; love and pain. It is real like a punch in the face or a deep shudder in your solar plexus after chugging a pint of Guinness. It hurts but you like it. Their current disc Cenosillicaphobia is being released on CD and vinyl! Retro is now and vinyl LPs are making a comeback. Thank god we came back to our senses and returned to the sound of music - analog rules! We found out that CD’s don’t have the rich warm sound of vinyl nor do they hold up very well. This time around the Tosspints do not hold back anything,. The medium is the message and punk has a way of cutting to the chase whether is love and infidelity or death and despair. The anti-war sentiments fashioned by Don Zuzula are brutally honest. Zuzula served in the military and he knows only too well the costs of conflict. He was stationed in Iraq and he saw it all. War is hell and war is horrifying and it seems that his sense of humor kept him balanced between stillness and action. It was a form of Zuzula’s alternate rebellion when he painted “No Fat Girls” on his truck when the rest of the caravan painted slogans like “Death to Saddam” or “Kill Al Quaeda.” It was genius threefold. It was a way to survive, to find meaning in suffering.
The first track Drunken Ramblings of a Jealous Man grabs you right at the start with a galloping beat and a cracked whiskey voice. It’s almost as if Zuzula is talking with you at the kitchen table - only the pain is too big and the words are unspoken. He sings about life on the road - drinking himself to sleep and performing to crowds that don’t always get it. He gets by with “bloodstains on my fingers; teardrops from my eyes. This is a song of infidelity and an impulse to murder. The despair is indelibly stamped and there is no satisfying conclusion to the betrayal. Zuzula ends the song with a powerful accapella reading
Whiskey Be My Savior is outrageous high energy rock that owes as much to the Sex Pistols as it does to the Dropkick Murphys. The influences converge to create a perfect storm of combustible booze-filled Punk. It is a Dionysian dream of excess and consumption. In this bleary vision Zuzula is suckling from a toxic breast. He sings, “the only time I feel death is when my bottle’s empty.” It is sung as a mantra for numbness. It is a dissociative response to a life dissolved by pain and self-destruction. Many of us have been there. Zuzula is standing outside the pain and observing his own mastery over it
The third track, Don’t Cry at My Funeral, has an honest unflinching fatalism. It’s an existential horror to discover that your life did not matter. This is a punked up working man’s blues that evokes visions of filthy back breaking and mind numbing work for paltry wages. It can kill your soul. You work for the man and die quietly without fanfare. There is nothing to mourn. The speeded up breakneck tempo mirrors the workaday bustle that robs you of all the sparkle life can offer. The insurance man talks you into a policy and in the heaviness of an unrelenting ennui you realize your passion and taste for life are gone. Suddenly a thought intrudes -I’m worth more dead than alive.
Underclass Zero is a breakup song. Joseph Heller once said, “I only got married to find out what divorce is like.” It isn’t that simple or that cavalier. Heller was out of his mind. In any failing love relationship, a once enduring bond becomes a nightmare of hopelessness and regret. And you may dwell on what you could have done differently. If only…
Zuzula sings,
I think of myself as a working class hero
You think of me as an underclass zero
You threw me away
Zuzula almost chokes on the words as he spits them out with a mix of pain and anger;
You tell me I gotta go
I got to leave my home
Brothers Lament is an incendiary rocker with a million dollar riff. The Tosspints perform it at frantic breakneck speed. This is a “Johnny Piss-off” song about a roller coaster ride that is coming off the tracks – it’s a song about addiction and the despair of the people who love and care about the addict. The Fugs couldn’t do it any better than this. The lyrics are straightforward and righteously angry:
I don’t know what I’m doing here
You look me in the eyes
And mine deflect and look right into the floor
I can’t take it no more
Save Us is classic punk – speeded up, loud and straight to the point. The lyrics are filled up with tales of drunkenness and despair but the underlying message is all about feisty resilience and a big FU to anyone who can’t see that the ship is sinking. The singer sings about an empty life and an empty bottle of gin but he’s just being actively passive and more than a little rhetorical. When he sings, “Who the fuck is gonna save us from our goddam self, he already knows the answer. He must save himself.
Johnny Johnson opens One Last Shot with a dynamic syncopated drum pattern. Johnson is one of the most solid powerhouse drummers on the scene today and he snaps off a beat like he’s part of the drum kit. He is the beat. Zuzula adds in a few minimalist melodic guitar tones that speak volumes. The song shifts from quiet to loud and it takes off like a rocket. Prime Cobain. This is a song about war in a foreign land. It evokes an existential dilemma about right and wrong and explores our worst fears about our soldier boy – a fear that he will never go back home. It is what we might imagine to be a Soldier’s song – cacophonous and quiet; brave and afraid.
Johnson is once again front and center on You Shouldn’t Do This Alone. He changes up the rhythm with a variation of the Bo Diddley beat with an oddly compelling Dick Dale surf guitar. This is solemn goodbye with a hint of longing and regret. It contains the ancient wisdom of our forefathers that acknowledges melancholia as the natural state for a thoughtful person. The lyrics speak of unconscionable loss and forgiveness. It is the voice of a spirit.
I promise I’m not that mad
You are the best friend I’ve ever had
We’ll meet again someday
It is another master stroke creation from the heart and minds of Don, Zak and Johnny.
A perfect closer.
Epilogue: In the past few months, The Tosspints have participated in George Killian’s Irish Red Ruckus Sweepstakes, a promotional contest created by the company to highlight its support of cutting edge music. Killian's has been scouring clubs and concert halls around the country to invite bands for a chance to perform at the Irish Red Ruckus. Bands have been enlisting their fans, friends and family to vote for them to get to the Ruckus. Four finalists were determined by getting the most votes received in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The winner will open for the Dropkick Murpheys on November 17th, 2011. And the winner is…The Tosspints! Congratulations Guys!!!
Peace
Bo White
-
Put the Needle on the Record
[+ Show ]
Review by Lisa Purchase Kelly
Cenosillicaphobia (n): the debilitating fear of an empty glass
W...Review by Lisa Purchase Kelly
Cenosillicaphobia (n): the debilitating fear of an empty glass
When cooking with quality ingredients, if they are expertly mixed by an experienced and creative chef, it's best to leave things simple and let those ingredients speak for themselves. Overwrought techniques, a laundry list of ingredients, or a cacophony of spices will sully the dish for the sake of showing off. The flavors of just a few fine elements, with a bit of professional polish, makes for the most memorable experience. With that philosophy The Tosspints are serving up their newest album, Cenosillicaphobia. With the essential components of hard-driving guitar, electric bass, and street-punk drum kit, mixed with vocals heavily spiced with profanity, Irish punk is a dish best served raw. The sound on the album is nicely mixed and layered by producer Andy Reed, refining the Tosspints' signature stage sound just enough to perfectly present this platter.
Yes, platter. As in, old-school vinyl album. To further belabor the cooking metaphor: when serving up a creative concoction, presentation counts. The Tosspints' second album is presented in multiple media—MP3 download available everywhere for your convenience (at CDBaby, Amazon, Emusic, MooZone, tradebit, and of course iTunes), and on vinyl album for style, nostalgia, and tactile tangibility.
Tosspints frontman Donny Zuzula explains their retro choice: "When I was 3 or 4 years old we had this record player, and I can remember going through the drawer to pick out 45s to put on it. In the late 80s my family made the switch to CDs and tapes, and the record player went to my room, and I started to collect records. It seems like records are more of an experience when you listen to them; the cover art, and the warmth of the sound. This became a connection to my father-in-law too; LeighAnn's father is an audiophile and has this huge record collection. There's a warmth to the sound on vinyl that appeals to audiophiles.
"And there's this permanence to record albums that … it's like in Planet of the Apes, or in Mad Max; hundreds of years in the future, after the apocalypse, they come across a record, and they're able to play it. It's still there. It's something solid. Putting music on a record feels more substantial."
Playing together as The Tosspints since 2007, brothers Don Zuzula and Zak Zuzula, along with drummer John Johnson, are a high-energy stage show with a lot of passion and presence. Taking their band name from a Pogues song, The Tosspints carry on the Irish pub-punk tradition of channeling anger and angst into something you can dance to. Now this trio of collaborative composers has put together a second album of original songs about drinking, death, and despair; an album that is just as hard-driving as their stage show and their first album.
"We've been through a lot together—our dad died when we were young, I've been to war, terrible things have happened to people in our lives—so we write what we know. I think there's something to be said for getting emotions out rather than sitting on them. Plus, it's just good story-telling … what else are we going to write about; suburbia and our jobs? Truth is stranger than fiction, you just have to find the stories in it."
Some of the best tracks on both albums are the most miserable stories—the closing track on Cenosillicaphobia is the story of a dying soldier, echoing a track on the previous album, the same story told from different viewpoints—but those are also the songs that really make you have to get up and dance. The driving drum licks and sassy guitar hooks and gritty lyrics swing the sad stories out of the basement of the soul and up into the stratosphere, and on its way up it can pull you right out of your chair with it. And it won't be anything fancy when you do find yourself on your feet; you'll be jumping up and down, pounding the air with both your fists, and yelling the words back at the stereo as soon as you learn enough of them. These songs turn a lament into a war whoop.
And when you fall down exhausted at the end of the song (and that's pretty much all there is to do if you've jumped up and down and shouted through the whole song), you feel …. giddy. And loud. And alive. Like you're ready to take on the world. Just as soon as you catch your breath, that is. With a listen to this album suddenly we're all angry young Irish lads, ready for a pub brawl, ready to grab the world by the lapels, kick somebody in the shins, and take back control of … anything. The way things are going these days, it's pretty exhilarating to feel that sense of fiery energy and belligerence for a short while. We're not gonna take this any more. Yeah. The drum sound is a key component of the excitement and energy of a lot of the songs on this album. "Andy Reed is awesome at recording everything, but especially drums. He's got this classic 60's drumset at the studio, and recording that in analog gives this album a "big drums" sound. John plays his ass off on these songs, and part of the drive for him is that we're the first band he's worked with where he's writing his own parts, and he can just go nuts."
The seventh track, "One Last Shot," is a great example of this drum- driven energy. It's a tragic tale of a soldier pinned down under enemy fire, digging into a foxhole that he's certain will be his own grave, caught between becoming a prisoner of war or taking the shot that will end it all. Depressing stuff. But it's told with a chugging drum frenzy to open the tune, followed up by mellow surfer-style guitar that picks up momentum as it shifts into the crowded vocals, all barreling down the tracks together to keep this tragic tale a freight train of energy and emotion that leaves the listener exhilarated.
Making this collection of songs into a vinyl album was a labor of love, requiring great personal sacrifice, steadfast patience and faith, and heaps of money. In addition to the money out of Donny's own pocket, and the percentage of show money the band always sets aside toward recording costs, they did some innovative fundraising on Kickstarter.com. This allowed the Tosspints to offer incentives for people who donated money, in amounts both large and small, which finally added up to the amount they needed to get the record made. Key contributors are mentioned in the liner notes, are invited guests at the release party, and of course get a signed copy of the album. [My husband and I were minor contributors in this manner, and I have to say, it feels good to have had a hand in making something happen, getting something done, building something with a community of other fans. We are no longer just an audience sitting idling and waiting for entertainment to fall into our laps, we are co-conspirators and—creators. I see this kind of thinking translating into the larger community too: community gardens and neighborhood projects. We used to make things here; why not do what we can to make things happen again, create something we all can use? None of us can do everything, but any of us can do a little something and make it count. In the general scheme of things a record album is a small thing, but it's something.]
The determination to put Cenosillicaphobia on vinyl was fueled by more than just nostalgia. Having the right studio and producer right here in town also helped steer the recording in that direction. "Andy Reed was excited about vinyl. He records in analog, which keeps the depth and warmth in the sound … why would you want to put digital recording onto an analog medium? So his studio was definitely the right place to go for this," said Donny. "And he's got a lot of experience under his belt, he knows what he's doing with this, he can record and mix at the same time so you're getting double effort for the time you're paying for. He put 110% into this. This album would not be nearly as good as it is without his input and feedback. He wants to try things and make it sound good. He's part of the effort."
The cover art was another key ingredient and a motivating factor for Donny to make this second collection of songs a vinyl album. The album cover is by graphic designer Dylan McConnell, a Seattle-based artist who has done hundreds of album covers and posters, including some recent work for SXSW, The Hold Steady, and The Meat Puppets. Don is has long been a fan of his work, which tends to be spare and bold, with a vintage slant, and eye-popping colors that grab and keep your attention (examples can be seen at McConnell's website tinylittlehammers.com).
From the talented and passionate musicians, to the classic cover artist, to the experienced producer, to the dedicated donors who sent in money, apparently it takes a village to make a vinyl. But after a long journey with many delays and obstacles, the album is finally here and is ready to be unleashed on the world. Our vinyl copy will end up in my fifteen-year-old son's room—he's also a huge Tosspints fan, and he's the one with the record player—and the MP3 download that comes with it will be on our computer and iPods. I think we'll even get him a frame for the album cover; his walls could use some great art. In both form and content, The Tosspints' Cenosillicaphobia is well worth having. To gets yours, visit The Tosspints' website (www.thetosspints.com) or any major online music outlet. Or better yet, go see The Tosspints perform and get your copy there.
"Our official album release date, now that I finally have the album in my hands, is October 15th," said Don."We're playing at The Vault in Bay City, and our friends The Banana Convention is also playing the show. We were supposed to be opening the show with one of my favorite bands in the whole world, The Tossers, but they have run into a situation where they are not going to be able to do this show. We were disappointed, but we are happy to have The Banana Convention with us, and we finally get to release our vinyl record. We're gonna throw a party for the people who really care and support us, and it's going to be a great show."
© Lisa Purchase Kelly, 2011
-
Back of the Rack – January 2012
[+ Show ]
At first listen, one would never suspect this trio to be from Michigan. This track has dirty Irish p...At first listen, one would never suspect this trio to be from Michigan. This track has dirty Irish pub written all over it, with the floor sticky from spilled Guinness, the air smoke-filled and the crowd ready to raise some Hell. The boys from Michigan have done a fine job creating the perfect Irish punk sound.
supersonic
