Members
Tim "Bo" Brown - Guitar and Backing Vocals (aka - Scary Toxic)
Mark "Goddzi" Goddard - Bass (aka Baby Toxic)
Adam "Arnold J Rimmer" Fairbrother - Drums (aka Posh Toxic)
Tony "Big Tone" Reynolds - Guitar and Backing Vocals (aka Ginger Toxic)
Chris "Just Chris" Willsdon - Lead Vocals (aka Sporty Toxic)
Mark "Goddzi" Goddard - Bass (aka Baby Toxic)
Adam "Arnold J Rimmer" Fairbrother - Drums (aka Posh Toxic)
Tony "Big Tone" Reynolds - Guitar and Backing Vocals (aka Ginger Toxic)
Chris "Just Chris" Willsdon - Lead Vocals (aka Sporty Toxic)
A Brief History
In about 1986, Bo and Goddzi were at Huddersfield New College at the same time. Bo was starting a band with his mate Carl, another guitarist who had introduced Bo to the delights of Yngwie Malmsteen. When looking for a bassist, Bo asked if Goddzi'd be interested, (and I was!) in the position. with a guy by the name of Mick from college band, Lovedrive, on drums the initial nucleus of Toxic Shok - as they would become known much later - was born.
After Carl and Bo left to go to university at different ends of the country from each other, it was going to be difficult staying together. But it was while at Manchester that Bo met up with Gordon Fairbrother, a bassist, who's kid brother, Adam, was a drummer. Gordon was not interested in joining, and Bo was still in touch with Goddzi anyway, but Adam was interested. While home for the first break from Uni, Bo spotted Chris out on the town and thought he looked like a prime example of what a frontman in a rock band should look like!
Goddzi already had a passing aquaintance with Chris, so Bo asked if he'd ask Chris if he wanted the job.
I'd better explain what Chris used to look like until I get some pix up on here.
At this time, Chris had long shaggy, teased, back-combed bleached blond hair. He wore jeans with a leopard spot or snakeskin print on them, with typical white basketball trainers, pink leg-warmers, a cut up t-shirt, (usually Def Leppard) and a light coloured suit jacket!
The thing that probably struck me the most at the time, was that he normally walked into the pub with at least two women on his arms. Not only that, but they usually knew he was with them both! Perfect frontman material!
As for Tony, I'd met him via my one and only previous band. He'd turned up to audition for us, once after answering a wanted ad in the local guitar shop! I bumped into him in the pub one night and told him about this band, Toxic Shok, that we were starting and asked if he wanted to be the second guitarist.
With the line-up complete, we rehearsed wherever we could. Tony worked for a bed shop and they had a bit of space in the corner of their warehouse they said we could use. So, every Sunday, we'd collect there and make our noise. This wouldn't have been a problem, but for the fact the warehouse was underneath an Indian restaurant! We had frequent visits from the owner saying we were scaring his customers away and rattling the cutlery from the tables! But we carried on regardless and wrote a few original tunes and got ourselves a working set of songs together.
We only played 3 gigs in this line-up. The first of which was at UMIST in Manchester at the annual beer festival in December 1987. We were the opening act on the third and final night. We played one of our own tunes, which I seem to think at the time, was the only one we actually had finished. Written mostly by Bo, "Take You Home" would later appear on our only demo tape. The rest of the set consisted of such songs as "Wanted Man" by Ratt, "Push, Push" by Cinderella, "Killed By Death" by Motorhead, and most famously - for those involved - "Jailhouse Rock" by Motley Crue! This was the song we finished our set with. Just as Chris launched into the first verse, the rest of us, getting a bit carried away, went into the chorus, thinking we'd already played the verse! So for Chris, that song went "Warden threw a party at the county jail, Thank you Manchester, Good Night!" and he walked off stage and left us to do the entire rest of the song instrumentally!
But on the strength of that performance, we got our second gig. Supporting that nights headliners, Dirty Trix in their home town of Bolton, at their Christmas Bash!
Our third gig in this incarnation was played at the Changing Lights nightclub in Huddersfield. What is now "Centrefolds" lapdancing bar! This gig was recorded on audio tape for posterity. I hope to get mp3's of that to put on here soon.
After that night, there was some disagreements and things went askew, unfortunately. Chris quit the band and we got a guy Bo knew, Rob, in on vocals for a while. But this only lasted for about another 3 months or so before it tailed off almost completely.
Just as summer was starting in '88, I got a call from an agent asking if we fancied going to Corfu for a "Summer Season" in a hotel as resident band!? A rock band, in Corfu, for the whole summer? Or to put it another way. A free, three month holiday, all expenses paid? I ask you, would you go?
We got Chris back as he'd just been made redundant, Tony bought a van, and after learning a few cheesy rock classics at my mums house for three weeks while she was away in Spain on holiday - she came back the day we set off for Corfu - we went off into the wilds of Benitses.
When we got there we realised that the name "Toxic Shok" wasn't gonna go down well with the holidaying public, so we changed our name to The Skinnydippers.
After only 3 weeks at the hotel, Chris developed a really bad throat infection and had to leave, making Tony the only person with enough guts, at the time, to step up to the mic. That's how Tony from Loaded started singing, folks!
It was also the end of Toxic Shok. As I said on the News page, apart from a one off at Nottingham Uni, Chris has never been on stage since Corfu. And all 5 original members have never been together even in the same room, let alone on stage.
After Carl and Bo left to go to university at different ends of the country from each other, it was going to be difficult staying together. But it was while at Manchester that Bo met up with Gordon Fairbrother, a bassist, who's kid brother, Adam, was a drummer. Gordon was not interested in joining, and Bo was still in touch with Goddzi anyway, but Adam was interested. While home for the first break from Uni, Bo spotted Chris out on the town and thought he looked like a prime example of what a frontman in a rock band should look like!
Goddzi already had a passing aquaintance with Chris, so Bo asked if he'd ask Chris if he wanted the job.
I'd better explain what Chris used to look like until I get some pix up on here.
At this time, Chris had long shaggy, teased, back-combed bleached blond hair. He wore jeans with a leopard spot or snakeskin print on them, with typical white basketball trainers, pink leg-warmers, a cut up t-shirt, (usually Def Leppard) and a light coloured suit jacket!
The thing that probably struck me the most at the time, was that he normally walked into the pub with at least two women on his arms. Not only that, but they usually knew he was with them both! Perfect frontman material!
As for Tony, I'd met him via my one and only previous band. He'd turned up to audition for us, once after answering a wanted ad in the local guitar shop! I bumped into him in the pub one night and told him about this band, Toxic Shok, that we were starting and asked if he wanted to be the second guitarist.
With the line-up complete, we rehearsed wherever we could. Tony worked for a bed shop and they had a bit of space in the corner of their warehouse they said we could use. So, every Sunday, we'd collect there and make our noise. This wouldn't have been a problem, but for the fact the warehouse was underneath an Indian restaurant! We had frequent visits from the owner saying we were scaring his customers away and rattling the cutlery from the tables! But we carried on regardless and wrote a few original tunes and got ourselves a working set of songs together.
We only played 3 gigs in this line-up. The first of which was at UMIST in Manchester at the annual beer festival in December 1987. We were the opening act on the third and final night. We played one of our own tunes, which I seem to think at the time, was the only one we actually had finished. Written mostly by Bo, "Take You Home" would later appear on our only demo tape. The rest of the set consisted of such songs as "Wanted Man" by Ratt, "Push, Push" by Cinderella, "Killed By Death" by Motorhead, and most famously - for those involved - "Jailhouse Rock" by Motley Crue! This was the song we finished our set with. Just as Chris launched into the first verse, the rest of us, getting a bit carried away, went into the chorus, thinking we'd already played the verse! So for Chris, that song went "Warden threw a party at the county jail, Thank you Manchester, Good Night!" and he walked off stage and left us to do the entire rest of the song instrumentally!
But on the strength of that performance, we got our second gig. Supporting that nights headliners, Dirty Trix in their home town of Bolton, at their Christmas Bash!
Our third gig in this incarnation was played at the Changing Lights nightclub in Huddersfield. What is now "Centrefolds" lapdancing bar! This gig was recorded on audio tape for posterity. I hope to get mp3's of that to put on here soon.
After that night, there was some disagreements and things went askew, unfortunately. Chris quit the band and we got a guy Bo knew, Rob, in on vocals for a while. But this only lasted for about another 3 months or so before it tailed off almost completely.
Just as summer was starting in '88, I got a call from an agent asking if we fancied going to Corfu for a "Summer Season" in a hotel as resident band!? A rock band, in Corfu, for the whole summer? Or to put it another way. A free, three month holiday, all expenses paid? I ask you, would you go?
We got Chris back as he'd just been made redundant, Tony bought a van, and after learning a few cheesy rock classics at my mums house for three weeks while she was away in Spain on holiday - she came back the day we set off for Corfu - we went off into the wilds of Benitses.
When we got there we realised that the name "Toxic Shok" wasn't gonna go down well with the holidaying public, so we changed our name to The Skinnydippers.
After only 3 weeks at the hotel, Chris developed a really bad throat infection and had to leave, making Tony the only person with enough guts, at the time, to step up to the mic. That's how Tony from Loaded started singing, folks!
It was also the end of Toxic Shok. As I said on the News page, apart from a one off at Nottingham Uni, Chris has never been on stage since Corfu. And all 5 original members have never been together even in the same room, let alone on stage.
Pictures
Adam - in rehearsal with Run For Cover '07
Bo - Live with Run For Cover '07
Big Tone - Live in Long Eaton with Loaded '07
Toxic Shok - Live at the Changing Lights, Huddersfield '88
Line-up, from left to right - Bo (guitar), Kris (vocals), Adam (drums), Goddzi (bass), Tony (guitar)
Apologies for the quality of these last 2 images, but they are currently the only ones we can find!
More pictures to be added as and when I get them!
