Joey Tampon & The Toxic Shocks - s/t -7´´

Joey was a staple of the Huntsville punk scene for the whole stretch of the 1990´s, playing in too many bands to count, including, but not limited to: 15E, The Slackers, Shitboy from Outerspace, The Radioactives, The 3D´s, The 45´s, Puddle, and probably a bunch more I´m forgetting or don´t even know about.

Joey is probably most notorious for his eponymous outfit Joey Tampon and the Toxic Shocks - a snotty, minimalist DIY punk trio featuring Neil Delbaccio on bass (Burning Radios, The Wops), and Greg Addison on drums (The Grumpies, Rice Harvester, Jarvis). A quick google search shows the legacy of this band is alive and well, the centerpiece being this self-titled 7´´ released on the ubiquitous Recess Records. I recall them touring extensively, piled inside a Ford Festiva with their gear strapped to the roof. During their live shows, Joey often wore a self-styled full body tampon costume while playing. Their songs were based on pretty traditional punk themes of the day. When Joey wasn´t griping about the fashion choices of undesirable others (´´Duckheads are for Fuckheads´´), or the oppressive wrath of Johnny Law (´´Magnum P.I.G.´´), he was raging against the machine with anti-authoritarian, anti-conformity, anti-corporate rants like ´´Everything´s a Product´´ and ´´I´m Not Going to Kill Myself For You´´.

Musically, the Toxic Shocks had a solid bassist, and one of the best punk rock drummers in town, but the defining characteristics of their sound was derived from the fact that Joey couldn´t play the guitar for shit. This coupled with his signature nasally yelp results in a reckless, slapdash kamikaze collection of minute long anthems that are surprisingly inventive at times. Speaking on song length, Joey is an incredibly economical dude. Like his previous band The Slackers, Joey managed to squeeze no less then 5 songs on each side, making a total of 10 in the 11.5 minutes allotted.

After the band broke up, Joey started exploring his love of surf and garage rock with bands like The Radioactives and The 3D´s. Shortly after the turn of the century, Joey Tampon - a man with the word ´´fuck´´ tattooed on his body at least 3 times - did a completely 180 transformation, became a born again christian, a hardcore republican, and eventually a Baptist minister. Maybe having a kid changed him just that much, or maybe it´s just switching one dogma for another, but I wouldn´t expect to hear anymore punk rock out of Joey Tampon. Though apparently, he´s really into bluegrass music now.

Bass - Neil Delboccio
Drums - Greg Harvester
Guitar - Joey Tampon

Foldout sleeve and foldout insert
Hand numbered on the back cover

Label:Recess Records (2) ‎- Recess #28
Format:Vinyl, 7´´
Country:US
Released:1996
Style:Punk

Track listing
Side A:
1 Magnum P.I.G
2 Everythings A Product
3 Im Not Gonna Kill Myself For You
4 924 Boredom St.
5 I Wanna Blow Up A Building

Side B:
1 Plan 9 From Outer Space
2 Today
3 Duckheads Are For Fuckheads
4 Punk Show
5 We Dont Like You