Toxic Schlock

Hello to all of Rock's Chosen Warriors! This week on the show, Michael talks with Rick Giordano of The Lion's Daughter about the 1986 heavy metal horror cult classic Trick or Treat! They dig deep into the unclear nature of the film's mythology, growing up a metal head and horror fan in the 1980s and into the 90s (when both of those took a turn for worse), the questionable acting chops of Gene Simmons, the Motorhead-Flogging Molly connection(?!), the glory of Cheddar Goblin, and much more!

Whats in the box?! Michael and Sara Taylor of Industrial rippers Youth Code answer that question and more with their chat about David Fincher's 1995 classic SE7EN! Sara digs into her favorite headtrip psychological thrillers, the power of Coil, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, True Detective, the disturbing films of Lars Von Trier, managing merch for Behemoth, the distinctions between horror and thriller, and a whole mess more! 

BOY! This week we sit down with King Fowley of Virginia metal legends Deceased! They have been putting out ripping horror influenced albums for the last several decades, and King picked one of his all time favorites, the 1979 classic PHANTASM! Michael and King dig deep into the horror/sci fi classic, along with discussing King's drive in theater expertise, his heavy metal origins, and their respective hot takes on the heavy hitter horror flicks of 2018 like HEREDITARY, TERRIFIER, MANDY, and HALLOWEEN.

Today we are kicking off our new mini-episode series: Misfits Mondays! Once a month, I am sitting down with my buddy Eric Kelly to talk about the iconic punk band the Misfits and the myriad of horror/sci-fi films they have referenced throughout their catalogue. Today we are waxing poetic about our origin stories of how we got into Danzig and the gang, and then we dig into this weeks film: The Crimson Ghost, the 1946 serial/film that introduced the world to the bands iconic logo! Stick around to the end to find out what the next film we will be discussing is, and what late 70s classic is being covered on the next episode of Toxic Schlock!

We did it! We passed the 13 episode mark! To celebrate our good fortunes, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Joe and Tom of the Menzingers. The Menzingers are a band that has grown into a modern punk institution, and for their focus film they picked Wes Craven's Scream, a film often credited with the revival of horror in the mid 1990s. Along with digging deep into the film, they also touched on Kill List, the Babadook, Poltergeist, and Michael's heroic origin story of becoming a Menzingers fan!

Episode 13 is here, and this is a special one! We got the chance to talk with Heather Buckley, who served as the FX supervisor on We Are Still Here and produced one of this year's most buzzed about horror films, The Ranger. Along with discussing how she went from a punk rocker in a small town in Jersey to working on modern classics, we also do a deep dive into her focus film choice, Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer. 

You know we had to do it to em! To celebrate the best time of the year, we talked with Tim McMahon of 90s Youth Crew legends Mouthpiece (along with Search, Triple Threat, and more) about John Carpenter's unparalleled classic "Halloween". Tim has one of the most profound fandoms of the film that we've seen, and we dug deep on his relationship with the film, the experience of visiting the film locations, and his take on the upcoming (now released) new film. We also touched on American Werewolf in London, Universal Monsters, and much much more! 

And we are back from our brief hiatus! We kick of season 2 of Toxic Schlock with a chat with Bryan Giles of the stoner/beer metal titans Red Fang to talk about the modern sci-fi horror headtrip "Under the Skin". Bryan and Michael talk about Red Fang's insanely memorable music videos, growing up a young punk in Arizona, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and more!

Inge Johansson, former bassist of The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Against Me! joins Michael this week to obsess over one of their mutual favorite films, Dario Argento's classic "Suspiria". Along with digging into this Italian classic, the two of them discuss the restrictive Swedish film censorship laws Inge grew up under, the perfection of Swedish D-Beat Punk, KISS, Adam West, The Young Ones, Nosferatu, Gothenburg Metal vs Stockholm Metal, and much more

Number 9. Number 9. Number 9. Michael sits down with Scott Carlson of Grindcore legends Repulsion to discuss the 1985 classic film "Re-Animator." Michael and Scott dove deep into Scott's history with 70s and 80s horror, Repulsion's mission to create the most extreme music, the genius of Brian Yuzna, tripping out while witnessing Re-Animator, and much more. Be sure to also check out some of the films Scott recommended such as Twisted Brain, Threads, and the Devil Incarnate!    

This is episode 8! This is episode 8! (sung to the tune of We Are 138).  Today on the show, Michael talks with Josh Robbins of Late Bloomer, Alright, and Self Aware Records, and they dove in headfirst into the green pool that is John Carpenter's oft-forgotten gem "Prince of Darkness". Josh has a really interesting history with horror and film, and had some really interesting insights into music, film, and more. Where does P.O.D. stack up in the repertoire of John Carpenter films? Lets find out! 

Episode 7 is here, and this is a big one! Michael talks with Jeremy Bolm of Touche Amore/Hesitation Wounds about the 1968 classic Rosemary's Baby! They dig deep into the film, the frequent shortcomings of modern mainstream horror, the greatness of Mia Farrow, Michael's Rosemary's Baby-Powerviolence connection, and more!

Michael sits down with Richmond legend Michael Bishop of Gwar and Kepone to discuss his focus film pick, John Boorman's 1972 classic Deliverance! Michael Bishop has an intensely thorough knowledge of the film, and he has some amazing things to say about the film, its soundtrack, and why it deserves to be in the conversation of Horror films. We also got to talk about the 80s Hardcore scene in Richmond, his early horror influences, and much more! 

Pull on your Chucks, cause this week we talked with Kody Templeman of The Lillingtons and Teenage Bottlerocket about the 80s b movie classic Night of the Creeps! We had a blast talking with Kody about Fred Dekkers schlock classic, growing up in a small town, his recent favorite horror films, and more! As we say at the top, we did have some technical issues this week, but next week we'll be back to a more consistently clean sound.

Episode #4 is here, and this is a great one! We sat down with PJ Russo of New Jersey mutant punks Night Birds, and we talked about the 1981 classic "The Evil Dead", a film that should need no introduction! The conversation went in some unexpected directions, touching on the vast parallels of punk rock and horror cinema, Damaged City Fest, the DIY creativity of Sam Raimi, and much much more!

Welcome to episode 3 of Toxic Schlock! This week I talked with Clayton Burgess of stoner/doom metal titans Electric Wizard and Satan's Satyrs! We had such a good time talking about Clayton's longtime fandom of Hammer Horror films, Dracula, and his focus film choice, the 1962 cult classic "Carnival of Souls". If you haven't seen this crucially underrated flick, give it a peep over on youtube and check back here to listen to us pour over it! Clayton's horror fandom touches on different corners of the genre than what is normally talked about, and this episode is a really special one!

Welcome to Episode two of Toxic Schlock! In this episode I talk with Erik Button of the fantastic Charlotte band Dollar Signs. Erik is a hilarious and clever guy, and we had a great time talking about the all time classic film "The Thing". Is horror the ska of cinema? Lets find out here!