‘Toughskins’ are known for their durability and are built to last. Altough LA based Oi! band the Toughskins were gone for a while they seem to be stronger than ever before! Reason enough to hit up singer Danny with a few questions about the band’s past, present and future. Enjoy!
Q. Hey Danny, thanks for taking the time to do this interview!
A. Thank you!
Q. How is life in California treating you at the moment?
A. Life is great. Busy working and playing.
Q. Last year the Toughskins returned with the “Anger Management” EP on Randale Records. Before that EP it has been quiet around the band for years! What happened?
A. "Anger Management" would not have happened without the help of so many great people. I have to thank them real quick. First of all Dave Visive for co-wrtiting "the Beast" with me, we wrote that song in 2002. George Kiliveros for his guitars for the session. Jake Puke for improving every bass line I wrote. Derek O' Brien for doing a righteous job producing and engineering. Lars Frederiksen for introducing me to Diana from Randale Records. Diana for putting together an awesome 7" in very little time. And my brother from another mother Ramon Girones for his incredible artwork. He did the cover art, the entire layout, the insert and the label. He's also designed our newest T-shirts.
As far as what happened, I can only speak from my experience and perspective. By 1995 I grew tired of what I was doing and who I was doing it with, accept for Dave of course. It just wasn't fun anymore. My wife and I got married and we started our family. But I never stopped writing or playing.
Q. You are the only original member left. What made you decide to carry on as the Toughskins instead of starting up a whole new band?
A. Toughskins is my legacy and I wanted to carry it on. I did not like what former members did with their feeble attempts to revitalize it in the past, and I wanted to rebuild it. There were still fans out there after 18 years that wanted to hear the old songs and I wanted to give them a proper live show. Some people could say that this was an easier way, to take the known name and things would just happen very simply. I have found it to be more challenging. With the name there are expectations to be met. I knew that we would have to come out swinging and remain consistent. We have. And I also did not want to re-write "Raised in Anger". I wanted to have a tighter sound and more coherent vocals. Many things have changed for me in my life and Toughskins today reflect that. I'm not a very nostalgic person. I don't long for the past.
Q. Now you’re the singer of the band when you were originally the band’s bass player. I think you’re doing a great job so far! But how did you wind up with the microphone in your hand?
A. Thank you for the compliment. I work very hard and always try to do my best. I started out writing lyrics in 1986 but by 87/88 I "wound up" with a bass in my hands instead of a microphone. It took almost 20 years to change that. I am a lyricist at heart and I did not want to spend time showing someone how to sing songs I wrote. It's my time, my turn.
Q. As said you’re the only original bandmember left, can you introduce the rest of the Toughskins? Where did you find them and were they in bands prior to the Toughskins?
A. I am proud to introduce these guys as Toughskins and family. David Perez, guitar. David has played in Ten Hole Bootboys and C.I from SFV and is currently playing in Street Value. Anthony Oi!, bass. Anthony has played in Society's Victims, Ten Hole Bootboys, C.I, The Hardknocks, Fed Up, KBS, and Ratas Rabiosas. And Loucifer, drums. Loucifer is old school like me and has played in Bovver Wonderland, The Choice the Generators and is currently playing in 3 other local bands plus Toughskins!
All of these guys I know through the Los Angeles Oi/punk scene. One of my old bands did a show in the Valley with David and Anthony back in '08 and shit I've know Loucifer for over 20 years. Our bands played together back in the day and we hung out quite a bit back then.
This is by far the best line up I have ever had the honor of playing with. Since 2010 I've had 3 major line up changes and this line-up improved the sound and definitely have decreased the tension and drama.
Q. Recently you guys opened up for Rancid, how did the crowd respond to your show?
A. The crowd response was great. We got the crowd moving and the feedback has all been positive. It was easily the biggest crowd I've ever played too. We can't wait to have another shot at it. A big thanks to Rancid/Transplants and the entire staff and crew. From the top down everyone was very cool to work with.
Q. You also had a CD with four new tracks to sell / give away at the concert. You think you won over some new fans? And more importantly for anyone who wasn’t there, will this CD become for sale or will it be released as a EP?
A. Yes thanks to Ian Petersen of Screaming Leopard Studios in Hermosa Beach we were able to get music together for the Rancid/Transplants show. We definitely got a lot of new fans. Our style, passion and delivery know no boundaries. We moved some CD's and yes we will continue to sell them at future shows and will make the remainder available online at some point. These were a limited edition run. I am a reluctant amateur graphic designer, so I did the layout with Steve Arevalo's fantastic photography and used Ramon's artwork for the back. On the actual CD you'll find our classic logo of the "kid" which was made for us almost 20 years ago by world renowned Skinhead and tattoo artist, Stanley Corona.
The 4 songs will be released as the "Keep the Faith" EP hopefully by summers end on Black Hole Records here in the States and by Randale in Europe. So keep an eye out for that.
Q. When will you guys hit the studio for a full-length? “Raised In Anger” stood the test of time and even 18 years (!) later it’s still a great record. 18 years is a long time though haha. Can you tell us something about the future plans?
A. We have a lot of ideas. Are plans are consistent, write, record and play as many places as possible. And now that we have such a solid line up and an engineer that we really enjoy working with we want to do a full length. But it will be as time and money permits. We have also been talking to another blast from the bast American Oi! band about doing a split so look for that before you see a full length!
Q. I have to ask about the song “ England”… I thought it was hilarious! Especially because I wasn’t much into Cock Sparrer at the time (yeah I know…) which made it even more funnier to me. Who came up with the lyrics and what do you think of England these days…? Haha.
A. I'm glad you asked because it will give me a chance to attempt to explain myself. At the time I wrote those lyrics I was angry all the time, drunk most of the time (or vise versa) and just an insufferable shit disturber. I used to love to poke the hornets nest and still do sometimes. So, I was really sick of seeing a lot of kids in the scene wearing "Union Jack" patches on their jackets. And since there were no Nazi's to pick on thats where I chose to focus my anger. It was a harsh parody and a silly song. I had never even been to England, so it was written out of pure ignorance. These days I feel the same about England as I did before, I never hated or disliked the English. I love loads of music and fashion that comes from England. I was honored to meet some of the guys from Cock Sparrer in 2012 when they played in San Francisco. It was kind of funny when we met Colin McFaul my wife said to him,"my husbands in an Oi band" and he looked at me and said "I know you are mate". He smiled patted me on the shoulder and we took some pix. Did he really know me? I don't know, but if he did and wasn't bothered by my silly song then hopefully no one else will be either. And if they are, well fuck'em!
Q. You already told me in an earlier conversation that Micky (Fitz) was the only one who saw the humor of the track, do you think there are still some British who hold a grudge against you?
A. I would be surprised if any considerable amount of people anywhere have even heard it let alone have time or energy to hold a grudge. But like the old "American" saying goes fuck'em if they can't take a joke.
Q. Okay that’s it, thanks again for your time!! If there’s anything you’d like to add, feel free to do so!
A. Thank you for the interview and for the "Promote and Provoke" comp. I'd like to thank everyone that has participated in the success of Toughskins since our return in 2010 we've had a lot of support.
You can find us here https://www.facebook.com/theToughskins
For booking email us at thetoughskins@gmail.com We are looking forward to getting out of town and will entertain all serious offers. If you book it we will play!
You can find our official merch store at http://machetemfg.com
Our labels Randale Records in Germany http://www.randaleshop.de/ and Black Hole Records in the U.S.A http://blackholerecs.com
The studios we worked with here in Los Angeles, D.O.B Sound http://www.dobsound.net and Screaming Leopard Studios http://screamingleopardstudios.com
For premium artwork find our friend Ramon Girones at http://ramongd.jimdo.com
