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| Toxic Shock mainman Bill Sassenberger talks about his books Assassin of Mediocrity and Wanderlust at Emissions on Tuesday. |
Punk rock record store owner and label boss Bill Sassenberger discusses his books “Toxic Shock Records, Assassin of Mediocrity: A Story of Love, Loss and Loud Music” and "Wanderlust and Welcome Mats: The Broccoli Chronicles" at Emissions Records (1114 Dundas St. West, basement) on Tuesday, September 22 from 5 pm to 7 pm. And yes, there will be Toxic Shock merch available.
Back in 1980, punk rock musician Bill Sassenberger opened the Toxic Shock record store in Pomona, California specializing in tough-to-find punk records on indie labels. Three years later, Sassenberger and his wife Julianna Towns (of Skinner Box) turned Toxic Shock into a record label with the 1983 release of the Noise From Nowhere EP – a 7-inch compilation of local bands, Kent State, Manson Youth, Modern Industry and his own band Moslem Birth (later renamed Peace Corpse) with sleeve art by Pushead.
The label went on to release records by Corrosion of Conformity, Skin Yard, Dayglo Abortions, Raw Power and Zero Boys before moving operations to Tucson, Arizona in 1988 and putting out more vinyl from the likes of Sloppy Seconds, The Hickoids, House Of Large Sizes, Th' Inbred and Treepeople. In 1990, the label name was changed to Westworld, the store became Toxic Ranch Records and continued operations until December 31, 2013. Julianna Towns, who had suffered a severe stroke in 2011, passed away in 2019 at the age of 58.
All of this and much more is covered in Bill's memoir "Toxic Shock Records – Assassin of Mediocrity: A Story of Love, Loss and Loud Music" which he'll be discussing along with the sequel "Wanderlust and Welcome Mats: The Broccoli Chronicles" at Emissions Records on Tuesday. You can check out a couple of Bill's prior interviews with Alan Brostoff for Goldmine Magazine (from 2924) and Johnny Fever for Equalizing Distort, see links below.
LINKS
Goldmine Toxic Shock Records' Bill Sassenberger talks about his punk rock memoir
Equalizing Distort Bill Sassenberger interview
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