Slik Toxik

Any Of You Who Were Fans Of Hard Rock And Melodic Metal Have No Doubt Heard Of The Canadian Band Slik Toxik. They Were A Mainstay Of Much Music’s Power Hour Video Show And Supposedly The Next Big Thing To Hit The American Metal Market. The Lineup Consisted Of Nicholas 'Nick' Walsh Vocals Rob Bruce Guitar Kevin Gale Guitar Pat Howarth Bass Neal Busby Drums And Dave Mercel Lyricist . They Released The E.P. Smooth And Deadly In 1991 On Capitol/EMI Records And Followed That Up With Their Debut Full Length CD Doin’ The Nasty In 1992 Also On Capitol/EMI . They Released Videos For "Helluva Time" "White Lies Black Truth" And "By The Fireside." With Constant Touring With The Likes Of Kim Mitchell And Yngwie Malmsteen They Even Managed To Get Their CD To Go Gold In Canada. It Was At This Time That Metal Was Starting To Fall Out Of Commercial Favor As Grunge Garbage Was Taking Over The Airwaves. Some Of You May Remember The Infamous Incident Where A Drunken Pat Howarth Bassist Smashed A Limousine At The 1994 Post-Juno Awards Party. It Was After This Little Fiasco That The Label Began Questioning The Stability Of The Band. EMI Wanted To Move Slik Toxik To A Subsidiary Label But The Band Decided To Leave EMI And Go The Independent Route. They Released The Impressive CD Irrelevant In 1994 With New Bassist Adam Headland. They Were Now Signed To The Small Indie Label Known As Strawberry. During This Time Metal Was Being Drowned By The Wave Of Whiny Grunge Bands And Slik Toxik Didn’t Make It. The Band Folded. The Fickle North American Music Industry And Mainstream Audience Were Not In Favors Of Hard Rock / Metal Any Longer. As For What They Are Doing Now? Neal Busby Reportedly Teaches Drums And Spent Some Time In The Toronto Death/extreme Metal Band Solus. Nick Walsh And Rob Bruce Have Been Playing Most Recently In The Band Raised On Mars Who's "coming Soon" Website Is At Www.Raisedonmars.Com. We Have No Idea What This Band Is What They Play And Even If It's Metal Or Just Some Rock Band?!?! For All Other Intents And Purposes Slik Toxik Is Dead And Buried. There Won't Be A 30th Anniversary Reunion Nor Will There Be A New Studio Album. That Isn't To Say Walsh Won't And Doesn't Revisit Slik Toxik's Music As Anyone Who Has Attended A Famous Underground Show Can Attest. "We Do Play The Songs Sometimes " He Says. "It's Not A Staple Thing In The Famous Underground Set But Sometimes We'll Pull Out 'Helluvatime' Or 'White Lies'. We've Even Done A Medley Where We Threw In 'By The Fireside' And 'Sweet Asylum' We've Done 'Twentysomething' Off Irrelevant. So Yes Slik Toxik Can Live On In That Respect When I Feel Like It. But As You Said It's Been 30 Years So The Idea Of A Reunion... Honestly For Me It's Not Appealing. I Think I Get Along Better With Those Guys Now Than I Would If We Decided To Reunite." That Said 2021 Did See Walsh Reunite Briefly With Busby To Sing On A Couple Tracks By Busby's Relaunched '80s Metal Band Chyld. "Neal And Pete Dove Bass / Slash Puppet Had Something Cooking " Walsh Says Of The One-Off. "It's Their Project And I Was Asked To Do A Task And It Was Good To Do. I Have My Own Project Where I'm The Be-All End-All So It Was No Problem For Me To Go And Do Something With Them Because Whenever I Get The Opportunity To Do Something Different I Embrace It. It's Fun To Do." read less