Tad Leger Interview (Ex-Toxik)

Tad Leger is an old pen pal from my days of doing my print zine Metal Core and when he was the drummer of thrash band Toxik (who were on Roadracer Records) and I reached out to him to see if he would be interested in talking about the old days of Toxik and what he is up to these days as well, he said yes and here we go:

Tad we used to be pen pals all those years ago, I reviewed your demo and now here we are in 2024 doing a interview about the band ha ha, So around what age did you discover heavy metal music? What were some of the 1st bands you heard and liked?

TL: I have to start out how much it means to me that music I was involved in decades ago is still being appreciated by true Metal fans like yourself. It meant a lot to make it to the cover of Metal Core.
The passage of time shows us what truly matters & the fact you & I are still actively involved proves how enduring the bands of our generation have been passed on & now embraced by the Metal fans today!
Music & art helped me find my identity as I grew up. When I was around 14 I saw Black Sabbath at Madison Square Garden on the Mob Rules tour. When I was able to see the visual power combined with their music they instantly became my favorite band & solidified my addiction to Metal. Although Sabbath isn’t a Metal band (i have to disagree with ya there-chris), their music is a cornerstone to everything Metal would become. As for my first Metal band, that would def be Judas Priest. Like Sabbath, Priest created more than just great music. It was a sonic landscape with incredibly dynamic moods & atmosphere. Everything they did up to Hell Bent for Leather is absolute perfection IMO.

Now how about underground metal? How did you end up discovering that and what were some early bands you liked? Do you still like any of them today?

TL: I became friends with slightly older kids & they took me to some record stores in NYC, which opened a whole new world.

Some of the first albums I got were Heavy Metal Maniac by Exciter & Ample Destruction by Jag Panzer. They took classic Metal & brought in more aggression, darker lyrics, more raw, unpolished production & double bass even faster than Motörhead! Listening to this music was like a drug that made me want to just trash all the furniture in my parents house in a fury of primal screaming haha! Suddenly I found a much needed catharsis for all the confusion of not fitting in at school & frustration of how some teachers singled me out to persecute because I was always reading Heavy Metal magazine that featured art with naked chicks & gore.

So obviously your a drummer. Did you have any desire to play guitar or play bass? Who were your favorite drummers growing up?

TL: I’ve always loved playing guitar just as much as drums but because I was somewhat of a wayward teen & was failing most of my classes, my parents sent me to a tutor. Turned out this guy was also a drummer & he kind of became my mentor. Totally turned my life around by focusing on learning drums. I’ll always be super grateful for my folks for not ignoring I was going down the wrong path & Keven Hart for his incredible patience dealing with my terrible attitude in the beginning lol!

I’ve always owned & played guitar but my skills were pretty weak. Whenever there was downtime recording with Toxik, I’d end up playing guitar a lot & when my drum tracks were done my friend Chuck (RIP) Schudiner would pick me up & taught me a bunch of stuff staying over at his house. He felt I had some good ideas & encouraged me to get more serious. This gave me some confidence & after Toxik split I ended up writing a lot of the songs for the band I joined Blackened Sky, which opened up a whole new chapter in my path in music.

First drummers that inspired me were Bill Ward, Les Binks (Judas Priest), Rudy Lenners (Scorpions) and Phil Taylor (Motörhead). I played along to those records so many time & completely ruined my record collection haha!

Later on drummers like Clive Burr, Kim Ruzz, Dave Lombardo, Gene Hogan, Helder Stefanini (Raw Power), Pinch (English Dogs) and Away from Voivod.

Now obviously the idea was to join or start up a band am I right? So you weren't a original member of the band, but you joined early enough to be on the band's debut release called "World Circus". How did you end up joining the band? How long were you in the band before the recording of the debut?

TL: Yes, my first recording with them was "World Circus". Trying to remember how long before World Circus. Around 6 months I think. Watching Toxik evolve over the years was really cool. They were comparable to Motley Crue & Ratt in the early days. Still holding onto spandex pants, leg warmers & big hair for awhile but eventually they found their own style. By the time they made the Wasteland demo, Toxik were absolutely killer & I could tell they were becoming one of the best Metal bands in NY. Josh wanted to get things thrashing, but their original drummer Sal just wasn’t that kind of player. When Josh & I met initially I was just starting on double bass but a few years later I had gotten my skills together, playing with Prime Evil for about a year. That’s when they offered me the gig & of course I was all in!

So now you must have known all about fanzines, tape trading, college radio, etc as I got a copy of the demo to review. Did you go to such stores as Zig Zag Records and Slipped Disc back in the day?

TL: Never made it to Zig Zag unfortunately Made a couple trips to Slipped Disc.

Mostly I haunted the excellent stores in NYC. Vinylmania, Generation Records, Bleeker Bobs, It’s Only Rock and Roll, Kim’s Video and Second Coming absorbed hundreds of dollars from my pockets. Not to mention Saint Marks Comics & See Hear for all the books, comix and ‘zines.

So within a year you got signed to Roadracer Records. How did this happen? Did you send your demo to them or did they see you live and there became interest that way? Was there any other labels interested?

TL: From what I remember the awesome & highly respected Holly Lane (RIP) signed Toxik.
Metal Blade added the title track of the Wasteland demo to Metal Massacre IX & they were also interested. Pretty sure they went with Roadrunner because they were located in NYC.

So looking back, do you think it was a good and wise choice going with Roadracer? Did they give you a decent budget for your debut release "Think This"? What did you think of your drum performance on that album?

TL: I can’t give Roadrunner a very good grade for how they handled Toxik. It was legendary Holly Lane (RIP) who signed the band but by the time World Circus was recorded, she had moved on to Mechanic Records. Everyone else at the label had other priorities and we were left in the weeds lol! Although I struck up a friendship with omnipotent A&R madman Monte Conner & we’re good buds to this day.
One can only speculate how things would’ve gone with Metal Blade. I certainly respect
thankfully Tom Morris was a great champion for Toxik and went above and beyond producing both albums. He was able to capture the outstanding music Josh Christian wrote so well, the world is still listening decades later.

You mentioned Prime Evil earlier, looking back are you at all surprised that thet never got signed? They had a hug buzz within the underground back then? What are some memories you have of your time with the band?

TL: It’s a shame no label got behind Prime Evil. The Manifestation is one of the greatest demos from any NY area bands. They opened for many national Metal artists, it goes against logic they never got signed.
Prime Evil gave me my first opportunity to professionally and I played some great shows with them. History has judged them fairly though and now they’re recognized as the outstanding band they are.
Right now I’m working on a lyric video for a new 35th anniversary recording of Kill for Me off the first Prime Evil demo. It’s so cool we’re all still about Metal!

So after "World Circus" came out did you get to do many shows around the NY area? Did you play the legendary Lamour's or The Sundance or any other clubs in NY?

TL: We played Lamour before and after World Circus and it felt amazing to be on the same stage so many legendary bands had performed. Our main club was Streets in New Rochelle NY. Which also hosted countless Metal and Hardcore bands.

Most notably when Pantera opened for us when they were touring for Power Metal. I won’t lie, they bestest us on our home turf lol! We had a great time hanging with them.

We played Sundance touring with King Diamond and was surprised how rowdy the crowd was. I always think of Long Island as whitebread suburbia, but they dispelled that notion completely.

I know NJ also had a lot of clubs in North Jersey like Studio 1, Obsession's, The Stone Pony, Dingbatz, Escapades, and other clubs. Did you play any clubs in North Jersey? (Dingbatz is the only club left).

TL: I remember playing in NJ but can’t remember the venues unfortunately. I went to a lot of shows at Studio 1.

Did you get put on any type of US tour at all or did Roadracer just kinda leave you hanging with no tour support?

TL: Thanks to King Diamond personally asking us to support him on the Conspiracy tour. Even though people at our own label told him to reconsider lol! We did get to play some shows in the northeast, Midwest and Canada. We couldn’t have asked for more supportive people than King, Andy & Snowy

We got to tour Europe but Roadrunner didn’t give us a dime of support. Was all thanks to Andre Verhusen and the awesome people at Dynamo. We found ourselves playing in front of 30,000 Metal fans who actually knew who we were! I can’t praise the Dutch scene enough. They truly have their own identity and I had the privilege of playing Roadburn festival with Blood Farmers in 2011. That festival has brought so many excellent bands wider attention.

Now how were the reviews and feedback from the mags and fanzines overall? Did everone like Mike Sanders vocals? I ask cause they are clean and some fans of thrash as you know don't like clean vocals (see agent steel and anthrax).

TL: Reviews weren’t great. Some definitely didn’t love the vocals. I’m not a huge fan of high register vocals myself, barring legends like Rob Halford or Ian Gillian but unlike many singers using that style, Mike Sanders had serious power and was a natural born front man.

What are your thoughts on your debut these days and any idea on sales? Do you still have a lot of your old flyers, reviews, ads, etc from the debut release?

TL: I still love listening to WC and time has brought more fans than we could’ve imagined. I think initially sales were around 30k but now it’s been reissued at least 4 times now. Would love to know what the total is on that. I’m really proud of our performances and we couldn’t have had a better producer than Tom Morris!

So how soon after "World Circus" came out did Mike Sanders leave the band? That must have been a pretty big blow having a singer leave or was it for the best?

TL: Man we were very unhappy about that and Toxik was never the same without him. Roadracer kinda blackmailed us. Saying they would cut the budget for the next album in half if we didn’t get a vocalist in the style of Testament or whatever. Mike was thinking about doing other things, so we parted amicably. I’m guessing it was close to a year after WC was released.

So how soon after Mike left did you find Charles Sabin? Looking back do you think he was a good choice? Was Roadracer happy with him?

TL: I think it was around 6 months after we parted with Mike. We talked to a few people including David Godfrey’s from Heathen because we loved Breaking the Silence. We all knew Charlie cause he was a local guy and to be honest he was on the more glam side of things. So I was dead set against bringing him on but obviously I was out voted lol!

Adding Charlie was a terrible idea

He just wasn’t coming from the same place musically at all. Roadracer wanted us to have vocals similar to Testament and Metallica. But Josh kept writing the same high register vocal lines. Even though Charlie was more of a mid range singer, he wasn’t really given a choice. He did well in the studio but live it was kinda painful to watch. Had zero stage presence

You also had a new guitar player, John Donnelly. Where did you find him and looking back was he a good fit for the band?

TL: John was going to the same guy for guitar lessons as Josh. Awesome guy. Super talented and a pleasure to work with. He added a lot to Toxik and "Think This".

So when did you begin work on your 2nd release, which was called "Think This"? Did you get a decent budget for this and how long did it take for the songs to come together?

TL: Was a uncomfortable situation at first. Roadracer wanted us to replace Mike with a vocalist in the style of Testament or Metallica. If we didn’t then we the budget for "Think This" would be cut in half.
Mike was our brother and we told him we would take the hit. But Mike had been thinking about pursuing other goals and we sadly parted but amicably.

Some of the songs were already coming together when we recorded World Circus. I absolutely loved what Josh was writing. His amazing riffs were so inspiring and brought out the best in all of us. I think we got around 30k for the budget. Almost double what we had World Circus.

I remember when we played some of the "Think This" material for our road crew guys in Europe and they weren’t that into it lol!