And so it can to pass that in the year of nineteen hundred and eighty eight TOXICO WAS BORN....

The year that Bon Jovi had bad medicine, Def Leppard were busy getting love bites, Michael Jackson was still almost a man in the mirror (bet he regretted that after surgery) Rick Astley was never gonna give you up & Kylie was doing the locomotion, all whilst Elton John was singing what I term the most fucking horrendous song of all time... candle in the wind..... JUST KILL ME!

So what was a recently sacked angry young man to do with himself to try to earn a living? I know... I will start using industrial chemicals & inks in my mum’s spare bedroom and print horrible t-shirts with the sole intention of annoying as many people as possible! Surprisingly enough, this was very short lived, about two days I think. The issue? black ink all over her new cream carpet, coupled with the smell of industrial chemicals at dinner time.

The first real location was Camden Market, when it was still a proper market, and not the horrible tourist beige apocalypse it has become. The first few years were mainly about laughing, as not a lot of money was made. People did not really get what we were doing to start.. guns, slogans, violence, anti religion & government, hotrods, bikes & some general abuse thrown in for good measure.

The soundtrack back then was a healthy mix of Ministry, Public Enemy, Killing Joke, Slayer, NWA, Fear Factory & Machine Head.... we also had the biggest stereo in the market, and liked to use the number eleven as much as possible. To jog your memory, these great albums came out in '88 Slayer-South of Heaven, Public Enemy-A Nation of Millions, Ministry-Land of Rape & Honey, NWA-Strait Outta Compton..... Now how old do you feel.....

There are many fond memories from the old Camden Market days, such as throwing stones at Gary Barlow & Robbie Williams, or making fans of Nirvana cry & getting our shop picketed by the irate youth in protest at our “Dead Nevermind” t-shirt, calling Steven Tyler a shit postman, or just the simple pleasure of having the biggest stereo and the loudest music... yes we were popular! 

If any of you have pictures of old shirts or the market stall in Camden send them in to us!