By Bill Sassenberger
Fluke Publishing, Phoenix, AZ, 2024
Pages: 200
Dimensions: 5 in x 8 in
Cover: Paper
Binding: perfect-bound
Process: offset
Color: full color
Edition size: 1500
ISBN: 9798218412418

A new book from Fluke Publishing that is packed to the gills! A detailed personal window into an important DIY institution: the record label Toxic Shock and its store Toxic Ranch. Toxic Shock is presented as a chronology (though not always in chronological order) of the development of underground music in the US, anecdotes of running a record label and store, details of working with some of the great bands on the label (Hello to Italy's Raw Power!) and a personal memoir covering the nearly 3 1/2 decades that Bill and his late wife Julianna worked on this enterprise. It's a little chaotically organized but there's a lot here, including many little scans of flyers, band photos and other ephemera.  

From the publisher:

Toxic Shock is a full color, 200-page book that chronicles the history of the punk record store/mail order enterprise and groundbreaking record label Toxic Shock from its origins in 1980 in the grimy suburbs of Pomona, CA to its demise in Tucson, AZ in 2014.

Loaded with many rare photos and gig flyers, and through a combination of a very personal biography, oral history and extensive imagery, the book covers the many twists and turns that made Toxic Shock an often misunderstood punk rock institution. It also covers how the death rock band Christian Death inspired the co-owners to create the record label.

Graphic artists such as Pushead, Vince Rancid and Jim Blanchard lent their work to its earliest label releases and mail order catalogs. It documents Toxic Shock's involvement with the bands Decry, Zero Boys, Corrosion of Conformity, Dayglo Abortions, Skinner box, the Hickoids, th’Inbred, Skin Yard, Sloppy Seconds, Treepeople plus tour diaries with Italy's Raw Power.

Toxic Shock features cover art and several illustrations from graphic artist Brian Walsby, plus several never published before photos from the iconic Ed Colver. The book covers the trials and tribulations of running a totally independent record store for 34 years and an in-depth oral history from former employees and musicians from the Toxic Shock roster—such as Decry, Modern Industry, Manson Youth, Massacre Guys, Human Therapy, Raw Power, Peace Corpse, Pillsbury Hardcore, Hullabaloo, House of Large Sizes and more!