The Story of Old Skull (1987 - 1992)
'In the late eighties, hardcore punk was dying on the vine. Many of the great bands had decided that they'd rather play metal or reggae and so the scene was beginning to wither and crack. But the whole genre was given a shot in the arm by the unlikeliest of bands from the unlikeliest of places.
'The band was Old Skull and came out of Wisconsin, formed by the Toulon brothers, Jamie and J.P. and their friend Jesse Collins-Davies. The Toulon brothers were nine and ten years old respectively and Jesse was ten. The brother's father, Vern Toulon, was friends with Robin Davies, a member of respected Wisconsin band Tar Babies and Davies suggested his stepson form a band with the Toulon brothers. Once the deal was sealed, Old Skull came together about 1987. Quickly developing a reputation for their age and the subject matter of the songs, they managed to snag a deal with Restless Records and entered the studio with future Garbage member and producer Steve Marker and their fathers, the trio cranked out a noisy album of pre-adolescent hardcore entitled Get Outta School in 1989.
'The songs were a blend of speed and pure, youthful punk energy and the band were seen as either a complete joke or the real thing. They got write ups in Rolling Stone, Newsweek and People magazine and were seen on tour with The Flaming Lips and GWAR. But problems started as people began speculating that Vern Toulon had actually written all the songs and was pulling the strings behind the scenes. These questions were never given credible answers and so the mystery still surrounds.
'After a lineup change which saw Collins-Davies leave the band and a new drummer being brought in, the original version of Old Skull fell apart by late 1990 and the kids went back to school and the name went quiet. That is until 1992 when a new Old Skull album entitled C.I.A. Drug Fest was released. This album was produced by Vern Toulon and saw the inclusion of another set of brothers, Chris and Josh Scott on guitars and vocals. J.P. and Jamie had switched places with J.P. playing drums and Jamie singing. The resulting record is extremely difficult to listen to as a punk record. It seems like a lot of noise masquerading as songs. But it is worth to own just as a novelty.
'After a little touring in support of the record, the band disbanded for real and the members all began growing up and moved on with their lives. The Scott brothers dropped off the face of the earth entirely while the Toulon family as a whole went underground. During the band's initial early days, the Toulon's parents had divorced but the brothers kept going. Then sometime in the '90's, their mother was reported killed in a train accident but not much else was known beyond that. By that point, the world had forgotten Old Skull and the Toulon's began a very rough patch in life.
'In 2001, it was reported that Vern Toulon had passed away after years of alcoholism, an affliction that had gotten so bad that he was reportedly panhandling on the streets of Madison. The brothers didn't say anything regarding his passing and nothing further was heard of the Toulon's until a couple of years later when both of them reemerged in New York, squatting on the streets with what were called 'crust punks.' This group of punks were living on the streets of NYC and started making music dealing with their plights. Jamie in particular became a founding member of Star Fucking Hipsters, a side project of one of the more renowned of these bands, Leftover Crack. J.P. formed Planned Collapse and began playing small clubs around New York.
'In 2005, the brothers reemerged on stage at CBGB as Old Skull playing a show with some friends backing them up. It would be one of the last times the brothers would be seen playing music. About this time, J.P. began dealing with a pretty nasty drug problem, one that would land him in jail and rehab over the years. But by 2010, it looked like J.P. had beaten the habit and had moved in with his son in an effort to keep himself clean. But then on November 13, 2010, it was reported that J.P. Toulon had passed away. No formal cause of death was ever announced but it had been reported that he'd been hospitalized with pancreatitis in the preceding months. In an even sadder twist of fate to all of this was that J.P. died the same day as Jamie's birthday.
'The small community of devoted Old Skull fans were devastated and word went out all over the Internet in memory. Jamie Toulon, on the other hand, was struggling with depression and continued living on the streets, just barely getting by. In the summer of 2011, he somehow wound up in Lynchburg, Virginia, which is where this author went to college. Having graduated three years before and moved back home, I never had a chance to run into Jamie but I would like to believe it would've been interesting and might have made for a great interview. How he wound up in the same city where I found myself as a writer and as a person is something I'll always wonder about. Unfortunately, I never got to find this out.
'In June of 2011, Jamie committed suicide in Lynchburg, tragically bringing an end to Old Skull and the sad history of the Toulon family. It was incredibly heartbreaking for friends and fans of the band to hear the news. What made it even worse was that his suicide came seven months after J.P.'s death. With Jamie's death, fans made tributes and posted messages but in the mainstream, his death was not reported at all, as opposed to J.P.'s death.
'While the Toulon brothers met very young and extremely tragic endings, the other founding member of the band has led a very successful life; Jesse Collins-Davies is now a DJ in Wisconsin and has a very successful career going for himself. It has been over twenty years since the first Old Skull record and during that time, there has never been one definitive interview chronicling the band's career. Now with Collins-Davies the only surviving member of this teenage punk band, he might come out and do an interview and people will be more than ready to hear what he has to say.'-- Pete Crigler, Perfect Sound Forever
JP and Jamie Toulon, early '90s
My Life with Old Skull (1994 - 2011)
'When I was about 10 years old, my older brother Ben, who got me into bands like Minor Threat and The Dead Kennedy's, turned me on to a band called Old Skull. This was around the time they released their 2nd album CIA Drug Fest. At the time their 1st album Get Outta School was released, the members of Old Skull were between the ages of 8 and 10. I was immediately drawn to them. I did not care that they couldn't play there instruments. I knew that didn't matter. As a very rebellious child I thought there could be nothing cooler than having a punk band at such an early age.
'A few years later, my brother made some random decision to move to Madison, Wisconsin. A couple weeks after his big move (he was 16 by the way), I received a call from him, "Hey, I made some cool new friends out here. JP and Jamie Toulon. They're brothers and they where in Old Skull. After Madison got old, Ben and JP decided to move to NYC and be squatters together. Train hopping was involved as well somewhere within these years. Jamie ended up moving to NYC sometime in the mix as well.
JP Toulon (around the time I met him)
'JP was 15 when I met him, I was 13 I think. We ended up becoming good pals during the times that Ben would bring him up to visit. Mainly we just watched a lot of television together and would crack jokes. BB guns where a big part of our relationship as well. Jamie and I never got to close. He was a serious loner in most peoples eyes.
JP Toulon
'JP and Jamie's father had died of a heroin overdose at sometime or another. Their mother, hit by a train. This was probably a big factor in why they fell into deep dark drug addictions. My brother became a big part of that as well. Sometime, somewhere down the road, I had joined them. Ben was not supportive of my decision but at times he was forced to overlook that. There I was, going on dope runs with my childhood heroes. I thought I was bad until I saw JP do things like stick a syringe in his neck because all the veins in his arms had collapsed or shoot 10 bags at once. I am not calling myself a saint. I would constantly go on benders, run out of money, get sick, repeat. it turned into a scheduled agenda. I'll spare the real gory details.
My brother Ben
'To make a long story short, my brother, who was doing quite well, had one of his little slips about 3 years back. He was found dead on a bathroom floor. One year later JP died of a speedball overdose (cocaine and heroin mix). One year after that, Jamie hanged himself. But no matter how skeezy JP was, everybody loved him. He was one of the funniest and most charismatic people I have ever known. I haven't even thought of doing hard drugs ever since my brother died. He left behind a beautiful little girl named Adelaide, she to me is better than any drug ever created. JP left behind a beautiful son named Aiden, who is the same age as my niece. My brother played a huge role in making me the man I am today and I am extremely thankful for that. I always count my blessings and I still think Old Skull is fucking awesome!'-- Andy Animal, Andy's World
Jamie Toulon
Further
Old Skull @ Wikipedia
Old Skull @ Dead Punk Stars
Old Skull @ Myspace
the adventures of jeff & unkajeff: Old Skull
'Old Skull are young and half-informed'
'Is it cruel ... ?'
'“The Gospel According to…” Presents…Old Skull – Get Outta School'
'old skull: the hardcore punk shaggs'
'Old Skull Brother J.P. Toulon Found Dead'
'Jamie Toulon died'
Gallery
Tracks
AIDS
Let's Go Kill That Man
Hot Dog Hell
Get On the Bus
Kill A Dead Eagle
Skate or Die
*
p.s. RIP: Louis Waldron. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, David. Thanks about the Giono post. He's pretty overlooked and forgotten or unfashionable at the moment even in France. 'Wolf of Wall Street'? Oh, that's the new Scorcese? Hm, curious. 'Late 20th Century Capitalism rendered as a "Roadrunner" cartoon' is a very intriguing description/idea, I must say. I'll see it when it gets here. Thanks! Did you ever have any encounters with Louis Waldron? ** Susie Bright, Susie! Wowzer, how incredibly cool of you to come in here! Thank you about the Giono post. How are you? You're the best! Do you ever get over to Paris? I hope everything is really great with you, and I send you tons of love and respect! ** Sypha, I did read that Colin Wilson died, and I don't know if I've ever read anything of his or not. Maybe not? I can't remember anything, although maybe I've read bits and pieces here and there or something. ** Pilgarlic, Hi, man! Great to see you! 'Hill William' is just terrific! Have you read it? It and McClanahan's other recent novel 'Crapalachia' are highly recommended, if not. Ha ha, that's nice and rings kind of really true: the drug metaphor thing. I'd be absinthe plus ergot? The only time I did absinthe, all it did was give me a splitting headache, ha ha. Xmas is so much easier when you're a zillion miles away from your family like I am. Although one of my brothers, the psychic healer, is visiting Paris for a few days just before the big day, I think to heal some Parisians, so I'll see him. Usually on Xmas day here, I do absolutely nothing at all other than walk around the city by myself and enjoy the complete emptiness. I'm probably going to get two or three buches. I might get the first one tomorrow, if it can be scored. This one. I'll have to take an hour long train ride to Versailles to get it, 'cos it's only available/sold at the restaurant at the Palace. So, that one, hopefully, and then at least one more, and I'm not sure which one that will be yet. Survive the Xmas build-up, buddy. ** Steevee, Good, I'm glad to hear that. That Jonze does words well, I mean. Great, thanks for the ink to your documentaries of 2013 list! I'll go peruse it shortly. Everyone, go here to read Steevee's list of Best Political Documentaries of 2013. ** Rudyd, Hey there! Good to see you! Really glad the post got you interested in reading Giono, and, yeah, that's a hell of a passage, right? How are you? What's going on? ** Etc etc etc, Hi. Few people outside of France, and even here, read Giono, so you're hardly alone. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, this great, now defunct press North Point published a slew of his novels in the US, and there was a bit of a vogue for his work then, but very few are still in print in English. Nowadays, when I say, Have you read Jean Giono, people almost always think I'm asking if they're read John Giorno. No, I haven't seen 'The Great Beauty'. I wonder if it's playing here. I'll go check the listings. Sounds great. I'll definitely check it out if I can. Thanks much for the mini-review and the recommendation, man. ** les mots dans le nom, Hi. The book is good. I guess it's his most famous novel. I'm not sure if it's his best. I think maybe I like 'Blue Boy' the best, I don't know why. ** Misanthrope, Hi, George. Oh, man, that's scary. Yeah, I don't know, but it does seem like you should talk to her doctor. I mean, I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't. Maybe that would get her a CT scan in the suspected area a lot quicker than late January. I'm so sorry, and I just hope her body is bothering her for less serious reasons somehow. Love to you, man. ** Keaton, You on writing! This should be interesting. Let's see ... okay, yeah, those are interesting approaches to writing and methodologies. What kind of writing results in twink boy sex? It seems like a simple proposition on the surface, but I just tried to imagine, and I couldn't figure it out at all. Poor Stephen King. Finally someone other than me gets that I can't write my way out of a paper bag. Or someone other than me that I know and respect. I've been thinking I was insane or something. ** Wow, that's it? That's all of you? Quiet around here. Maybe it'll be less quiet today because your entertainment for the duration is a lot less quiet. Or maybe that won't make any difference at all. We'll see, and it's all good, I guess. See you tomorrow.