The Misfit Toys™
In Between years and In the Present Day
The division of the band from it's core members does
not mean nothing was happening. The songs continued to be written and worked
on through several line ups the there were no long intervals of inactivity.
A new drummer and several guitarists made their way to practices in the basement
studio.You can read for your selves how the years passed for Dennis and Mike
in their interview segments on this web site. No one turned their back on music
and only the fans can determine if other works of music touched them the same
as The Misfit Toys. Elizabeth continued as the lyricist and as her life changed
so did her words and musical influences. If anything Ed's musical influences
moved backwards as he found little in the music of the 90's or new millennium
to interest him. He actually found a lot of music to his taste he had never
been exposed to while it was current, Naturally that music influenced his writing.
Ed maintained the Misfit Toys library and self-released two CD's. One was titled
"Too Short" and featured the songs from the cassette plus several
more tracks that were well known by those who regularly attended their concerts.
Prior to that release fans had been trading the songs that were broadcast on
radio during interviews. The CD release actually updated the recordings and
were all final mixes.The other album officially released on the band's own "Rising
Moon Records" was titled "Noises from the Basement". This was
essentially a collection of the songs typically performed at concerts. It is
all original material since they had stopped playing anything but their own
material in 1987. The songs were all recorded in the band's basement rehearsal
studio and were engineered there as well.
As the years rolled along much to the dismay of the new band mates, frustration
set in and clouded the horizon where that had once been the glow of a future
for the band .Ed and Elizabeth pulled up states and moved to just outside Tucson,
Arizona. The music scene was nearly invisible in spite of Tucson's reputation
for pretty Co-eds and and University of Arizona being labeled a 'party school'.
It can't be confirmed by me but it is often said that like things repel from
each other and opposites attract. It took almost a year to learn that a number
of famous musicians had 'retired' to Tucson and I met a couple with one becoming
a good friend. People were making good music there but there was certainly a
lack of venues to play in. The 100-120 degree temperatures certainly discourages
out door concerts. Many big name acts by-passed Tucson all together and performed
125 miles North at Phoenix. Ed and Elizabeth loved the city, the people, the
weather and the food but without live music and performing more than a few times
a year tarnished Tucson's gleam. They sold their house and moved to Central
Florida a few years later.
Good things don't last
It is ironic that large corporations moved very large facilities from Southern
California to Tucson the year after Ed and Elizabeth left. They literally doubled
the population and destroyed the graphs of wages earned. The median wage for
a male 25-35 the year they moved there was just under 24 thousand dollars a
year. The workers from IBM, Hughes and others companies paid their workers very
high wages in California in order to keep just above the high taxes there. Moving
to Tucson encouraged the employees to have new housing and as a result there
was a new standard for Tucson. All of these people needed retail sources for
food, home and garden as well as everything else that doesn't come with a new
custom built house. So there was an enormous retail boom as well as one in housing
and construction. I went back in 2020 and the city was difficult to recognize
.Eventually Ed and Elizabeth had a parting of the ways and no new music was
recorded and only one album released. On rare occasions Ed would either jam
with like minded musicians or sit in with a band on bass. His heart was still
on the songs that had been ready to record but the departure of Mike and Dennis
curtailed. With the new drums and bass it was like beginning again since they
had to learn the material and Ed and Elizabeth had to become accustomed to new
styles of playing their songs. Record labels that were interested in The Misfit
Toys wanted to hear them perform at show cases on New York and unfortunately
the band had to decline since they were unable to reproduce the songs on the
demo tapes the A&R people had heard and were interested in.
In 2017 Ed looked up Mike on FaceBook they found not too much had actually changed.
The both had a lot of miles behind them with Mike ending up married and in Georgia
not terribly far from Atlanta. He had continued his friendship with Dennis and
actually had gotten together with another friend from high school a few
months prior to my contacting him. The three had played some familiar songs
and then returned to their distant homes. Dennis was in Seattle and married
with two small children. After a few months of playing "catch-up "
Mike contacted Dennis to see if he would be interested in joining the band again.
During the middle 20-teens Ed has begun working and publishing music videos
of the band's songs. The first was actually recorded on video tape in 1988 at
an amusement park outside of Baltimore named 'The Enchanted Forest . The tape
had remained unplayed and unedited since then but after attending collage majoring
in graphics design Ed felt more than qualified to edit the footage into a decent
Music Video for the song "The Ordinary". Without promotion the viewership
was low. That is perfectly logically since the band had stopped touring so long
ago. Amazingly new music lover found that video and others Ed has edited and
posted to YouTube. Fans found Ed's email address in the YouTube Profile and
contacted him from places as diverse as Brazil, Scotland, Portugal and Riga
Latvia.
The members agreed they wanted to release an album of the songs they had prepared
to record in the studio but never did. In 2020 it was common practice for band
mates to never see each other face to face and simply record each part and send
it through the Internet to the person charged with producing the album and mixing
the many components. The only snag was a vocalist. Mike and Dennis felt Elizabeth
would be the best person to sing the songs again while Ed felt she is now too
old. In truth she is about the same age as Robert Smith of The Cure, Siouxsie,
from Banshees fame, and her childhood friend Joan (Larken) Jett, all of whom
still tour. After discussion it was decided she would be asked first before
finding a replacement. She declined so the search was on.
No one can argue that Elizabeth hadn't a great voice. In spite of her diminutive,
4 foot 11 inch frame she had a lot of lung power. Her vocalist heroes were all
male. They included Ray Davies, Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, and Elton John.
The only female vocalist I recall her enjoying was Terri Nunn of "Berlin".
She liked to warm up her voice by singing Berlin's "Pictures of You".
People who have never seen her often try to compare her voice with that of Grace
Slick or Chrissie Hynde. I don't think there really is anyone out there in music
to compare her with. . In the 9 years I knew her before there was a Misfit Toys
band I was completely unaware Elizabeth had an amazing talent for lyrics. We
wrote our first song together in 1985 and the phrasing is all hers. The song,
named "Promise Me" was one of three originals performed at the first
live performance of the band. I am unaware of Dennis's history when it comes
to writing music but he wrote a beautiful solo for the song and Promise me has
held up fine over the years and doesn't sound dated. The band had many songs
co-written by Elizabeth that they wanted to record so the big problem was who
could fill her ( tiny ) shoes ?
Ads were placed and vocalists who had recorded solo were all approached but
most declined and others just didn't fit the band's sound. One young woman in
Austin managed to rip off the band's money they had paid her up front and steal
the recording gear she had been loaned with which to record multi-track . Ashley
will not be forgotten .
An online company where the musical services of vocalists, musicians, song writers,
producers and engineers can be hired for one song or an album's worth was used
and over a few months several were sent a song as an audition. Finally one young
girl was settled upon based upon how she sang the song named "The Haunt".
That song was the topic of a short film written, produced and directed by Ed
Fusco and starring a young actress named Kate Lynn Moore. Kate would become
the face and figure associated with the Misfit Toys ever after 2021.
The Misfit Toys new vocalist for the album was Victoria Vizhanska; stage name
Victory Vizhanska. Unknown to the band when she joined them she was only 16
years old. She lived in Kyiv, Ukraine and had some experience singing though
cover tunes in self made videos. After passing an audition of two songs sent
to her with no vocal track she agreed to sing the album. The band sent her a
'scratch' recording of each song one at a time and she took each to a local
studio where she recorded the vocal track and then returned the recording to
the band. After about three weeks Putin decided to put a stop to her recording
for us and aimed bombs and artillery shells into Victoria's neighborhood. After
much effort to convince her, she and her mother along with two cats left Kyiv
and ultimately arrived across the border into Poland. After settling in Victoria
once more resumed recording the vocals for the remaining songs.
Time became a factor and the reliability of Victoria became a serious issue.
She refused to lend her image to any publicity or to allow us to use video of
her for our music videos. In modern times music videos are a 'given' to promote
new songs or bands. Due to the lack of cooperation and the lack of clarity as
to the future of Ukraine we felt compelled to keep whatever quality vocal recordings
she was able to send us. Many were below our desired stands but she was paid
after completing each song and we would have been in a position to find another
vocalist and begin again with my investment lost. We had a hope that some things
could be improved in the mixing process.
In late Autumn the recording had been completed and the songs were being mixed.
The band had earlier discussed whether to release the album as one or two. There
was enough material on hand to release an album of all old recordings featuring
Elizabeth on vocals, keyboard and percussion and another album of material with
Victoria. Then too was the question of releasing the recordings only to streaming
services or to also release them on CD or vinyl. In recent years vinyl has far
outsold Compact Disc recordings but is it a fad that will soon die out? Then
again new automobiles and computers no longer come with CD players. People tend
to listen to Sirius or other satellite radio or to streaming services they subscribe
to. The question was quite the dilemma.
Ultimately it was decided to release one album that would contain 4 songs with
Elizabeth's studio vocals and 8 with Victoria's. The vinyl record was turned
down and a CD would be manufactured in it's place. In order to draw attention
to Misfit Toys and away from bands competing or airplay a special presentation
box would be made to house the CD and be given to select radio stations or persons
in the music business. Inside the box would be not only the CD, but also a poster
of the CD's cover - which is taken from a scene in the Haunt short film. The
box would be the size of a record album; 12 inch by 12 inch and depending on
whom the recipient would be it would contain the poster and press release material
and even lyric sheets. The box was designed by Ed along with the CD jewel case
graphics and their completion would coincide. The album, named "Closure"
was released to streaming services around the world on January 9. The CD and
boxes were ready for distribution or sale on February 2.Then it was a matter
of waiting as the promoters and distributors do their jobs. The band is doing
what they can to see that any perceived audience has access to the album. Both
small wattage listener supported radio stations and major non-commercial stations
are being emailed with information and sample tracks in a hope to entice more
stations to download the entire album and make it available to their listeners. Early
statistical analysis has shown a higher than expected number of listeners across
Europe as well as in Brazil, India and Columbia. New Zealand and Australia have
not been ignored, nor has Singapore and other stations generally overlooked
by American bands.
The song "Someday" took off around the world as the chosen single
in spite of what we wanted. People listened to the album and immediately loved
the song. Another song selected to be the single to put the band on play lists
was vocalized by Victoria and though well liked she refused to do interviews
or even sign copies of the CD. She even declined to have us send her copies
of the album on CD. So once her obligation to complete 14 songs was filled she
brushed us off in less diva form than spoiled child. At some point she moved
to America and continued releasing videos of cover songs but she refused to
tell us where she lived or anything else. We have 6 tracks she recorded vocals
on and may release those or simply find a new vocalist who is mature and professional.
It seems as if every time the topic of mosdern music comes up everyone expresses their dissatisfaction with what is available as well as the outragous and greedy concert ticket prices. For once Biden can't be blamed. How many memerfable songs have coem from the past 30 years ? Our younger generations have chosen video games over making music as a band. The only choice is to go further back to 80's music or to 'classic rock'. Misfit Toys are still writing and recording good music. People who recently discovered the band are thrilled to have somethiomng good to listen to again. I am very pleased to find that people who loved to see us live back in the day have discovered our newest album and videos.
The name "Misfit Toys" has been the legal service mark of this band since 1985. Every other band using the name is in violation of Federal law. It has been too much for me to deal with and takimng those bands to court a hassle I wasn't prepared to deal with. Recently the company that holds ownership of all of the trademarks associated with the 1963 Christmas special featuring the Rudolf and Herbie the dentist characters has authored an agreement with Ed Fusco, the holder of the rights to the name for a band and transferred the rights to the name to the holding company charged with safeguarding the names from the Christmas special so nothing that would degrade the reputation or appearance. Our band is the only entity allowed to use this name for a band. The company charged with protecting the names has the power and money to pursue anyone else using the name and they assure me they will. The rights to the name are only to me, Ed Fusco and when I die there will be no one else permitted to use the name. So any bands using our name are here warned they will be prosecuted for trademark violation.
It is unwise to pay a lot of attention to reviews They can generate a swollen
head or spread a feeling of depression thinking the band can't make the grade.
On the other hand, when a review comes in that shows the reviewer obviously
listened all the way through the song and listened intently then I will
give it a degree of credibility. here are a couple that came in today I decided
to share with fans.
Caravela Records
Indeed it feels as if the vocalist has gone deep in her intense feelings
of dread and desire, life and death. This marvelous song creates amazing images
back in our minds. The mood is really dark, yet uplifting in a way, as in a
kind of reverse redemption. Delicate sounding by the Misfit Toys, the combination
thrills us in a hopelessly comfortable way. Well played and recorded, as well
as an honest studio work and shaping. We'll be happy to talk about possible
partnerships and for the time being we'll soon share this song on Instagram
stories.
We Write About Music
Thanks so much for requesting us to review your song "Swept Away".
The vocals are really what sold us on this song the most. Not that the rest
fell flat or anything, but they certainly overpowered the instrumentals in a
good way. I am impressed by the emotional message of your music. I think there
is something which can touch the soul of each of us. Will be interested in exploring
more from you all. Additionally, we'd love to stay in touch on Instagram or
TikTok for all your new releases.
Certified Bop Magazine had this to say about our song
"This side of Paradise" Certified Bop Magazine
What a radiant, rhythmically compelling journey "This Side of Paradise"
takes us on. There's a clear echo of the Jangle Rock era in your sound, a fond
nod to the mid-60's Byrds-style resonance that elevates the spirit, and you've
made it entirely your own. It's a refreshing reminder that music can uplift
without the need to carry a heavy message. Your rhythmic guitar lines are a
blissful undercurrent, beautifully accentuated and underlining the natural buoyancy
of the track.
Your vocals are impressive, effortlessly cascading over the instrumentals, creating a harmonious blend that indeed lifts one's spirits. There's an airy quality to your voice that resonates with the relaxed charm of the song, quite the departure for your band but a successful one, in my book. I am so taken by this delightful tune that I'll be sharing it on my Instagram to spread the joy!
As you venture into future creative decisions, remember the unique touch
of lightness in "This Side of Paradise" that stands out in a world
that often leans toward the more intense side of the music spectrum.Best Regards,
Skylar from Certified Bop