Street Toyz plain and simple was a band in Overdrive! Like it or leave it, they raised the bar for every band that played the Dallas scene…and then they shut that bar down! Other bands took their lead from the roadmap that Street Toyz paved; their professionalism was second to none, their product rivaled that of the majors, and their live show…well that was the cherry on top of the sunday.
In the summer of 1985, Jimmy K Simmons and John Leasure formed Street Toyz (The original working name for the band was Soakin’ Wet). John and Jimmy eventually moved to Dallas, Texas, which would ultimately become home base for Street Toyz. They obtained an apartment (boy…if walls could talk) and rented a rehearsal room at Musicians Exchange. The year was now 1986 and the guys decided on Chris Debray (drums) and David McKnight (bass) as the rhythm section to complete the band…and so started the foundation of the band and a long wild trip. Jimmy buckeled down and wrote the music and arrangements for the songs on the original album and John completed the songs lyrically (with the exception of “She’s Alone” written completely by Jimmy). The eighties were rolling along full speed ahead and the band was living the life of rock stars (well rock stars without a lot of money…but whatever the band lacked in money they more than made up for in the women department). Street Toyz also kept good company with other talented musicians. Down the hall was a newly formed band called Tracy Lords (later changed to Lord Tracy). Tracy Lords/Lord Tracy was made up of Terry Glaze (fresh out of the band Pantera as their frontman), Barney Wolfe, Chris Craig, and Jimmy R. “To this very day, I can still remember the guys in Lord Tracy playing Piranha and it bleeding through the walls we shared…sometimes it was a competition as to who could out play or play louder than the other guys.”In 1987, Street Toyz entered the Planet Dallas Recording Studios and recorded Some Assembly Required. When the album was finished, we had to let David go and thus began a continuous rotation of bassists in and out of the band. We lived this band as if it were a day job and we refined our live show so that it was flawless – and many industry people took notice. One of those guys was Madd Maxx from ZRock Radio. He saw us play at one of our many performances at Dallas City Limits and thus began a long beloved relationship between Madd Maxx and the band. He took such a liking to the band that he was playing every one of our tracks in regular rotation; this was huge considering that ZRock was ‘THE’ metal radio station for the entire US at the time.
We had some great experiences as one of the top and most-well respected bands on the Dallas rock scene…in fact, a good majority of those experiences I wouldn’t even be able to relay in this booklet so as to protect the innocent (and not so innocent). However, a few highlights that come to mind when I reminisce are hanging out with Dirty Looks at our first in store appearance; picking up Tom and Kerry from Slayer at the radio station and introducing them to Pantera at Dallas City Limits; playing Bubble Butt with Tom Araya on the mic; and maybe the most endearing memory was being asked by Marc Ferrari (Ferrari) and Criss Olivia (Savatage) to join their band. These are just a few of the many sordid and deranged memories in the life of a band, and I wouldn’t trade them for a thing!
| 1. | Totally Involved | |
| 2. | Going All the Way | |
| 3. | She’s Alone | |
| 4. | Girls Like You | |
| 5. | That’s Me (Doin’ All Right) | |
| 6. | Me & You | |
| 7. | Twice Upon a Time | |
| 8. | Walk Away | |
| 9. | The Easy Parts Over Now | |
| 10. | Wouldn’t Trade It for the World | |
| 11. | Everybody’s Doing It (But Me)Chris Debray percussion, backing vocals David Mcknight bass, backing vocals Jimmy K. Simmons lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals Jon Leasure lead vocals Michael Layne drums tracks 6-8 Russell Davis bass tracks 6-8 Password: Plotn08 |