Interview

Blaine Cook and the band Discuss What's Going on with Toe Tag and The Accused AD

The rain had finally quit in Seattle, so I headed off to the home of Blaine Cook, the lead singer of both Toe Tag and The Accused AD. I thought band practice would be at an off site location so I didn't bring earplugs. I soon learned otherwise - that Blaine brings the practice home! As his wife Rahel escorted me down into the basement, I passed the well stocked bar and went into the practice room. Everyone except bassist Steve had shown up at this point, so I got to asking Blaine if Tommy Neimeyer of the old Accused was OK with him reviving the new rendition of The Accused. "He's not happy about that," replied Blaine. Tommy had brought back the original vocalist and it's basically a different band.

Blaine had to close Zippy's Burgers due to either the pandemic or minimum wage. "It was a dream that had to die," he stated. I didn't wish to press on since it's probably a sore subject, but I miss that place. Right now, he's focused on Toe Tag and The Accused AD. They are both the same band and share plenty of similar tuneage in their set lists.
Guitarist Alex, who's been with them for two decades, engaged in a vignette of some crazy person who attacked a bunch of members at The Red Door - an exclusive club north of Seattle. The psychotic person threw slabs at various people's cars and had to be tased until someone drove over him to mitigate further damage, even after he had been bear maced. They let the guy out after he was put in a psychiatric hold at Harborview Hospital. Sadly, he lives on the fourth floor over the club.
We got to talking about the last Accused AD album "Ghoul in the Mirror," which of course includes one prerequisite cover song which is "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo" originally from Rick Derringer. They did a video for the song "Juego Terminado" and also do two other videos including "A Terrible Tail". Also there's the Toe Tag "Singlesided" LP which has 8 tracks. Same band, equally brutal. They also do a cover of Black Sabbath's "Junior's Eyes," but that's not on any full release, just the "Machete Killah" EP.

When unveiling the "Juego Terminado" video production, they found some guy driving a pickup truck near their house and he got into the idea and filmed it behind their place, under Black State Productions. Very Washington, and when the guy digs with his shovel he unveils a ghoul. You can see more in the video.
Before they got down to the practice session, we discussed why the scene is so bad on the radio up here - why even these low voltage stations won't allow a metal show on. "Because they're hipster garbage" concluded the band. We discussed the grunge scene in Seattle and why all the bands that preceded Nirvana seemed to get overlooked. A lot of people forget that Pantera were glam for their first three albums.
Alex agreed with me because he felt that Tad's image of not being a pretty boy worked against him, giving him an image of a doofus with a chainsaw. Such a shame. Even Mudhoney and Cat Butt couldn't get a break. Alex still hangs out with members of both bands, and drummer Chris - who was in My Sister's Machine and Culprit prior to Toe Tag, joined the band after original drummer Steve Nelson retired.
Before the band got down to their setlist, they discussed religion and how Blaine actually hung out and had some drinks with Tommy. The latter wasn't told that they had his leopard printed cabinet. I didn't get to tell Rahel that I pronounced her name wrong because of the Zippy burger with the name Rae's Hell.
Toe Tag/Accused AD will be heading out on a Central and South American Tour with stops in Chihuahua, Bogota, Sao Paolo and Santiago. Since they're flying out, only breakable drum items will go with them. The rest will be provided by backline. After I went outside for a break I returned to the wafting aroma of cannabis and a proliferation of beers. Then I made sure I stayed back since the amps were set to 13 and the music was deafening and the set was played tight as a nun. I need to see these guys live. They've played several clubs in Seattle, like Dante's, so I'll keep a lookout.