Non Toxique Lost

In the beginning of the '80s, the band NON TOXIQUE LOST (short name: NTL) was founded in Mainz, Germany. The eponym for this project was taken from the term "mustard gas", a chemical weapon, which had been invented by the german scientists named "Lommel" and "Steinkopf" during World WarI under the acronym of "LOST" .
Though the band's name refers to the "unperilous" character of this music, in the end NON TOXIQUE LOST also acted as a means for a fight, the very fight against the deadlocked patterns of the culture of music of that time. Formed by members of some local "Punk"-bands, founded by Sea Wanton and A. Wollscheid (aka S.B.O.T.H.I.). Later on, S. Schütze joined to play bass, violin and special (electronic) effects and P. Prieur, called "POGO", did the vocals.

Although NTL often has been labelled as part of the "NDW" (= "Neue deutsche Welle") and sometimes even influences of "Jazz music" have been (wrongly) mentioned, the band saw its position in the first instance in the context of an "industrial movement". When NTL was founded in 1982, its uncompromising musical approach was significantly inspired by pioneers of the "Industrial Music" like Throbbing Gristle, SPK and Whitehouse. Out of these influences, NON TOXIQUE LOST developed its sound as a trance-esque cocoon of clashing sounds of walls, pulsating synthesizers and angry vocals, which draws the listener into an emotional maelstrom, leading from fear, pain and desperation to rage and unlimited aggression. From time to time very static and pushed on by brute rhythms, NTL's music is uncompromisingly tough and this is exactly why it can be considered as an anomaly of that Germany of the early 80s. Similarities are seen more with bands like PACIFIC 231 (from France) or ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO (from Spain).

In essence, there are two important ideas crossing the band's whole oeuvre: the processing of the "everyday life" experience, interweaved with an explicit political attitude. A large impact came from J. Stender, who had been a member of P.D., then. His talent, to create german lyrics on "everday life" "on the run", conveying the "concrete" and "direct" contents, had been a adequate stylistic device to handle the facts of a "grey german reality" of those days. But in contrary to P.D. and P16.D4, NON TOXIQUE LOST objected to being classified into the "art" genre. Indeed, there were some references to the current "art"-movements, but the music was not to be "avantgarde", even if some external observers could get this impression. But NTL combined its conceptions about music with the idea to be creative using existing objects and to, aside from instruments, also use unconventional sound sources - this is another example for the realisation of the "concrete" and "everyday life". At the same time, the music has been the radical expression of an oppositional attitude. With NTL, Sea Wanton (the singer) realized his intention to found a band, which dealt with the social and political boredom of its reality in a challenging way.

NTL did not only intend to distance itself from the reception of music, in general, but it provoked a concrete hassle with those crusted forms of understanding music and the culture of the youth. The band was permanently confronted by an environment which was deeply into the "Rock-music" culture of the 70s, public places like pubs and youth-centres were dominated by the "Hippies" and "drug-abuse" cosiness. For a project like NON TOXIQUE LOST that meant a struggle for "free-spaces", not hostility, but also the neccessity to become accepted as something new.

To a certain extent, as an idea of the "Punk"-movement, the philosophy of NTL aimed at provocation and the radical realisation of its own ideas. Accordingly, the turning away from the established mechanismn of the "music-business" did not only affect the musical style, but also the production and merchandising of the sound storage medium. It was logic for NTL to select the compact-cassette as a medium for its music. This was "the" medium, which allowed the musicians as opposed to anything else, to keep in control over their musical and creative work and a direct merchandising, without being forced to take part in the profit-orientated "machinery" of the "music-business". In 1982, the first recordings were published on the "d.i.y."(=do it yourself) founded "cassettes only" label called "CAN CAN", which were to be followed by ca. 30 further releases. In spite of this high grade of productivity, encompassing mostly the studio- and "live" material of NTL, but also some cassette-compilations featuring some "international industrial" bands, NTL and "CAN CAN" remained a creative "action-area", which was not perceived as a "full time job" or even as the "meaning of life". For a first vinyl release, a strictly limited edition, you had to wait for some years.

The songs on the LP-album, called "Wanton", released in 1986, a selection of material, which had been published earlier on compact-cassette, expresses something like a "subtile" toughness (on a long range), which drills slowly in your auditory canal and the band herself accurately characterizes it as "industrial muzak". As opposed to the high output on sound-medium there were only rare chances to experience the band on stage. Only a few events like those in Mainz and Trier (Germany), at the "Recloose Festival" in London, in Amsterdam, at the "Geminox-Festival" in Frankfurt (Germany) or at the "Berlin Atonal 2 Festival" took place. Even though the performance at the "Berlin Atonal 2 Festival" got an especially good reputation and positive feedbacks with those "friends" of "abstract music", NTL remained true to itself and did not devise any ambitions to change its strategies of merchandising. The band was more interested in the construction of a national and international community of producers and listeners of "abstract" and "experimental" music. There was a little network(ing) in the Mainz, Wiesbaden and Franfurt - area (Germany), e.g., in the atmosphere of the "Selektion" label (with groups like P16.D4 and S.B.O.T.H.I.), resulting in friendly contacts and sometimes personal co-operations within the music processes (including some sessions and live-performances).

More contacts were established with "Graf Haufen" (Berlin) and soon reached out to "cassettes only" labels, based in France, the U.K. and Italy. Besides his membership with NTL, Sea Wanton had started publishing a fanzine called "Handbook of Fun" in 1983, which intended to be a medium for subversive communication. The fanzine had been a means to distribute words and artworks ("collages"), which pointed out the protest against the established structures of the societies and understanding of "art" or crusted "music-cultures", and thereby it can be interpreted as a printed form of "the same", which was also articulated by NTL's music. Furthermore the "Handbook of Fun" constituted a forum for experimental music, distributing contact-addresses (with different "cassettes-only" labels or juicy record-shops), thus being part of an international network of the "industrial scene of the 80s".

NTL came up against those established patterns of their environment with a radical "musical" denial, even though expressed in a distinct (German) language, only very few could understand. You could say, that this pull-esque, rhythmical toughness of some tracks, which meanwhile is an essential part with numerous "industrial bands", appeared some years "too early". The fact, that this music caused more embarassing to irritating reactions by most listeners, plus the consequent policy of publications and the responsibility for the "subversive underground", are (presumably) the cause for being known by the "in-crowd", until now. Even though or exactly because the "hearing customs" have changed in these last decades, the music of NTL has kept hold of its attraction as a "pioneer" achievement of the so-called "rhythmical Industrial". Since some years, Sea Wanton, accompanied by new companions, is again active as NON TOXIQUE LOST.

While now using contemporary sound sources like samplers and computers, it is (as always) bound to the idea of electronic toughness and a political attitude and, thus, creating its own musical cosmos. Parallel to this, a selection of early tape-recordings has been re-released on vinyl and gives a fine overview on the complete works of the band. More information and a complete list of the publications can be found on the band's site: www.nontoxiquelost.de or www.discogs.com