Florida-based industrial/aggrotech group MissFit Toys have returned with a new album, “The Nine” (Distortion Productions). Formed in 2007, the project was initially the solo project of Richie V. Suriv before being fleshed out into a band. “The Nine” is full of dark electronic tracks with distorted vocals, bringing to mind classic industrial/electronic music but taking the influences into creative new directions. MissFit Toys strive to put on theatrical live shows and will be announcing tour dates for 2023 that include shows in Mexico supporting Hocico.
I haven’t seen much about the history of MissFit Toys. Could you explain a bit about how the project came together?
Richie: MissFit Toys was first started in 2007 as a solo project of mine and didn’t start becoming a band until Jayson Smith joined back in 2008.
I did read that it started off as a solo project before becoming a full band. Do other members contribute to the writing/recording process, or is it still mainly a solo project in the studio that becomes a full band for live shows?
Richie: In the early years of MissFit Toys it was mostly me writing everything but that started shifting back when we wrote the “Through the Glass” album.
Did expanding the band have any specific impact on the material that came after?
Richie: I would say it did have an impact on some of the dynamics of the material, but overall, the band still has the same feel.
Were there any major differences in making “The Nine” compared to your previous albums?
Richie: “The Nine” didn’t have any real notable differences until it came to the final mixing. Our hard drive ended up locking itself during some of the mix downs and almost killed the album entirely. We ran into several other issues trying to recover all the tools we use along with recovering enough files to work with, which was a nightmare. So in the end, we are just happy we were able to still release it.
Listening to your music, I’m reminded of some of my favorite early industrial stuff that accomplished a lot with somewhat minimal equipment and layers of sound. Is there an intentional creative choice to keep things streamlined?
Richie: Well, thank you, we do strive for the older industrial feel with the music because it’s what we love.
What made you choose the name MissFit Toys?
Richie: We get asked quite frequently about our name and to be honest it was actually picked for two reasons. The first part of the name ‘Miss‘ was a way to incorporate the androgynous style of the band in its early days. The second, came from an argument with my family after I had a brush with death that put me in an ICU in a coma for 2 weeks. I was told, “you and the people you associate with are nothing but misfit toys. You’ll never amount to anything”. So I took that and decided to use it as my way of proving them wrong.
I see that you’re planning live shows for 2023. For those who only know your recordings, how would you describe your live performances?
Richie: That’s actually a hard one to answer. The best way I can describe our live performance is that it is very theatrical.
Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
Richie: We would just like to add a thank you to our family friends and fans for all of the love and support they have given us over the years. Without their love and support we wouldn’t be able to do what we love.
For more info and to purchase music, visit missfit-toys.bandcamp.com.
