Bio

The origins of the band !T.O.O.H.! go back to 1990, when brothers Josef (guitar) and Jan Vesely (drums) formed the band Devastator with their two friends in Prague's Břevnov. In 1991 Devastator played several live shows in Prague clubs and recorded an unofficial demo "Rozklad", which was never distributed. Musically it was primitive grindcore with vulgar but also socially/critical lyrics a la Napalm Death. The average age was 15 years old (the drummer was 14).

1992 and 1993 were years of total decline. The rehearsal room was more about drinking and smoking weed than playing. The bandmates showed no musical progress, so the brothers played more or less alone together. At the end of 1993 they change their name to !T.O.O.H.! and Josef goes to live in the country (at his parents' holiday cottage), where a new rehearsal room. The brothers are still playing two and in 1995 they record a 16-song demo "You pieces of fucking meat" in October (in one day in the studio). The music is still intense grindcore, but distinctively conceived. The lyrics are now violent, negative and sound quite cynical. It is, however, a rather harsh black humour. The only flaw is that the record lacks a bass guitar...

Shortly after the release, the brothers "hide" behind the pseudonyms Humanoid and Schizoid, and a new member joins the band, guitarist Pavel Slavicek. He will play bass guitar in the band and gets the pseudonym Android. In April 1997, the trio records their second demo "Dream it's not, it mustn't" - which is the band's first pro tape and contains 6 tracks in death/grind style. This film is distributed abroad (with an English booklet and under the title "It's Not, Can't Be a Dream") and receives very good feedback.

In early 1998, bassist Android gets fired from the band and the brothers stop playing live. In November 1999, the siblings go into a recording studio and record their 10-song debut CD "From Higher Will", which is released a year later and at their own expense (they also record an English version of "From Higher Will" - which they do not distribute). The music on "From Higher Will" can be characterized as psychopathic death/grind with a disturbing atmosphere... and for the first time it features guitarist Humanoid as the lead vocalist, whose exalted screams become another hallmark of the band (on the demo tapes the vocalist was drummer Schizoid).

!T.O.O.H.! are starting to perform again and only two of them, but with a bass recorded on CD by Humanoid. The response to the debut was universally positive. A year after the release, the brothers receive an offer to release a new album from fledgling domestic labels Snuff Production and Plazzma Records. In November 2002, the siblings went into the recording studio to record their second album, titled "Under the Reign of the Whip", which was released in the summer of 2003. The collection of ten new tracks can probably be described as a unique death/grind with alien elements... The response to this CD is really excellent. In June 2003, the duo recorded two more new tracks for the upcoming split EP "From Terrarium to Columbarium", which was not realized at that time.

In February 2004 a new member joined the band, guitarist Wokis (Petr Vokál) and two months later bassist Freedom (Petr Svoboda). The band was contacted by Lee Barrett from Elitist Records (sub-label of Earache Records). The contract is signed at the beginning of July. The third album is called "Order and Punishment" and was recorded in early 2005. The album contains 8 new tracks and 2 re-recorded tracks from the second demo. The realization of the album was accompanied by communication and financial complications with the publisher (Digby Pearson - Earache Records), as a result of which the band did not receive any copies of the released album, nor any percentage of the sales.

In 2005, the brothers put !T.O.O.H.! to sleep as they plan to pursue their new rock project Gemini Gem.

2011 is the year of awakening, the brothers are again as a duo preparing new songs. During the preparations, Humanoid develops a paranoid schizophrenia, which makes the album's release drag on until 2013. The album, titled "Democratic Solution", will be released online only and is free to download. The interesting thing is that the album is made completely "at home on your knee" and has a very unusual production (the album sounds like a MIDI demo and features the sound of programmed bass and keys), for which the guys get a lot of criticism. They also try to perform with programmed accompaniment, but the concert turns out disastrous, especially for Humanoid, who is unable to perform in front of people with a disease in his head. So the band takes another break from playing for a while.

In 2017, the brothers return as a purely studio project. In May 2019, they release the EP "Komouš", which was released only online and can be purchased on Bandcamp, as well as the entire discography of the band. The guys have prepared this mini as a precursor to the studio full-length album, which is titled "Free Speech" and which is released on CD by the Czech label Lavadome Productions in autumn 2020. An interesting feature of the new album is that each track has its own colour illustration. These oil paintings were created by Humanoid, who has been painting the covers since the band's inception.

In 2022, the duo started playing live again after a long time, playing into programmed VST instruments at the concerts. The brothers also released a four-song mini-album "Premiant" on the Lavadome Productions label, which was released on audio cassette in a limited edition.

Currently the boys have already recorded a new studio album, which will be called "Po ovoci poznáte je". The album is expected to be released in CD format in the first half of 2025 again on Lavadome productions.