The Tosspints

This surly, salty trio from Saginaw, Michigan ignores the pop punk movement of the last twenty years and takes the sound back to its raw roots with some intricate and intertwining melodic movements sprinkled here and there. It’s not so hard as to be labelled “hardcore punk” but you won’t be mistaking The Tosspints for Blink 182 and Sum 41 anytime soon and that’s a good thing! It’s good to hear the sound back in raw form played by people that understand the sound.

The Privateer as a record never bothers to waste your time and that’s probably its most potent attribute. The couplet of “Pirates Life” and “Untitled Western” both play to their themes; the former the rum-drunk punk jig it should be with yo-ho vocals, wasted guitars and waltzing rhythms and the latter an electrified saloon kicker with rural swagger, plastered guitar licks and a lot of blues-doused rhythms keeping the action lively. Further taking the starch out of high-class, pinky in the air elitists, “Marching On” borrows a few bars and lyrical cues from “Johnny Comes Marching Home” before unleashing its own punk rock kegger on the party. This tune is half staggering from the beginning and let me tell you, it doesn’t sober up any as it goes along as the crunching riffs clash with crusty, craggy rhythmic inflections. “We are the many” is a punk standard; the anthem with shout-a-long chorus, lyrics that focus on bringing people together and switchblade riffs that cut a huge swath through the moshpit. You’ll definitely want to get up and start moving around as soon as the first drum beat sends the action into a whirlwind of punk rock magic. Similar feelings are inspired on “My Last and Only Friend,” a sad tale about a love affair with the bottle gone wrong at heart but punching, pure punk at heart that makes Green Day sound like Jewel by comparison. These riffs are set from stun to kill, as the drumming rollicks between smashing snare fills and steady handed, punk rock shuffles. “Hollow Man” is the closest the band comes to a ballad and even it comes off as a mid-tempo hard rocker rather than a dipsy doodle love song. Even though it’s slower and dare I say prettier than the other tracks, it’s still ready for a back alley brawl. The trio of “How Do You Feel,” “Sailors Grave” and “The Dregs” are all heart attack guitars, bashing drum strikes, irritable vocals and dense bass grooves…punk rock by definition with other influences filtered in from the blues, hard rock and old country melodies. But again, this is more punk than anything and stands tall and proud above most acts in the genre claiming to be punk these days. The lengthy, epic closer “The Privateer” is the kind of ambitious, sprawling tune Thin Lizzy would have attempted in their heyday and The Tosspints do a fantastic job of pulling together hard rock, punk, Irish and blues influences into a cohesive, masterful whole that is easily the album’s highlight.

The Tosspints prove that punk is anything but dead on their fourth album The Privateer. They aren’t just any punk band though. These guys can play, arrange and come up with fairly complex numbers that span many genres while toying with different textures and passages whenever the whim possesses them. This is a power trio that defines the essence of that term and this is an album that all rock fans MUST check out. - Vents Magazine

Have You Been Drinking? is the third full-length from The Tosspints, a Celtic-punk band from Saginaw, Michigan, a struggling industrial city that the American dream long ago turned into a nightmare. The Tosspints are two brothers and a drummer, with brother Don a US Army combat veteran and brother Zack a union school teacher, the drummer is John. The music reminds me of the $wingin’ Utter$ but maybe a little more focused on the Celtic influences while the lyrics deal with the experiences of living in the rust belt – working class life, brotherhood, loyalty, the Union and the military and of course boozing and fighting. In all a very impressive release and the band to watch. Highlights include: Genocide is Painless, Your Name, Blood or Whiskey - Shite n' Onions

Growing old with rock and roll has its surprises. It’s easy to forget why you care or lose hope after years of pilfering through the enormous slush pile spawned by the Internet age. The same clichés keep smacking your ears, the same formulas are continuously milked for diminishing returns, and few ever seem the wiser. However, like another conversation bleeding into your phone call, something different comes through. The Tosspints are something different.

Their configuration is familiar. The Zuzula brothers, Don and Zak, handle guitars, vocals and the bass playing while drummer John Johnson occupies the third position in this power trio. The Privateer is the fourth release from these Michigan natives and kicks open a door into your consciousness within the first ten seconds. Ladies and gentlemen, this is close to as good as it gets from anyone.

“Pirate’s Life” opens with guitars like some mad cross between Neil Young and Mountain. The production makes Don Zuzula’s guitar inescapable. It’s in the listener’s ear from the first seconds and crackles with jagged intimacy. The Tosspints trumpet their songs as products of a hard-luck life and the lyrical content lives up to its billing with themes of murder, abandonment, and fatalism running strong through every verse. To the songwriters credit, however, it never sounds gratuitous or drives the narrative into cartoonish overkill. “Untitled Western” sparks with more verve than five songs and plays like a musical high wire act. The tempo careens with such wide-eyed abandon that the song sounds like it’s due to run off the rails any second, but never does. The songwriting, almost lost in the musical attack, falls in thematic line with the rest of the album and draws listeners in with its strong storytelling virtues.

“We Are the Many” will tease novice listeners with its slow, deliberate opening, but like a feral animal unable to contain itself, The Tosspints soon shrug off the preamble and launch full throttle into another uptempo romp. One of the keys to this track’s success, however, isn’t apparent until the conclusion when the band smartly slows things down thus creating an unexpected musical bookend for the song. “Hollow Man” slows the tempo some and the mid-tempo jaunt beautifully straddles a line between urgency and depth. The lyrics have a vulnerability that earlier songs lack and its introduction is welcome. It’s never conveyed, however, with dewy-eyed sentiment. The Tosspints keep their reflections grounded in a rough-hewn reality and never prey on the listener’s emotions.

If The Tosspints recorded one song for this album and stopped there, the title track could stand alone as an important work. The introduction of additional instrumentation, ability to vary their musical voice seemingly at will, and the tight construction of this multi-part epic elevate The Privateer from an exceptional album to the level of a borderline classic. The band expands on their style as never before – rather than serving up another four minute or less uptempo blast, The Tosspints stretch their canvas to include various tempo changes, vocal deliveries, and ambient sound. It’s an astonishing end to a revelatory album. This is an outfit capable of anything. Labeling punk folk rock or whatever other genre hybrid one can think up doesn’t mean a thing. These are living and breathing works of art in miniature and it doesn’t pander to a single emotion. Congratulations to The Tosspints. Growing old with rock and roll occasionally means believing in it again. - Skope Magazine

I've been singing the praises of The Tosspints to anyone will listen for quite a while now. That being said, I was a bit apprehensive when I heard that their new LP would be loosely nautically themed. This land-lover was concerned about the band's ability to come up with their typically gut-wrenching songs within such a narrow context. Before opening track "Pirates Life" was over, my mind was already at ease. The first thing I noticed was how loud and overdriven the guitar is. It's definitely hotter than usual for this normally open chord playing Celt-punk trio. No one's going to mistake it for the new Slayer album, but it's got a couple of riffs that would certainly qualify as metallic. The lead vocals are also aggressive and urgent sounding. The backing vocals are layered, interesting and well arranged. This has long been a Tosspints trademark.

"Untitled Western" might be the fastest classic country flavored song I've ever heard. "Marching On" takes the key musical elements from the traditional song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya" and makes them into something new and compelling. "We Are the Many" is a powerful song that could have been a battle cry for the Occupy movement, or the theme song for the 99 percenters. The fact that it's an ex-GI questioning his country's priorities gives it that much more impact. The Privateer is the Saginaw, MI band's fourth album and also finds them revisiting common topics. "My Last and Only Friend" could easily be a sequel to the band's 2011 song "Whiskey Be My Savior". The occasional drinking song is a must for The Tosspints.

Guitarist/vocalist and primary songwriter Don Zuzula has long suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his time in the military. This obviously has a major impact on many of the songs, sometimes overtly and sometimes in more subtle ways. If The Privateer were to have a hit, it would almost certainly be "Hollow Man". It's somber, earnest, introspective and catchy as hell. On "How Do You Feel", Zuzula seems to be weighing the consequences of his PTSD on those that he loves. These are the types of soul-baring songs that make The Tosspints exceptional. "Sailors Grave" and "The Dregs" are solid tracks that work well within the album's overall theme.

The LP closes with the epic, nearly 16 minute long title track. Like most songs of this type, it's made up of three (or maybe more) different songs loosely tied together musically. The addition of violin on the mellower passages is a nice touch. The lyrics drive the story without the benefit of repeating choruses. It unfolds in movements that represent the different stages of a life. You can feel the music shift from innocence to innocence lost to acceptance of one's fate. It's an impressive piece of work with repeated musical motifs throughout. "The Privateer" is more difficult to appreciate than a standard four minute song, but should be applauded for its ambitiousness. The Tosspints have been around for quite a few years now, and they haven't grown complacent. They are not just phoning it in or going through the motions. They continue to push themselves with new musical challenges. The Privateer is another excellent album from a band at the top of their game. - Punknews.org

In case you missed my review of Have You Been Drinking this a three piece punk/gypsy/Irish/drunk outfit hailing from Saginaw, Michigan. I have followed them ever since I first discovered their music and I haven’t been disappointed at all. In fact it led me to Deadline Riot where I got to listen to a lot of good music from Don Zuzula and another one of my favorites, Tom McSod during 2014. I don’t often write about albums before they hit the streets but this one is demanding to be written about sooner rather than later.

It’s not often that the word “epic” comes to mind when describing music. Now don’t get me wrong, there are epic songs and albums out there but they are the exception rather than the rule. However it was the first word to come to mind when I got my hands on The Privateer, the upcoming release from The Tosspints. The sound that this three piece outfit achieves is really the core of why I think “epic” when I hear it. There’s a fullness of sound that, when combined with the lyrical pacing and the rhythm, creates a world of its own for the listener. This creates a demand for the listener’s full attention, making the stories told here feel even more personal to the listener.

Admittedly there are some things that tilted the scales for me with this one, the foremost being “Hollow Man”. You see T S Eliot is my favorite poet and The Hollow Men is my favorite poem. Toss in the songs about drinking, the Irish influence in the music, and the sea faring theme and you have an album that could easily be an instant favorite for me. The problem with these topics is always the execution, there are lots of artists out there who just can’t make it happen (and get tons of radio play).

This is not a happy album, nor did I expect it to be, it’s full of the loss, anxiety, and struggle from the working man’s perspective. The depths from which these songs are written are depths that a lot of us struggle to never reach, and for good reason. Don is a combat veteran who suffers from PTSD and those facts color his lyrics, as they should. He doesn’t write from a self-inflated perspective or hero complex but rather as a man who struggles with the things he’s done and the effects those things have had on his life. For my perspective, as someone who hasn’t experienced those things, I can only appreciate his candor and willingness to exorcise his demons through writing and then share it with us. It can’t be an easy task to show your vulnerabilities to everyone who will listen.

The last track on this album is a damn near 16 minute song that, at times, almost gives me an early heavy metal vibe and comes complete with guitar solos, changing tempo, and a Homeric story. While it’s a definite commitment to dive in to the title track it’s a rewarding experience. It’s also one I recommend giving your full attention so that you can really listen and hear the story being told. I don’t know of many Homeric punk ballads and might have even laughed at the idea had it come up before I heard this record but the truth is that it works and it works well.

The Privateer is still in pre-order and drops August 11 but is already Essential Listening as far as I’m concerned. The tension that builds throughout the album and culminates in the title track is almost palpable, this is whiskey drinking music for sure. - Ninebullets.net

The Tosspints are an Irish punk bands that has outgrown their Irish punk demarcation. Sure, you could point to the ongoing tin whistle, roughneck, pub-worthy anthems that go hand in hand with the Michigan staple, but that would overlook the various folk-flavoured strands running through the rustic trio. The Tosspints make clear from the early stages in their fourth full length, The Privateer, that they are every bit as confident at capably infusing their sound with neighbouring genres as keeping with tradition.

Opening with the big wailing marcher, “Pirates Life,” the song warrants an early likeness to The Dreadnoughts days of sea-shanty punk. “Wooooaaahhh, it’s a pirate’s life for me,” shouts vocalist Don Zuzula in a fast paced tale of a transient, dock-bound habits. Coarse riffs cash harshly amidst occasional chimes and a well worn maritime attitude. It’s a one off intro, but between the rattle bang pacing and sing along chorus, makes for one heck of introduction. Jumping from water to land, “Untitled Western” finds The Tosspints turning on a dime and thrusting listeners into the dusty plains of yore. Loaded with acoustic twang at a steady gallop, the track unravels a tale of a wandering vagrant played to the tune of a spaghetti western. While certainly something you’d expect more from Ghoultown or Long Tall Texans, the band demonstrates early mastery of the theme.

After an ambitious startup, The Privateer settles somewhere between western overtones and traditional folk-punk anthems. Tracks like the tale of reaching the end of the bottle, “My Last And Only Friend,” draw upon a slight twang, whereas those like “Hollow” scale back convention with a heavy heart for a surprisingly calm altrock slow burner about camaraderie channeling elements of The Hold Steady. Generally speaking, the tempo and style reflects the subject matter. For instance, “We Are The Many” bolts ahead at about the album’s fastest pace as The Tosspints rant about resisting the political and economic oppression of the one percent. Their conviction is real and would serve as a killer rallying cry for a live show. “The Dregs” amps up guitar distortion to near-psychobilly levels and the title track closes The Privateer on a delicate and emotionally in-tune acoustic note. Embellished by vibrant imagery and the disc’s sole fiddle contribution, it makes for a finale that would give Murder By Death a run for their money. The band trades vocals and instruments periodically from coarse to calm, quick to calculated, making for a flow that never outstays its welcome.

The Tosspints have produced an album of subsequent highs. Tracks stand out for varied and distinct reasons, owing their success to The Tosspints breadth of inspiration and expert execution. For all of The Privateers’ evolving personality (you can’t really pin it down to any one sound, making the opening track and album art a tad deceiving), the level of experience and maturity shines through, binding the entirety of the project together. The Tosspints have branched out beyond their borders, making The Privateer a must for many. - thepunksite.com

This is the The Tosspints fourth album and after the success of all that’s gone before them their new album ‘The Privateer’ does not disappoint and comes up trumps in every way. The band is made up of the brothers Zuzula. Don is a combat veteran of the Iraqi war and Zak a history teacher and along with drummer John Johnson they make up The Tosspints certainly one of the main American bands to have make a splash over this side of the pond without ever actually setting foot over here.


The band are named after a Pogues song written by Jem Finer about the day in the life of a complete waster.

“Tosspint under flaming sky
Walks through the fires of Hell
Where bestial demons threw the damned
Screaming as they fell”

They did in fact start off as a bit of a Pogues tribute band before beginning to write their own material and setting forth on their own. The ‘Murder City Celtic Punks’ is a reference to Saginaw, where the band hail from. Just south of Saginaw is Detroit, also called the Motor City, and Saginaw right now is currently the most dangerous in America. Its certainly not easy place to live and it never has been. The poverty and the hard times have always been around for many and the so called American dream simply never materialised for many of the American working class. Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town but by the late 20th century, industry and its once-strong manufacturing presence had collapsed leading to increasing unemployment and crime. It is this hard nosed, working class background that runs through The Tosspints music, their sound and the ethos around them too. It’s an area of America with long historical links to Irish emigration. From 1853 to 1854, Irish emigrants dug the Ste. Marie Canal while others dug canals in Grand Rapids and Saginaw. Irish nationalism in both Michigan and the United States in general has always been closely linked with the labour movement in which Irish Americans were among the earliest organizers and leaders.

As the band say about themselves

“living through the school of hard knocks, brought to bear from war, loss, degradation, and hard drinking. A band created entirely by a family who has had to make it through life the hard way and use their experience to create songs about the more distressed side of being human”

Their powerful and energetic live shows are legendary and have led to them sharing the main stage with ALL the big names in celtic-punk. Fast but tuneful punk rock with enough celtic influences for us to claim them as one of our own!

‘The Privateer’ kicks off with the nautically themed ‘Pirates Life’ and if you get the feeling that the ocean runs deep throughout this album then you are only half right. A catchy as hell tune and great lyrics combine with some class Rock’n’Roll/ country and punk to give them a feel of bands not unlike Social Distortion.


One of the most amazing things about The tosspints is that with just guitar, bass and drums and vocals they manage somehow to have a celtic sound and ‘Untitled Western’ is typical of this. A very definite connection comes through though not sure if a non-celtic punk fan would spot this. ‘Marching On’ is typical also of the bands rage at the injustice faced by many in the States today. Don suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his time in the military and this song borrows elements from ‘Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya’ and updates it to the story of a modern day soldiers return. A great song with amazingly poignant lyrics that you know come straight from the heart and not some songwriters workshop. As I have said many a time a defining feature of the best of the celtic-punk bands is their lyrics and not necessarily their tunes. To take the themes that are common in celtic-punk like loss and emigration, drinking and death, solidarity, religion, class pride and turn them into lines that are aren’t a cliched hack is an amazing achievement and The Tosspints are right up there with the best. We are a genre of music formed in the wake of a band where the singer had the worse voice in popular music but was considered a genius when it came to song-writing so this should come as no surprise. ‘We Are the Many’ is a fast paced song reminding me of the old Wobblies saying

“we are the many, you are the few, we are going to win”

They take a while to get round to a drinking song, not like them at all, with ‘My Last and Only Friend’ and when they do it’s a beauty. The Tosspints like a pint…of whiskey that is and the tune rattles along superbly.

“Whiskey you’re my last and only friend”

‘Hollow Man’ is the definite album standout track and obviously the band think so too as they have produced an unmissable video to accompany the song. The LP’s first track that slows down a little and again Don’s words hit you squarely in the jaw.

“Remember us if at all
Not as lost and violent souls
Just the men who stood together
Shed our blood and paid our tolls”

Obviously Don’s background comes to the fore in this story of a former soldier just trying to survive while dealing with his own experiences of war while coping with personal feelings that don’t seem to be understood or even cared about by ‘civilians’.

“I am not a hero
I’m just a hollow man”



Don bares his soul again for us on the ‘How Do You Feel’ where he talks about how his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has affected his family. A trio of nautical songs bring the album to an end. ‘Sailors Grave’ is one of the shorter and punkier songs with a great chorus while next up is ‘The Dregs’ which would normally be called a epic at over five minutes but then ‘The Privateer’ ends the album and at fifteen (yes 15!) minutes this IS what an epic song is. The introduction of fiddle gives them a larger range to roam and they make use of it in this cracking song which takes a trad route before speeding up to high heaven half way through and then calming down again. Once again I am more than impressed by the great lyrics and it’s a huge testament to them that they can make a fifteen minute song that bears repeated listening. Not many could do that… and I mean not many.

The album is out on East Grand Records and comes in CD form or is available for download. The beauty behind this album is everyone I have spoke to who has heard it has completely different favourite songs. Such is the wide scope that The Tosspints travel on this record. They have outgrown their Irish musical roots and developed into a band offering much much more. Though they are perfectly happy to keep a foot in the celtic-punk camp they will surely appeal to a much larger audience we than we can offer them. An intelligent and honest band with proper roots in their community and something for us all to be proud of that our class can throw up bands like this in, times like this. - London Celtic Punks

Here in Texas if a singer wore a “Get Naked/Buy Us Beer” shirt you’d get pretty good odds that the band in question was frat-boy rock. You see that’s what Zak Zuzula was wearing in the first video by The Tosspints that I ever watched, it was a live video I discovered while going down some YouTube rabbit hole what’s had it origins lost in my sieve of a brain. After watching them tear up a couple of Irish classics I clicked a few more things and was the proud owner of a digital copy of Have You Been Drinking! Now if this were just some Irish ballads I wouldn’t bother posting here about it; after all records full of traditional Irish songs are a dime a dozen.

Zak, his brother Don, and drummer John Johnson are anything but traditional and the album only has two songs I’d call Irish: “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya” and “Come Out Ye Black And Tans”, which are both loads of fun but they aren’t the stand out tracks. From the opening track, “Genocide Is Painless”, this is a dark album and it does a good job of it. What it doesn’t do a good job of is being easy to define. Hell even if I didn’t hate the idea of genres this record wouldn’t be an easy one to pigeonhole. There are the obvious Irish influences along with punk, folk, gypsy and more and what ties it all together is the writing. Drawing from working class backgrounds, Don’s combat experience, and life in general the lyrics are what keeps me coming back to this one.

There’s just something real about the way these songs are written. The last track, “Blood Or Whiskey”, a song about a soldier and his thoughts from the battlefield and from home after the war, has some of the most haunting lyrics I’ve heard in a while. Wonder as I sit and stare/That foreign man way over there/Well what’s his name/And is he scared like me/Does he have a wife and boy at home/Or is he in this all alone/If I take his life will anyone cry his name… It’s a helluva track with which to close an album. No respite from the darkness, no escape. Even the love song a couple of tracks back from “Blood Or Whiskey”, “Eleanor”, while beautiful is one that will have you killing bottles of Clontarf. The stories that are portrayed, while bleak, feel very personal and drew me in a little farther each listen. I can feel the icy cold on my skin when I get shivers from “Our Last Breath”, a tender little murder/suicide ballad, What could be more romantic/Than to die by the light of the moon…

Now I realize I’m harping on the writing but that’s only because it’s what really impressed me. As a band these guys are tight and the music they choose to use to tell their stories is selected very well. For the most part this is a rocker of an album and one that has me tapping my foot, with the headphones screwed securely to my head, whilst trying to avoid doing any actual work. I’m going to go ahead and call this one Essential Listening even if it seems a little off the beaten path for our little corner of the web. It’s most assuredly worth taking a chance on. How can you not give a chance to band that has albums named 11 Empty Bottles, Cenosillicaphobia, and Have You Been Drinking? - ninebullets.net

On the label roster of East Grand Records reliable: Periodically, the record company takes hard-drinking Irish-punk with folk strike at the man Again greet colleagues Dropkick Murphys, Street Dogs, Flatfoot 56 and Far From Finished strong. Street punk attitude meets The Pogues - both musically and in terms of alcohol consumption, as can guess the lyrics and promo pictures of the band from Michigan. Who is it that makes with "Have You Been Drinking" guarantees nothing wrong. Especially since the songs are dark and melancholic fall despite uptempo.

The third album from The Tosspints is the perfect soundtrack for drinking in the Irish Pub - and the hangover afterwards. - Useless Fanzine

As much as one can try to keep their ears open to all the existing bands, there will be bands that fall through the cracks. The Tosspints, a three-piece band from Saginaw, MI is one of those for me. I wish I had heard of these guys sooner! I have been previewing their upcoming release Have You Been Drinking which is set to be released on June 4th and it has really blown me away! This will be their third studio album and I am hoping they will find a venue in St Louis to play on the upcoming tour so I can pick up all their CD’s. The 12 track album highlights different styles and influences of playing and some great vocals that range from melodic to gruff and the music is tight and fast. Most of the songs have a dark tint often hidden by the fast and up tempo pacing of the music.

The album starts with the darkly disturbing “Genocide is Painless” about a soldier struggling with the classical warrior virtues of honor with the harsh face of genocidal war, killing men and children, raping the woman and taking the valuables. The music is fantastic and vocals are tight. ”Soldiers Heart” is one of the top tracks for me. The varying tempos range from highlighting the vocals to hard-driving instrumentals. “Our Last Breath” is another favorite track of mine. As I have been primarily listening at work, it took several run throughs of the album to get how dark and haunting this song is. It is heartbreaking and beautiful, carried primarily by the vocals deliver this chilling ballad. “Shoot at All the Cops” gets you moving with a foot stomping rhythm and gruff vocals. “My Own Country” is another great melodic piece, with what feels like an Eastern European/gypsy folk feel to it. ”Train Robber Song” starts with a great feel of a train building steam into this song of an ex-railroad worker that changes the course of their life by becoming a train robber with the inevitable end to someone living the life of crime. “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye” and “Come Out Ye Black and Tans” are some hard rocking covers, though I really preferred the songs The Tosspints pinned, so comparatively speaking, they were ok covers and blend together from “Johnny” to “Black and Tans”. “Message in a Bottle” is about a castaway who pins their hopes on rescue by sending a message in bottle. Another footstomper with some great sounding music. “Eleanor” is a poignant song with great vocals, reminiscent of Chuck Ragan and is my top track on the album. The evocative emotions delivered by the vocals and backed by the music really delivers! “Your Name” reminds me of Cutthroat Shamrock with the pacing and bluegrass influences. Even though it harkens to Cutthroat Shamrock, it is clearly not a case of copying another band. “Blood and Whiskey” gives me chills listening to the lyrics. The chorus is rousing and sticks with you.

The Tosspints have a winner on their hands. The more I listen to Have You Been Drinking, the more I am enjoying it and finding little nuggets I did not hear before. Come June 4th, I recommend you track this album down by either getting it from the band directly or through iTunes and Amazon. The range of styles and tempo make for a great and interesting listen. Overall, it is hauntingly and chilling beautiful work! Now I just need to track down their previous releases!

Track Listing:

Genocide is Painless
Soldiers Heart
Our Last Breath
Shoot at All the Cops
My Own Country
Train Robber Song
Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye
Come Out Ye Black and Tans
Message in a Bottle
Eleanor
Your Name
Blood and Whiskey
- Rocking the Craic

There's no question where folk/punk trio the Tosspints stands on the subject of alcohol. It is a big, big fan of spirits and that love shines through in every booze-soaked note. Third full-length “Have You Been Drinking?” follows 2009's “11 Empty Bottles” and 2011's “Cenosillicaphobia” and is the Michigan outfit's best record to date. The 12-track release includes 10 originals and a pair of traditional tunes and should be required listening at your local Irish pub. Keepers include “Genocide Is Painless,” “Soldiers Heart,” “My Own Country,” “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye,” “Come Out Ye Black and Tans” and “Eleanor.” Next round's on me, lads. - TribLIVE.com

Soldiers Heart, a song written and performed by The Tosspints, is one that hits close to home for many soldiers who suffer with PTSD, including guitarist and vocalist for the band, Don Zuzula. As a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Zuzula, by way of the song, gives the perspective of a soldier returning home dealing with things like flashbacks and depression, which Zuzula says was difficult to face and relive for the video. - Right This Minute

The third studio album by the Tosspints has really blown me away. While the second album was well worth listening but not quiet as good as their debut here comes another highlight. The 12 tracks are very varied and are, as usual for the Tosspints, influenced by many different musical styles. The spectrum ranges from folk, melodic rock on up to punk and reggae.

As always, the lyrics are anything else but meaningless drinking songs you would actually expect from a band called "The Tosspints" and also in this point the band shines with a wide spectrum of topics. Don writes very touching about his experiences in the war. Another poignant song is dedicated to his daughter Eleanor, who was born in 2011.

The album contains also traditional songs, which are fine. I like the version of “Johnny I hardly knew you” with its tempo changes. Nevertheless, I like the self-written songs better. My absolute favorite is Blood and Whiskey, a true anthem. The three musicians have managed to record a rousing, authentic album that stands out of the mass of folk-punk and rock bands which are popping up like mushrooms at the moment. I wish the band, that with this album, they will finally find the recognition they deserve already since their early days and that their path will then finally lead them to Germany. - celtic-rock.de

At first listen, one would never suspect this trio to be from Michigan. This track has dirty Irish pub written all over it, with the floor sticky from spilled Guinness, the air smoke-filled and the crowd ready to raise some Hell. The boys from Michigan have done a fine job creating the perfect Irish punk sound. - ourvinyl.com

Review by Lisa Purchase Kelly

Cenosillicaphobia (n): the debilitating fear of an empty glass

When cooking with quality ingredients, if they are expertly mixed by an experienced and creative chef, it's best to leave things simple and let those ingredients speak for themselves. Overwrought techniques, a laundry list of ingredients, or a cacophony of spices will sully the dish for the sake of showing off. The flavors of just a few fine elements, with a bit of professional polish, makes for the most memorable experience. With that philosophy The Tosspints are serving up their newest album, Cenosillicaphobia. With the essential components of hard-driving guitar, electric bass, and street-punk drum kit, mixed with vocals heavily spiced with profanity, Irish punk is a dish best served raw. The sound on the album is nicely mixed and layered by producer Andy Reed, refining the Tosspints' signature stage sound just enough to perfectly present this platter.

Yes, platter. As in, old-school vinyl album. To further belabor the cooking metaphor: when serving up a creative concoction, presentation counts. The Tosspints' second album is presented in multiple media—MP3 download available everywhere for your convenience (at CDBaby, Amazon, Emusic, MooZone, tradebit, and of course iTunes), and on vinyl album for style, nostalgia, and tactile tangibility.

Tosspints frontman Donny Zuzula explains their retro choice: "When I was 3 or 4 years old we had this record player, and I can remember going through the drawer to pick out 45s to put on it. In the late 80s my family made the switch to CDs and tapes, and the record player went to my room, and I started to collect records. It seems like records are more of an experience when you listen to them; the cover art, and the warmth of the sound. This became a connection to my father-in-law too; LeighAnn's father is an audiophile and has this huge record collection. There's a warmth to the sound on vinyl that appeals to audiophiles.

"And there's this permanence to record albums that … it's like in Planet of the Apes, or in Mad Max; hundreds of years in the future, after the apocalypse, they come across a record, and they're able to play it. It's still there. It's something solid. Putting music on a record feels more substantial."

Playing together as The Tosspints since 2007, brothers Don Zuzula and Zak Zuzula, along with drummer John Johnson, are a high-energy stage show with a lot of passion and presence. Taking their band name from a Pogues song, The Tosspints carry on the Irish pub-punk tradition of channeling anger and angst into something you can dance to. Now this trio of collaborative composers has put together a second album of original songs about drinking, death, and despair; an album that is just as hard-driving as their stage show and their first album.

"We've been through a lot together—our dad died when we were young, I've been to war, terrible things have happened to people in our lives—so we write what we know. I think there's something to be said for getting emotions out rather than sitting on them. Plus, it's just good story-telling … what else are we going to write about; suburbia and our jobs? Truth is stranger than fiction, you just have to find the stories in it."

Some of the best tracks on both albums are the most miserable stories—the closing track on Cenosillicaphobia is the story of a dying soldier, echoing a track on the previous album, the same story told from different viewpoints—but those are also the songs that really make you have to get up and dance. The driving drum licks and sassy guitar hooks and gritty lyrics swing the sad stories out of the basement of the soul and up into the stratosphere, and on its way up it can pull you right out of your chair with it. And it won't be anything fancy when you do find yourself on your feet; you'll be jumping up and down, pounding the air with both your fists, and yelling the words back at the stereo as soon as you learn enough of them. These songs turn a lament into a war whoop.

And when you fall down exhausted at the end of the song (and that's pretty much all there is to do if you've jumped up and down and shouted through the whole song), you feel …. giddy. And loud. And alive. Like you're ready to take on the world. Just as soon as you catch your breath, that is. With a listen to this album suddenly we're all angry young Irish lads, ready for a pub brawl, ready to grab the world by the lapels, kick somebody in the shins, and take back control of … anything. The way things are going these days, it's pretty exhilarating to feel that sense of fiery energy and belligerence for a short while. We're not gonna take this any more. Yeah. The drum sound is a key component of the excitement and energy of a lot of the songs on this album. "Andy Reed is awesome at recording everything, but especially drums. He's got this classic 60's drumset at the studio, and recording that in analog gives this a - 360 Mainstreet

The Tosspints

An Irish Red Ruckus & The Fear Of An Empty Glass

It isn’t everyday that one band emerges out of the pack to lead a cultural change that is as astonishing as it is necessary. The Tosspints have been an integral part of the water clock bringing ancient sounds and stories back to the future in perfect calibration with our innate need to hear music and feel rhythm. The Tosspints create music of beauty and discord; love and pain. It is real like a punch in the face or a deep shudder in your solar plexus after chugging a pint of Guinness. It hurts but you like it. Their current disc Cenosillicaphobia is being released on CD and vinyl! Retro is now and vinyl LPs are making a comeback. Thank god we came back to our senses and returned to the sound of music - analog rules! We found out that CD’s don’t have the rich warm sound of vinyl nor do they hold up very well. This time around the Tosspints do not hold back anything,. The medium is the message and punk has a way of cutting to the chase whether is love and infidelity or death and despair. The anti-war sentiments fashioned by Don Zuzula are brutally honest. Zuzula served in the military and he knows only too well the costs of conflict. He was stationed in Iraq and he saw it all. War is hell and war is horrifying and it seems that his sense of humor kept him balanced between stillness and action. It was a form of Zuzula’s alternate rebellion when he painted “No Fat Girls” on his truck when the rest of the caravan painted slogans like “Death to Saddam” or “Kill Al Quaeda.” It was genius threefold. It was a way to survive, to find meaning in suffering.

The first track Drunken Ramblings of a Jealous Man grabs you right at the start with a galloping beat and a cracked whiskey voice. It’s almost as if Zuzula is talking with you at the kitchen table - only the pain is too big and the words are unspoken. He sings about life on the road - drinking himself to sleep and performing to crowds that don’t always get it. He gets by with “bloodstains on my fingers; teardrops from my eyes. This is a song of infidelity and an impulse to murder. The despair is indelibly stamped and there is no satisfying conclusion to the betrayal. Zuzula ends the song with a powerful accapella reading

Whiskey Be My Savior is outrageous high energy rock that owes as much to the Sex Pistols as it does to the Dropkick Murphys. The influences converge to create a perfect storm of combustible booze-filled Punk. It is a Dionysian dream of excess and consumption. In this bleary vision Zuzula is suckling from a toxic breast. He sings, “the only time I feel death is when my bottle’s empty.” It is sung as a mantra for numbness. It is a dissociative response to a life dissolved by pain and self-destruction. Many of us have been there. Zuzula is standing outside the pain and observing his own mastery over it

The third track, Don’t Cry at My Funeral, has an honest unflinching fatalism. It’s an existential horror to discover that your life did not matter. This is a punked up working man’s blues that evokes visions of filthy back breaking and mind numbing work for paltry wages. It can kill your soul. You work for the man and die quietly without fanfare. There is nothing to mourn. The speeded up breakneck tempo mirrors the workaday bustle that robs you of all the sparkle life can offer. The insurance man talks you into a policy and in the heaviness of an unrelenting ennui you realize your passion and taste for life are gone. Suddenly a thought intrudes -I’m worth more dead than alive.

Underclass Zero is a breakup song. Joseph Heller once said, “I only got married to find out what divorce is like.” It isn’t that simple or that cavalier. Heller was out of his mind. In any failing love relationship, a once enduring bond becomes a nightmare of hopelessness and regret. And you may dwell on what you could have done differently. If only…
Zuzula sings,
I think of myself as a working class hero
You think of me as an underclass zero
You threw me away
Zuzula almost chokes on the words as he spits them out with a mix of pain and anger;
You tell me I gotta go
I got to leave my home

Brothers Lament is an incendiary rocker with a million dollar riff. The Tosspints perform it at frantic breakneck speed. This is a “Johnny Piss-off” song about a roller coaster ride that is coming off the tracks – it’s a song about addiction and the despair of the people who love and care about the addict. The Fugs couldn’t do it any better than this. The lyrics are straightforward and righteously angry:
I don’t know what I’m doing here
You look me in the eyes
And mine deflect and look right into the floor
I can’t take it no more


Save Us is classic punk – speeded up, loud and straight to the point. The lyrics are filled up with tales of drunkenness and despair but the underlying message is all about feisty resilience and a big FU to anyone who can’t see that the ship is sinking. The singer sings abo - Whites Bar Live Reviews

The Tosspints are a family of tough-as-nails, hard-drinking, hard-working, blue-collar Michiganders who play no-nonsense street-punk rock with an Irish twist. Their stage show is mean, gritty and super energetic. Imagine The Pogues if they had the energy and cacophony of Black Flag and you’re getting close. Definitely for fans of Flogging Molly or Gogol Bordello.
Albums to get: “11 Empty Bottles” or “Cenosillicaphobia” - Buzzbin Magazine

by Bo White

I’ve learned never to underestimate The Tosspints. As soon as one thinks they know their bag, they come out of left field throwing musical knuckleballs that leave one scratching one’s head. In 11 Empty Bottles the Tosspints reach down deep to tell a story of such abject misery that I had to listen with my headphones on and the volume muted. The resolution of the sorrow comes with self knowledge and acceptance. It is the only way out of hell. That the band has a collective appreciation of dark humor helps gives the disc its humanity.

Welcome to 11 Empty Bottles, a ragged punk symphony that reaches toward a spiraling netherland that few want to travel. The music is nothing less than revolutionary.

The Tosspints primitive sound poems battered my brain and annihilated my senses. I was disturbed by its terrifying images of fallen humanity and totally blown away by their stark honesty.

Zak Zuzula writes most of the songs while the chief cook and bottle washer brother Don seems comfortable in the back seat, gazing out the window. However, his presence is clearly significant and his songs and singing are the highlight of the disc, with two crucial exceptions (both sung by Don) Zak’s Death is a Funny Thing and Johnny Johnson’s incredible I’ll Give You Nothing.

Let’s get started…grab a Guinness, hunker down and don’t forget to fasten your seat belt.

I’m F#$*in’ Drunk rumbles like an earthquake, it opens that disc with a frantic speed like Bowles ditching Holmes at Daytona Beach. Zuzula does not mince words or spare feelings. He paints a vivid picture of despair with a quality of nouveau realisme. The song contains a strange paradox in which an ugly truth may prove to be liberating.

Young Girl, Bad Idea is like a Shakespearean comedy with equal measures of tragedy and humor cloaked in punk rhythms. The tongue-in-cheek tension is between the Apollonian and Dionysian – music and poetry versus ecstasy and intoxication. The song is a winner with a well conceived hilarity wrapped around a time-worn sexual paradox…should I or shouldn’t I…it wouldn’t hurt… just this one time. Underneath this potent froth is a serious issue.

Satan’s Little Whore is an emotional train wreck. Johnson’s sloppy drum riffs set the pace and they couldn’t be more perfect in creating a musical landscape of despair. This is how a broken heart speaks to you. Nothing is rehearsed. Zuzula reaches down to the fifth circle of hell where he can find no joy in the universe. And he lets his anger spill out and froth without any editing. It ain’t pretty.

Land Far Away is Zak’s 4thinstallment of the first suite of songs on the CD that describe the events that lead the protagonist to go off to war. It offers a refrain of the themes of infidelity and betrayal that crushed the spirit of our protagonist and led him to sign up with the military and bid adieu to family and friends and the familiar. It provides a neat segue to Soldier’s Song, an honest portrayal of a young man’s fear and loneliness in the trenches fighting someone else’s war. Johnson’s brutal drumming keeps a breathless pace that signals the urgency in the lyric…”Let me go home, Lord I want to go home”.

Death is a Funny Thing is one of the best songs on the CD. Johnson pounds the bass drum like a heartbeat in a short story by Edgar Alan Poe while Don Zuzula plays an incredible nuclear powered rhythm riffs like Townsend in ’72. Zuzula takes each verse, every phrase and reaches into the core of his being. He is paying witness to a friend’s dying. The tension builds into a crescendo and as the song races to its conclusion Zuzula’s voice erupts like a volcano.

The Wreck of the Medusa is an epic punk symphony with tempo changes, minor chords, strong lead singing, echoed vocals and whispered pleas. The song is inspired by an actual event in 1816 that was immortalized in a painting by Theodore Gericault. The sinking of the Medusa was a turning point in the revolt against the Bourbon Monarchy and became the catalyst for the French Revolution.

Zuzula molded this epic tale like a sculptor molding and shaping diverse tonal elements into a cohesive and remarkable sound. This is an historical piece that is unrelated to the basic concept of 11 Empty Bottles. But somehow it fits-in quite nicely. The refrain echoes the similar themes about death and war…”Don’t let me die this way.” It is a masterwork!

I Couldn’t Do It Alone riffs along like Lotte Lenya doing Kurt Weill on speed. The sound is a sonic firestorm. Everything – the guitars and vocals are up front in the mix and HOT – giving the song and incredible emotional valence. It’s loud and cacophonous…explosive - the sound of a heart breaking. Lyrically sophisticated, the song tells the story of a soldier that makes a promise that is impossible for him to keep, to bring his comrade home safely. This is very difficult to listen to. It’s like watching No Country for Old Men with one eye shut and your head avert - Review Magazine

Photos © Tyler D. Griffis Photography, 2009
Article by Jeremy Benson

On Halloween night, the crowd at White's Bar could tell by mere looks that the Tosspints meant business: literally in the case of guitarist Don Zuzula, who dressed as a white collar Viking, while John Johnson kept the drum set holy enough in his nun's habit, and Zak Zuzula, bassist, received plenty of handshakes and nostalgic stares for his vintage Ghostbuster proton pack. The band opened its performance with a sustained chord and a shout to the crowd—a cymbal crashed, and they were off!, barreling into their 45-minute set with all the kinetic energy Newton's laws of motion allow for a three-piece Celtic punk rock band. From there, the momentum only amplified. "We use our music like a hammer," says Don. "You don’t have time to stop to take a breath."

The escalating energy of a Tosspints show mimics the band's overall trajectory, from their beginnings as a standard bar band playing covers for beers, to the present, as they prepare their first full-length—and completely original—studio release, 11 Empty Bottles.

The trio, composed of brothers Don and Zak Zuzula and family friend John Johnson, have a wealth of experience, having previously played in punk bands together, as well as in outside projects. Don got his start entertaining in coffee shops before playing bass and guitar in a variety of punk bands. John, a food supply distributor by day and disc jockey by night, plays in local potty-punk band Beer Softened Stool with his son Tyler, and regularly lends his 41 years of precision timekeeping to jazz outfits. While Zak, in addition to teaching and adjusting to recently-attained fatherhood, has played bass for metal and punk bands, including Untamed Addiction, and once accompanied a country ensemble, which he calls "the worst few months of [his] life."

They formed the Tosspints in 2007 when Don returned to Michigan after five years of military assignment in Texas. There, along San Antonio's Riverwalk, Don frequented Waxy O'Connors pub, where guitarist Joe Walmsley entertained guests with Irish pastorals and Scottish pub tunes. Don, whom bandmates say can teach himself to play a new instrument in an hour, quickly learned the songs, and Walmsley invited him to strum along. "I ended up being his back-up act when he couldn’t make it to work." It was his first chance performing Celtic folk, although his interest in the genre first piqued in the 90s, when he saw Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys at Warped Tour. From there he sought out more traditional Irish music, which supplemented an early familial crash course in folk music—the Zuzulas' Scottish grandmother played accordion. "It was something I listened to before and I knew. I got an opportunity to do it live, and it was more fun than anything I've ever done." He recalls phoning Zak and John from Texas: "I called them, and I said, 'I'm really liking what I'm doing right now, and I want to keep doing this when I come back.'"

Went Back to What They Already Knew

Their first attempt as an acoustic Irish threesome fell more than a little flat. "It turns out I'm a terrible acoustic musician," Don admits. "We were going to have two guitarists and a percussionist, but [Zak] can't play guitar at all." He adds that John had trouble getting comfortable with the right drum kit. "He couldn't play that thing worth a damn … so we just went back to what we already knew." Don plugged in his guitar, Zak returned to the electric bass, and John assembled a street punk drum set. They started playing the pub-punk style of Ireland's original bad boys, Shane Mcgowan and the Pogues—"Tosspint" is the name of a Pogues' song—dropping "the flutes and lutes" known to accompany standard Celtic music and adding their own sense of American rebellion. "You have to find where you belong," says Don, "and that's what happened with this." They had found their groove.

In the last year, however, two events further solidified the group's identity and catalyzed major philosophical changes in how the band writes and performs. During a shared show with the Goddamn Gallows in Lansing last winter, the Tosspints sat slack-jawed at the Gallows's polished and energized performance: "They just played," says Don. "They had a set list, and they just played for 45 minutes." The band talked little and allowed limited downtime between songs—if a guitar had to be tuned, there was still music playing. "We went home and said, 'That's what we have to do … If you want [respect], you have to earn it, and we can earn it like that.'"

A Gogol Bordello show in June 2009 left a similar impression on the Tosspints, who wrote on their Myspace Music page, "Yesterday I witnessed a musical act that helped me transcend onto a higher level of consciousness." Gogol Bordello, a 9-piece gypsy-rock performance band hailing primarily from Eastern Europe, played for a continuous hour and a half, followed by a 45-minute encore. The entire c - 360mainstreet.com

It’s an understatement to say that the Tosspints are an unusual trio of musicians. First off two of ‘em are brothers – Don and Zak Zuzula of the tribal Zuzulas – and the drummer John - you doesn’t have to call me Johnny – Johnson is dating their mom. What happens to the band if John and mom break up – do they lose their Johnson? Secondly, what is Celtic Music, anyway? The Celts as an identifiable race are long gone…ya know any? Hell No - so Celtic music is one of those loose terms that cover a whole swathe of musical traditions from the Scottish-inspired music of Donnegal to the folkish lyricism of Clare. In essence, Celtic music covers traditional music of Celtic countries – Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany (in France), Galicia (in Spain) and areas that have been influenced by these folk/world traditions such as the United States and Canada. Ultimately it’s a moot tosspoint – doesn’t really matter - ‘cos they play a hybrid of the genre called Celtic Punk that eschews the prettier aspect of Celtic Music – the flutes and Lutes and violins - and rocks yer knickers like a “truck that kicks ass”. It’s a major commitment like Dickey Betts on a 3 month jag to their unique musical vision, carving out an identity that doesn’t automatically follow the steps of the old wave Celtic Punk traditionalists like the Pogues, DropKick Murphy or Flogging Molly. They have a staunch following of loyalists that know the lyrics to their original tunes and will sing-a-long during the shows. It takes awhile for the newly baptized fan – they may want and Irish wake only to encounter a Viking funeral with the pyre ablaze. This is music for the ages whether it is Hail-up-good-friend-and-we-shall-die-together drinking songs or political barn burners that deal with injustice and subjugation.

I must admit this was a difficult interview for me having to reign in this incendiary group of misfit intellectuals and musical radicals. I was forced to edit out the most salacious, dastardly and profane bits – and that was just my questions. Yeah, the Tosspints brought out the best in me. This close-knit threesome literally takes the bull by the horns and runs the game. I could hardly keep up. I was like a post-Exorcist Linda Blair grousin’ about the demon inside her back when she was doin’ the super-freak with Rick James. At times I felt like a red-faced parent draggin’ the kids to yet another excruciating soccer game. But I was both the parent and the child and the Tosspints were priests giving me communion and forgiving me my sins.

When did the band first get together?

Zak: Well, Don and I have been brothers for a few years and John is dating mom and so we’ve been together as brothers and friends for awhile Don: As a band we’ve been together four years. We started playing in a different band together - a punk band. We came up with a name PCOA after playing a game of Balderdash. That acronym was one of the questions; it stood for Prosecutor Club of America…though we came up with a different meaning. It was great fun. We wrote songs we could go to jail for. John: Don was in the military and he heard some bands in San Antonio and told us about this great form of Celtic music Don: I was in the military for four years and then served in the reserves so I was out and back to Texas several times and hung out at this place called Waxy O’ Connors and that’s where I found the inspiration for the Tosspints.

Can You recite any memorable Celtic limericks?

#####**%$$%#^%^$%^(^^(^&

Whose your leader and why does he drink so much Guinness?

Don (the Leader): We don’t really have a leader we’re a democracy

Zak & John: YES SIR

Does each member have a particular role - like the quiet Tosspint, the cute Tosspint, the Piss-offed Tosspint?

John: Don’s all three

Don: I’m the emotional entity in the band.

John: I’m the salesman. Don does production. Zak does marketing…

Don: and all his business is done on the golf course

Are you a drinking band?

Zak: We’re really not a drinking band but we like to have a good time. (Hmm, it’s 9am - can I have another Guinness…oops – you’re not writing that down, are you)

How did you come up with TossPints – what does it mean?

Don: It was the title of a song by the Pogues. It’s about a guy who is considered worthless by his village because of his political views and is burned at the stake. He says goodbye to his wife and children and tells them that what he did was right and moral. It’s about the last day of his life.

John: It’s a rebel song about the plight of the Irish – very sad.

Don: But it’s really about any government that exploits people


Describe Your music - what’s Celtic punk?

Don: It’s Celtic music but it’s got more attitude that we are just…

Zak: playing our own style

Don: Yes, it really came from the Pogues. It’s Celtic but it’s not traditional and it’s not rock. John has this phrase it’s not flutes and lutes…

John: Yes…It’s not like Riverdance with - The Review Magazine