28. Z-Toyz 1978–1991 (Miami)

The Toyz, 1982.

In our today’s cloud-based world, where the most-obscure musical information since the beginning of recorded music is digitized and uploaded, where file servers store digital papers and gigabytes of audio awaiting a streaming request for our nostalgic curiosities, one would think a simple Googling of “MTV Basement Tapes” would turn return a plethora of information; an overflowing audio cornucopia regarding each episode, a full listing of the contestant-bands, the winners . . . but there’s not even a Wikipedia page dedicated to the program and there’s no mention on the Wikipage for MTV, either. The IMDb page lists two episodes—and one is incomplete: this for a series that ran six years from 1983 to 1989 (but we only cared for the Martha Quinn era up to 1986: for the Kevin Seal era, as well as the post-5 original VJs era, sucked).

Instead, what returns on a Google search: bits n’ pieces of 40-plus years of hazy memories from the teens-to-senior citizens fans of The MTV Basement Tapes on their blogs, message boards, and vanity-press sites (yes: me), as You Tube users digitize their errant, basement-stored, snow-ridden VHS tapes of the program and create playlists of the bands who competed on the show.

Depending on what part of the county viewers lived in, those Basement Tapes memories differ on the contestant-band from their hometown or state for which they voted. Ex-teenagers in Seattle, Washington, have Rail, the first season’s grand prize winner in 1983, as their memory (which earned a five-song EP contract with EMI America). Dallas, Texas, viewers have 4 Reasons Unknown as their 1985 grand prize winning memory (which released a 1988 full-length album on Epic Records). Then, no matter what part of the country we lived in: we remember the goofy but fun Memphis, Tennessee, Devo-inspired new wave band Dog Police, with their video-single, “Dog Police,” which won a semi-final round in January 1984, but came in second in the September finals (their video ran in light-rotation throughout February as a consolation prize). Then, there was Doug and Slugs, with their bouncy, goofy video single, “Too Bad,” that’s confused as an entry; it turns out we’ve confused those contest-ineligible Canadians with the nutty-similar Dog Police.

I had a copy of this very flyer from
a Spec's Records and Tapes. I wished I still had it:
for my pack rattery has failed me, again.

In South Florida we remember that first season’s finals as the show where Fort Lauderdale’s Slyder lost to Rail. Then, we turned it around when Miami’s Z-Toyz won the semi-finals in June of 1984 with their video for “Miami Breakdown”—only to lose in the September finals by mere minutes and by a mere 3% to an all-female Latin American pop band, the Triplets: an Elektra Records contract denied to the well-deserving Z-Toyz.

In addition to their MTV appearance, South Floridian teens from back in the day have fond memories (yes: me) watching the video for “Miami Breakdown” on Fort Lauderdale WKID-TV 51’s weekend rock video programming block, which aired local band videos—such as Slyder—alongside the major recording artists of the day.

Z-Toyz, at least through the only song I knew by them by way of WKID-TV and MTV, had everything I wanted in band. Def Leppard and Iron Maiden, and to a lesser extent, Saxon (back when their videos aired at 3 PM in the afternoon on MTV after school), spearheaded the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWoBHM)—and that Brit-metal scream by Hanz Walters paired with the dual, new-wave metal guitar attack by founders John Suarez and Peter Spirer fit perfectly with all those British metal imports on Neat Records that I inhaled like a baggie of licorice cocaine: I wanted a Z-Toyz album or, at the very least, a 45-rpm single. Alas, my wee-metal head heart: at record store after record store: I was denied my Z-Toyz spinning black circle. And since Z-Toyz lost out on that Elektra contract, there was only one thing left to do: watch WKID’s rock video program, hold up a portable cassette recorder, and tape it off the television (something we analog teens did with songs in movies on television we liked: we taped songs off the radio, too).

Years later . . . as Trouser Press Record Guides and various, hard copy musicpedias gave way to all things Internet: I came to know more about that lost band of my rock video-drunk youth. It turns out that Z-Toyz didn’t, as so many bands do—paraphrasing the lyrics by their likeminded British brethren in Def Leppard (those two band shots look like my sister’s old Def Lep posters on her wall, to me)—burn out or fade away after one lone single. Z-Toys were more accomplished, yet rife with way too many, non-deserving slipping-away brass rings and close-but-no-cigar moments.

At the time of their 1984 MTV stardom, Z-Toyz—then as Toyz—were grinding away for five years, releasing their first single, “Rock-n-Roll Love Affair” b/w “Learn to Survive,” in 1979. It’s one of those limited edition, vanity press singles pressed in 500 to 1,500 units—where you submit your mortgage payment to buy on eBay, today. To say that, still in 2025, coveted single means than more than life (marriage or mortgage) itself is an understatement. In all my years trolling vintage vinyl outlets, aka used record stores, and record swap meets: both as a customer and store employee: I’ve never found one. Their second, official 45-rpm single, “American Dream” b/w “The Lonely Ones,” issued in 1985 (didn’t know about it then; only years later), is another impossible vinyl dream spinning on an ethereal turntable.

Ugh. Give me back my used vinyl records stores, WKID-TV 51, and Club Soda out in Coral Springs. “I Want My MTV!,” the Martha Quinn years, natch.

Z-Toyz commandeer the newly-operation Miami Metrorail
for their video, "Miami Breakdown."

When you listen to the lyrics, in conjunction with the video images of their best-known and accessible tune, “Miami Breakdown,” it’s easy to see that the Liberty City Riots, aka the 1980 Miami Riots, aka the Arthur McDuffie Riots, served as the catalyst for writing the song.

The Riots were Miami’s version of the twelve-years later Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles in 1992. In Miami’s version: Arthur McDuffie was an African American man who led police on a high-speed motorcycle chase resulting from his suspended driver’s license. When the police caught McDuffie, their anger at a fever-pitch: five white officers beat him to death. Three days of rioting ensued, leaving 18 dead and 200 injured.

Not exactly light-weight material for a rock song of my youth. Not that my youthful, wee-metal head brain made the connection between the song and the societal breakdown at the time.

Pre-MTV 1984.

Post-MTV 1985.

About the flyers: Two of the many club dates by Toyz/Z-Toyz at Big Daddy’s Blitz and Flynn’s Ocean 71.

Blitz Flyer, top: Cats on Holliday, which ties into the history of Z-Cars, also twists into the rosters of the Toyz (more in our “Timeline” section, below).

The Comets from Ocala, Florida, (a then small town situated north of Orlando and south of Gainesville), were managed and produced by Edward Clark Sanford. A longtime Sunshine State musician, his career dates to the late ’60s with Ecumencial Drugstore. You can learn more about his work with the Comets at our sister blog, Lost Bands . . . Lost Vinyl. 

We discuss the career of the Terminals (1980 to 1984) as part of our essay on Fort Lauderdale’s Love Canal, who flirted with Sony-Epic in the early ’90s.

Flynn’s Flyer, bottom: Toyz were on the scene alongside South Florida’s Cryer, which flirted with Atlantic/Third Stone Records. The Abusers are part of the Kids axis with Johnny Depp and tie into the history of Rock City Angels.

Over the years—twelve in all, from 1979 to 1991—with founding guitarist Peter Sprier at the helm and second vocalist Hanz Walters at his side, the band transitioned through ten different configurations—from quartet to quintet and back again—as they became a mainstay at local promoter and impresario Richard Shelter’s Flynn’s Ocean 71 on Miami Beach, while no mothly schedule at the Treehouse Lounge in Hallandale on the Broward/Dade County line badlands was complete without a Z-Toyz gig.

It was at Flynn’s, opening in a “showcase” for a South Florida date by the all-female British metal band Girlschool, that the band was scouted not only by Bronz Records (the band’s label; also Motorhead’s), but Columbia Records. While neither label panned out, Z-Toyz impressed Gene Simmons of KISS enough that he financed demo recordings produced by Rick Browde, known for his charting-work with Faster Pussycat and Poison. They also recorded with Tom Allom, known for his work with Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, and Krokus. None of these demo overtures resulted in a recording contract. Along the way: A member of the Beatlemania Broadway cast and 1981 film joined on bass, they pissed off Joan Jett, became friends with fan and supporter Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, opened a show for ex-Hanoi Rocks lead singer Michael Monroe . . . that they don’t even remember, appeared in a feature film starring Dan Aykroyd and Gene Hackman, had the same management as Anthrax and Pantera, and got a record deal . . . but the album never came out because the label went under.

Needless to say, I fell out of touch with my inner Z-Toyz-ness over the years. I wasn’t old enough to drive down to Flynn’s or their other home-away-from-home, the metal-stronghold the Treehouse. They never released another single or an album after my beloved barnstormer that was “Miami Breakdown” (again: knew not of the other two 45-rpm singles). Z-Toyz simply vanished, as so many metal bands of the day, did.

Years pass . . . 35-plus years, in fact. Z-Toyz returns?

I had long since given up my hard copy rock magazines for the online variety and there it was, in the new-release section: The Lonely Ones, the debut album by Z-Toyz, in 2012. Yep, there’s Peter Sprier and Hanz Walters: it’s them, holy sweet baby of the Nazarene!—and they completely shed their ’80s Def Lep, new-wave metal wares for a full-on, L.A sleazy, denim and leather Guns N’ Roses cock rock-style. Sadly, while the album rockethed my tenderloins, my beloved Z-Toyz weren’t “back” to rock again. It turns out: the album was recorded in 1987 for a 1988 release—but their record company went bankrupt, folding into another label, so the record was never released. This sucks: it’s just a 2012 reissue of a 1988 record . . . I believe, pressed just to fuck with the biggest Z-Toyz fan there is: me, the proprietor and CEO of Over the Edge Radio South Florida (blog and You Tube portal).

The Toyz, 1982.

So, with that, I hope you enjoy your read through the band’s detailed chronological history regarding their various rosters and numerous recording endeavors that never netted a more-than-deserving record deal. For my mission is clear: turn you into Z-Toyz fan.

Oh, vinyl overlords of the rock ‘n’ roll heavens: bestow upon us (well: me) a vault-clear, digitally-remastered multi-disc set with a full-color booklet and biography on the career of Z-Toyz—complete with every single solitary song, in every version, from every demo.

Not since Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive have I wanted a friggin’ record so badly. Is it too early to cobble my X-Mas list and drop hits to mom?

I know mom: clean the cat box and take out the trash. . . .

* * *

Timeline: Rosters and Recordings

Mk. I — as Toyz (1979)
John Suarez — vocals/guitars
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Tom Stevens — bass
Sol Bradman — drums

Demo 1: Miami Sessions
Two-song demo

Songs

1. Rock-n-Roll Love Affair
2. Learn to Survive

• Recorded by Phineas Dali of fellow Miamians the Pistons for his Black Sheep Records

• Pressed as a 45-rpm/7-inch two-sided single release
  

• Mk. I splits; Suarez and Spirer regroup as:

Mk. II — as Toyz (1982)
John Suarez — vocals/guitars
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Mark McGreevy — bass
Rodney DeFreitas —drums

Mk. III — as Toyz   

• Expands to quintet with addition of Hanz Walters
  

Hanz Walters — vocals
John Suarez — guitars/vocals
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Mark McGreevy — bass
Joey Carollo — drums

• Mk. III appears live on WLRN “Channel 17” in Miami
• Plays out with originals at 27 Birds and Rollos

27 Birds, 1982.

Mk. IV — as Toyz (1983)

Hanz Walters — vocals
John Suarez — guitars/vocals
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Ty Westerhoff — bass
Joby Bullock — drums

Demo 2: Miami Sessions
Mk. IV records a six-song demo cassette at Sync Studios

Songs

1. Escaping My Ways
2. Rising Star
3. Bow Wow World
4. Tour de Force
5. Miami Breakdown
6. Fooled Twice

• Joey Bullock departs during sessions; appears on songs #1 through #4
• Bruno Martinez, of Z-Cars and ex-Cats on Holliday, in studio only, on songs #5 and #6

Mk. V — as Toyz (late 1983)
Hanz Walters — vocals
John Suarez — guitars/vocals
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Ty Westerhoff — bass
Scott Levy —drums

• Mk. V. appears in two videos produced and directed by Peter Spirer for “Miami Breakdown” and “Fooled Twice”—the former written by Suarez; the latter by Spirer and Walters

• “Miami Breakdown” selected for inclusion on a 1984 edition of The MTV Basement Tapes.
  

• Legal issues over the band moniker forces a name change for their entry on the program 

The MTV Basement Tapes semi-finals tally, June 1984.

 

• The MTV Basement Tapes: Z-Toyz wins—creaming the competition—but lost in the September finals by 3% to an-all female band, the Triplets, by way of a sleazy manager who gamed, i.e. cheated, the competition by setting up and staffing a multiple bank of phone lines to increase their votes. MTV should have, but did not, disqualified the Triplets and awarded the prize to Z-Toyz.
  

Atlanta’s shitty-to-fraudulent Guadalcanal Diary not only holds the distinction as the lowest-scoring band in the history of the program, they weren’t “unsigned”: they were already signed to the dinky, Atlanta-based college rock label DB Records at the time of their video entry. Again, when found out, they should have been disqualified, their embarrassing 3% divided equally among the other five bands. That, by 1986, Guadalcanal Diary signed with Elektra Records and released three albums in the late ’80s, while Z-Toyz struggled with the labels . . . is a tragedy.

Mk. VI — same as Mk. V, now as Z-Toyz (1984)
Hanz Walters — vocals
John Suarez — guitars/vocals
Peter Sprier — guitars/vocals
Ty Westerhoff — bass
Scott Levy —drums

• Mk. VI records first single under Z-Toyz moniker, with “Are You Ready”
• Records radio commercial jingle for the national Captain Video video store chain

Demo 3: Miami Sessions
Mk. VI records a six-song demo with Tom Allom of Judas Priest and Loverboy fame

Songs

1. Doin’ Me Wrong
2. Let the Music Save You
3. Over You
4. It’s Not me
5. Whore Dog
6. Run Like Hell

• Mk. VI opens for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts at the 4.500 capacity “patio” at the University of Miami, where Walters and Spirer are also students, studying marine biology and film, respectively
  

• Richard Bron of the British record label Bronz Records (home to Motorhead) attends a show with Mitch Weisssman, aka “Paul McCartney,” a cast member of Broadway’s Beatlemania, as a possible producer for an album; reps from Columbia also attend
  

• Bronz offers a deal; the deal is rescinded upon founding guitarist John Suarez’s departure and a considered “loss of chemistry” in the band
  

Mk. VII — Z-Toyz (1985)
Hanz Walters — vocals
Jimi Delisi — guitars/vocals
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Ty Westerhoff — bass
Scott Levy —drums

• Mk. VII, as result of their MTV exposure, appears on WSVN “Channel 7” in Miami for a promotional segment
  

• Jimi Delisi and Westerhoff leave in mid-1985 and the band returns to a quartet

Mk. VIII — Z-Toyz (1985)
Hanz Walters — vocals
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Mitch Weissman— bass (“Paul McCartney” from Beatlemania)
Scott Levy —drums

Demo 4: Miami Sessions
Mk. VIII records a two-song demo with Steve Gordon

Songs

1. American Dream
2. The Lonely Ones

• Released as a 45-rpm/7-inch two-sided single
  
• Mk. VIII relocates to New York

 

Demo 5: New York Sessions
Three-song Demo

Songs

1. A Little Love on the Side
2. I Am the Night
3. Undercover Lover

• Mk. VIII earns an artist profile in the pages of the illustrated Heavy Metal magazine

Mk. IX — Z-Toyz (1987)
Hanz Walters — vocals
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Craig Kiell — bass
Scott Levy —drums

Demo 6: Miami Gene Simmons Session
Three-song demo

• Financed by Gene Simmons

• Features Ric Browde (Poison and Faster Pussycat; Smashed Gladys, Lizzy Borden, Powermad, Kills for Thrills) as producer at Quad Radial Studios in Miami

Songs

1. Are You Ready
2. The Lonely Ones
3. American Dream

• Mk. IX films, but does not appear, in the 1990-released feature film Loose Cannons starring Gene Hackman and Dan Aykroyd; their scenes as the band inside an S&M club, is cut
  

Mk. X — Z-Toyz (1988 to 1991)
Hanz Walters — vocals
Peter Spirer — guitars/vocals
Craig Khory — guitars
Craig Kiell — bass
Scott Levy —drums

• Mk. X signs a publishing deal with Virgin Records, as well as a management contract with Concrete Management: the home to Metal Church, Grim Reaper, and Pantera; later White Zombie, Galactic Cowboys, and Anthrax

• Joe Ohrin becomes their personal manager

Demo 7: New York Sessions
Five-song cassette

• Produced by Ric Browde; the last two songs self-produced by band
  

Songs

1. Are You Ready
2. The Lonely Ones
3. American Dream
4. How It Rains
5. Long Long Road

• Mk. X signs with Absolute Records, a subsidiary label to the Capitol Records-connected Enigma Records

• Enigma was home to Poison, Hurricane, Death Angel, Lizzy Borden, Lazz Rocket

Full-on Guns N' Roses Sunset Strip-style.

Demo 8: Official Album: The Lonely Ones
14-songs (1988 to 1989 release)

• Mark Avenet produces

• The demo was never released as result of Absolute going into bankruptcy and Enigma folding into Capitol

• Mk. X disbands in 1991

• Dee Snider covers “The Lonely Ones” for his post-Twisted Sister concern, Widowmaker, in 1992

•  Self-released as a digital streaming album in 2012
  

Songs 

1. Big Boy Greed
2. The Lonely Ones
3. Down by Law
4. Till I Found You
5. Cindi
6. Miles Away
7. Blood on the Pavement
8. Angel With a Broken Wing
9. Over You
10. How It Rains
11. Wildin’ the Night
12. Travelin’ Man
13. Long Long Road
14. Amazing Grace

After Z-Toyz

Founding guitarist Peter Spirer, who studied film at the University of Miami, became a successful director and producer of narrative and documentary films; his resume is available on the IMDb. Through his film endeavors, he came to form Sacred Cowboys with with actor W. Earl Brown. Their song, “Tell Me Your Secrets,” appeared in the Kris Kristofferson film, Bloodworth. Another music side project of Peter’s was Barnyard Cocks.

Vocalist Hanz Walters became a noted marine biologist specializing in sharks. He takes time out to tour and recorded as a vocalist with Dee Snider’s project, Van Helsing’s Curse.

Original drummer Sol Bradman studied aviation and flew for Continental Airlines.

Guitarist Craig Khory became a successful Kid Rock tribute artist in Las Vegas.

Bassist Craig Keill continued to pursue music and most recently toured and recorded with Roadside Prophets.

Mitch Weissman’s long career in stage and film led to his playing bass on a nostalgia package tour with the Turtles, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Mickey Dolenz (as the Monkees), the Grass Roots, and the Buckinghams.

Jimi Delisi and Ty Westerhoff relocated to Tampa in 1985 and joined ex-Dokken and Ann Boleyn drummer Greg Pecka in the glam rock outfit Julliet. They released a lone album on Enigma Records in 1990 produced by Frankie Sullivan of Survivor. The band’s vocalist, Kenny McGee, fronted another lost, hard rock/hair metal band from Tampa, Heartless, which self-released an album (with vocalist Jimi Robinette) in 1990; both versions of  Heartless oft appeared on South Florida stages.

McGee’s work on the Tampa scene dates to the covers band Lefty, which featured Mark Christian. Transplanting to Fort Lauderdale, Christian joined Fort Lauderdale’s Farrcry. Ira Saltzman and Craig Martin from Farrcry joined ex-Talk of War front man Randy Bates in Mindflower.

Tampa's Thrust Magazine, July 1990.

* * *

You can listen to The Lonely Ones in its entirety, along with assorted singles, demo tracks, performance videos, and live concert footage with a catch all playlist at Over the Edge Radio You Tube.

Since 2012, and sporadically until 2023, Peter Spirer maintains an official blog rife with exclusive photos, live videos not found on You Tube, and behind-the-scene tales about Z-Toyz gigs with Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks, as well as their run-in with Joan Jett during her Miami tour stop on the campus of the University of Miami.

A unique You Tube portal created by user Lone Wolf Attack has collected over 400 clips with show clips and band videos connected to The MTV Basement Tapes program.

More Z-Toyz gig flyers—like the ones provided above—from their go-to venue, Flynn’s Ocean 71 on Miami Beach, can be viewed at Charlie Pickett’s Trash Fever tribute site to the Miami local scene, under “Calendars.” Thank you for making the efforts to provide those images to complete this biographical tribute on Z-Toyz. Additional thanks to Discogs for the band images and singles.

Their MTV video is embedded, below, to enjoy.