"...The Curriculum is Never Neutral (is) a fine record with several terrific and a few classic songs, but nothing to prepare you for the firestorm of seeing this band live ... I am not exaggerating when I say this must have been what it was like to see Nirvana in 1988 ... the passion, the ferocity, the power and the great songwriting are all there... They ****ing rock"   Grant Cogswell, contributor to The Stranger, Seattle, WA

At The Spine is the new project that combines the singing and songwriting of Mike Toschi (Toskey). The Curriculum is Never Neutral is a collection of rock, punk and folk-rock anthems crafted from the landscape of America.

The Bronx, Richmond, Portland, Seattle and the Gulf of Mexico. Working the five a.m. freight shift at the grocery store. Cross-coastal relationships gone sour. Band mates stabbing each other in the back. Life in cocaine alley at 151st and Broadway in Washington Heights. Teaching seventh grade in the South Bronx at one of the ten most violent schools in NYC. Escaping one weekend to a wood stove heated house in the hills of Vermont. Sprawl and gentrification. Memories. Realities. The subtle victories amidst the constant of the industries. Resisting where you can, but also reluctantly having to swallow it all down with sand in your teeth.

The album was recorded with the drumming of Aaron Semer (also the front man for The Plains) at El Vecino de Los Muertos studio in Seattle, WA by Mike Toschi. It was mixed and mastered by Eric Oz at Iron Orange studio. Eric is an engineer at Glenn Sound in Seattle, WA and who has recorded live sessions with The White Stripes, Elliott Smith, Built to Spill, Sebadoh, etc.

Live and touring, this music is being performed as an energetic power-trio with Adam Drew on drums and Morgan Patton on bass.

Mike Toschi is also the guitarist and lead dancer for The Plains and guitar player for Portland based folk rockers Bit Part. In 2000 he released a solo album and previous to that he played in the Portland power trio, The Help. Sometimes he engineers or produces other music that he likes. He works as a teacher, laborer, for various nonprofits and as a temp to survive. He runs Global Seepej Records.