Trenchmouth was an American punk band from

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, formed in 1988. Throughout its existence, the band mainly consisted of Damon Locks (vocals/percussion), Chris DeZutter (guitar), Wayne Montana (bass), and Fred Armisen (drums).

Biography

The band was founded in 1988 after Locks and Armisen dropped out of the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

and moved from New York to Chicago. As a five-piece with two guitarists, the band released their debut EP, "Snakebite," in 1989. After releasing two studio albums, ''Construction of New Action'' and ''Inside The Future'', they released a third LP, ''Trenchmouth vs. The Light of the Sun'', on East West Records, a division of

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. The band broke up after releasing their final album, '' The Broadcasting System'', in 1996. Armisen went on to be a cast member of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', and would later create, produce, and star in the TV sketch comedy series '' Portlandia''. Locks went on to be in Super ESP and later reconvened with Montana to form The Eternals. In a 2014 Q&A also featuring musicians David Pajo and

David Grubbs David Grubbs (born September 21, 1967) is an American composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine (band), Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet a ...

, Armisen revealed why he quit Trenchmouth: "It just felt like other bands kept passing us by," Armisen also said that "it was easy to convince himself some of those bands were more pop, and had a broader appeal." But as weirder and weirder bands started passing Trenchmouth by, he started to see the writing on the wall. He concluded: "

Tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

ajo's former bandhad 20 minute songs with no vocals and they were huge."

Musical style

Primarily known as a

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

band, Trenchmouth was also labeled as

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and

math rock Math rock is a style of Alternative rock, alternative and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush (band), Rush. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), cou ...

. The band's musical style featured influences from various genres, including

no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

, as well as

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

. The band's first single, "Snakebite", was described as a post-punk track that "fills in the void between primitive acid-jazz grooves,

worldbeat Worldbeat is a music genre that blends pop music or rock music with world music or traditional music. Worldbeat is similar to other cross-pollination labels of contemporary and roots genres, and which suggest a rhythmic, harmonic or textural co ...

brazenness, and fetid

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They were noted for their style-transc ...

formula." While the band's following releases, including '' Trenchmouth Vs. the Light of the Sun'', featured "mutating time signatures, elaborate guitar phrasing, and fast- walking basslines that traditionally signify 1970s prog-rock", the band's final album completes the band's evolution to a "bass-heavy dub project".

Discography

Studio albums *''Construction of New Action'' ( Skene! Records, 1991) *''Inside The Future'' (Skene!, 1993) *'' Trenchmouth Vs. the Light of the Sun'' (Skene!/ EastWest, 1994) *''Volumes, Amplifiers, Equalizers'' (Runt, 1994) *'' The Broadcasting System'' (Skene!, 1996) EPs *''Kick Your Mind and Make It Move'' EP (Dead Bird, 1991) Compilation appearances *''Achtung Chicago! Zwei compilation'' (Underdog Records, 1993) *''More Motion: A Collection'' ( Thick Records, 2003) Singles * "Snakebite" (1989)

References

External links

* {{Authority control American post-hardcore musical groups Musical groups from Chicago American musical quartets Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Punk rock groups from Illinois Math rock groups American dub musical groups East West Records artists