Trenchmouth was an American

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

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

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...

(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 ...

and moved from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

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 East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England. History Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with th ...

, 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 1 ...

. The band broke up after releasing their final album, ''

The Broadcasting System ''The Broadcasting System'' is the fourth and final studio album by American post-hardcore band Trenchmouth. Produced by Casey Rice, it was released on May 7, 1996 through Skene! Records. The album marks as a shift to bass-heavy dub sound from ...

'', in 1996. Armisen went on to be a cast member of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'', and would later create, produce, and star in the TV sketch comedy series ''

Portlandia ''Portlandia'' is an American sketch comedy television series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, set in and around Portland, Oregon, and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters. The show was produced by Broa ...

''. 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 David Pajo (born June 25, 1968) is an American alternative rock musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres such as hardcore punk, math rock, post-rock, electronica, folk rock and indie pop. Though ...

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, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet and The Wingdale ...

, 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: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...

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. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band, Trenchmouth was also labeled as punk rock and

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (includi ...

. The band's musical style featured influences from various genres, including no wave,

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

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 m ...

, and

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

, as well as

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...

. 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 con ...

brazenness, and fetid

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that 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 are noted for their style-tr ...

formula." While the band's following releases, including '' Trenchmouth Vs. the Light of the Sun'', featured "mutating

time signatures The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

, elaborate guitar phrasing, and fast- walking basslines that traditionally signify 1970s

prog-rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

", 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 Skene! Records was an American DIY punk rock record label founded in Connecticut in 1988 by Jeff Spiegel, then later based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. An early album release was ''Better Yet Connecticut Hardcore'', featuring bands such as Bug Gulp, ...

, 1991) *''Inside The Future'' (Skene!, 1993) *'' Trenchmouth Vs. the Light of the Sun'' (Skene!/ EastWest, 1994) *''Volumes, Amplifiers, Equalizers'' (Runt, 1994) *''

'' (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 Thick Records is a Chicago-based independent record label which actively operated from 1994 to 2007. It now exists as a catalog only label for its previous releases. History Thick was formed in 1994 by Detroit native Zak Einstein, who started the ...

, 2003) Singles * "Snakebite" (1989)

References

External links

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