saccharine
trust's
back-alley visions
by jeff spurrier
l.a. times october 5, 1986
When tenor saxophonist Steven Moss
joined Saccharine Trust nine months ago, he had no idea that the band was on
the verge of breaking up. "I remember my first day of rehearsal," he says
with a grin. "I didn't know if I could play with them but I was really
happy to be there. And they were arguing! I couldn't believe it. I had
just gotten with these guys and they were going to break up. No! You can't
quit! Wait a while!"
"For while I was getting tired of it all, this really harsh dissonant
stuff," adds guitarist Joe Baiza, 34. "I didn't hear that way anymore. I
didn't know if I wanted to keep doing this- start another band or
something."
Fortunately for Moss and the growing numbers of Saccharine Trust fans, the
group decided to give it another shot. The ban's third LP, the live "Worldbroken"
(on SST Records), began gathering glowing reports from around the country
while the addition of Moss provided new enthusiasm and melodic sound to the
music.
Now, with the recent release of it's fourth LP, "We Became Snakes,"
Saccharine Trust- which plays today at the Music Machine- looks ready for
serious contention in the rock marketplace.
This doesn't mean that the band's blend of jazz-rock-blues dissonance has
been softened in an appeal to the alternative mainstream market. On a good
night, Saccharine Trust- Moss, Baiza, vocalist Jack Brewer, bassist Bob
Fitzer and drummer Tony Cicero- can still be a disturbing earful for some.
Fans of innovative acts such as the Minutemen, Captain Beefheart, Tom
Waits or Sun Ra might have no problem dealing with the jazzy sound, but
audiences who come for a night of casual background rock might find it's
more than they bargained for. Despite the name, the effect is often
anything but sweet.
"I think the music is a little more difficult (than most bands)," says
Moss, 33. "It's not as accessible, not as many hooks. A lot of people have
trouble with the dissonance and the odd time meters."
Adds Jack Brewer, 27, "I'd call it trying. We're not the kind of
band you can come and see and ignore and just look for the girls. I think
we've been ignored (in the press) because we're actually too hard to ignore
(in the flesh."
Until the release of "Worldbroken" last year, there did seem to be a
conspiracy of silence about Saccharine Trust. While scores of other local
bands rose to national cult status, the 6-year-old Saccharine Trust
struggled for an audience.
And it wasn't due to lack of trying. The group has been on four
cross-country tours with label mates Black Flag, a marriage of convenience
that placed the group in the difficult position of trying to play hard music
for hard-core fans.
"We have a mutual understanding with hard-core audiences," says Brewer.
"They hate us and we hate ignorance."
Like fellow South Bay artists the Minutemen, Saccharine Trust began with
the idea of developing an individualistic sound and letting the rest of the
world catch up. Indeed, the Minutemen, who formed at the same time in an
apartment upstairs from Brewer in San Pedro, provided much of the
inspiration for the group's original concept. Former Minutemen bass player
Mike Watt played on the "Worldbroken" album and produced "We Became Snakes."
Says Baiza of the Minutemen: "We've always had a completely different
direction, but just seeing someone else (be that adventurous) made me feel,
well, we'll do it too. That's what we advocate- individuality. That's our
message."
Saccharine Trust's message is more than individuality.
Brewer's evocative lyrics are dark and sinewy, chock-full of biblical
references, tortured emotions and back-alley visions, like these lines from
the new album's title song:
one night in the garden
behind a burning bush
we hid from god
we became snakes
slimy, wicked, sliding upon one
another
hissing the secrets of virtue and
worship
"(The songs) are personal," Brewer says. "How could they not be? If I
don't learn through these experiences maybe someone else will. There's no
preaching or cult or special religion behind it all. It's just a personal
struggle between life and flesh and wondering what more is there. The truth
will eventually come to a person who's restless enough to find it."
And for Saccharine Trust, and audience restless enough to take a chance is
gradually developing.
"I have this dream of (being able) to make your own records with the kind
of music you want," say Moss. "You may not have a big hit but there's a
limited market that's going to pay your bills. Some parts of the music
business are going that way. There are marginal guys like John Prine that
aren't big mass sellers but every time he makes a record he sells 50,000
records- enough to pay the bills. You don't have to get rich and have
cocaine and groupies who give you AIDS and herpes. If you could make the
kind of music you want and not have to work at a stupid job, that would be
ideal."
The ideal is almost a reality for Saccharine Trust. And even though
things are going better than ever before, Baiza admits that playing without
rules musically precludes the creation of any career game plan.
"Saccharine Trust has always been this way- riding a thin line between
falling apart and continuing to greater heights," he says. "It's hard to
do. Each song is a new thing for us. It's another step to see what
happens. Maybe we'll make it and continue, but who know?"
