saccharine
trust
band fits no clear pigeonhole
by michael l. miller
the state and the columbia record
november 7, 1986
Here's what you get when you read reviews of Saccharine Trust: "nightmarish
shards of imagery," "brutal jazz-rock hybrid," "tension," "kinetic energy,"
"miasmic excess," "beat poetry," "expressionistic guitar," "sheer
brilliance."
No one really knows how to deal with this ambitious, semi-improvised rock
band from east Los Angeles. That's good. There should be more bands that
can't be pigeonholed.
Saccharine Trust was spawned in the California punk movement of the early
1980's, but has gone beyond that limited form. In fact, it sometimes takes
it's music so far, it becomes something totally new.
Manifest Productions is presenting Saccharine Trust and The Gummi Bears in
a matinee concert, Sunday afternoon at Rockafella's in Five Points,
beginning at 2:30 p.m. It's an all ages show, so bring Grandma and Grandpa
and enjoy the music. Admission is $5.
When Joe Baiza met Jack Brewer at the mailing service where they worked
next to each other, they became friends and started talking and arguing
about music all the time. They met a guy named Marshall Mellow, who had
lots of musical equipment, and decided to start a band.
They called themselves The Obstacles, but all they ever did was rehearse.
Then one day, Marshall took off but left all this equipment.
"Suddenly we had all the equipment for a band, but no band," Brewer
recollects. "We looked for musicians to play with just to use the
equipment."
Brewer and Baiza auditioned lots of people, but most of the musicians knew
more than their auditioneers. Some went on to join seminal punk bands such
as Red Kross, Black Flag, and The Minutemen.
Brewer and Baiza finally settled on two guys named Louis and Rich, changed
the name to Saccharine Trust and started opening for other South Bay bands
at Capone's in San Pedro.
Soon Louis left the band after an argument and Rich, "who couldn't keep a
beat anyway," followed. This was just the beginning of multiple personnel
changes over the next few years.
One of the more interesting acquisitions was the discovery of a new
drummer, Rob Holzman, underneath a car. "He was loaded, underneath a car
looking for something," Baiza said. "He was giggling a lot and said yeah,
he played drums and wanted to audition. He came by the next day and we took
him on the spot."
The current lineup is: Brewer on vocals and Baiza on guitar; Bob Fitzer,
bass; Tony Cicero, drums: and Steve Moss, sax. They all come from
different musical backgrounds, but have bent a little to blend their styles
and make the musical stew work.
On the band's latest album, "We Became Snakes," the stew is wild and free,
yet structured, and at times boils out of the pot.
Saccharine Trust is an acquired taste for many, but for the daring, it can
lift you up.
