I've been sitting on this one for a while...I must warn you right now - it's hard for me write about these guys as they were/ are family to me.
I was friends with them in Ann Arbor, MI in the late eighties, housemates for a while in the early nineties, then they migrated to San Francisco & I followed suit six months later in early 1992, and once again, we were housemates for a brief period.
Let me digress for a moment, and speak on Ann Arbor "back in the day"...
In the eighties, you could:1). Get a ticket for skateboarding - it would cost you $50.
2). Get a ticket for weed possession - it would cost you $5.00.
3). You could rent a big room for the summer in a huge frat house for $100 a month.
Ostensibly, I spent a few winters working shitty kitchen jobs, saving up $$$ / weed / acid, renting one of those rooms, quitting said shitty kitchen job, and basically trippin' / smokin' / skatin' / rockin' and drinkin' lots of vodka & lemonade all summer long.
There was a small hotbed of bands going on in A2 back then; Club Heidelberg & The Blind Pig were solid venues, and while the scene spawned some under-appreciated gems, it also spawned some
seriously ego-driven bullshit bands as well, and those who figured out that A2 was starting to no longer be a haven for true weirdos (high rents were well on the way), well...
WE LEFT!(Editor's Note):While I am a blog purist who likes the flavor of a blog written by ONE PERSON (I hate "blog team" blogs too) - and when I say one person I mean that
IT WAS WRITTEN BY ONE PERSON, NOT CUT-AND-PASTED FROM THE INTERNET - I am going to hand over the rest of this post to a true old friend by the name of Smelly.
He was
the critical link in pushing this band to smear its beautifully-grotesque din upon an SF music scene that no longer exists in the terms of sincerity, originality, and most importantly flat-out / balls-out
ROCK POWER.Sit back, relax, and get a lesson in early nineties art-metal, A2-to-SF style. Or don't.
This one's for me anyways...***(A concise missive on the brief history of Möl Triffid)***by Smelly (proofed by L-R V)
"Spawned via the boredom of mid-Michigan and their love for metal mania, a band that remains to this day misunderstood, underrated, & betrayed by hipsters and scenester from the 90's. Their arrival in SF in 1991 was fantastic on the backs of Jesus Lizard (Duane loved them), to their first solo show at the Chameleon Club (w/ Tribe 8), Möl Triffid were never, ever welcomed to SF or the Bay Area scene, yet they lived and experienced some of the best underground shows of the era.
Manic metal riddled with lyrical paralysis from an over-educated book worm spread thin by the nervous attention of stage fright, Kurt
by far was a freak performance. Days and hours before the show he'd be sent to mental and physical convulsion(s) by the "back-stage butterflies".
More common than not, many actors/singers/musicians/poets
do suffer from stage fright. You'd never had known it with Kurt because oh his strong physique, and appearance of outer manhood.
He has BIG BALLS.Kimo Ball remains today as one of the 6-string shredders who have yet to be noticed and supported - maybe Duane from Jesus lizard saw this before others? With Kimo's pure intent, and delivery of imagination and power chords, Möl Triffid remained unspoken for and unacknowledged though the team of lyrical madness and powerful guitar attack that were
superior to any hip bands of the 90's.
Möl Triffid survived a myriad of change moving from A2 to SF.
Morphing and dealing with the inevitable drummer changes, Austin was soon to take the throne of thud and thunder from Scott, and their sound changed and swung a bit more to the "art" of metal and not the "threat" of metal.
The underlying factor that kept Möl Triffid from succeeding on a level of acceptance in the scene was just one - it was not their ability to write rock, deliver it and slaughter it, it was in fact that
they weren't social, nor did they have the suaveness of a social elitist among scensters, whether it was the grungy / post-punk scene of A2, or the art indie rock of SF.
They never had a spokesman with the ability to rub elbows with the likes of scenesters / hipsters, cool cats, or those media moguls of the weekly papers and zines. College radio ignored them and top-ranking band members from other bands feared the mighty Möl Triffid.
Möl Triffid did better on the road then where they lived, loved and worked - unexpected audiences could see and feel the vibe of passion at traveling / touring road shows.
Though Möl Triffid had very little travel and touring experience, they did spread across the Midwest to the mountains of Colorado, to the valleys and peeks of California, and up and down the West Coast.
Bass monster Dave S. had a brief stint with (the) Melvins (featured bassist in GRUNGE: The Movie) while Buzz was recovering from soda pop and licorice addiction. Dave now has a jazz band / teaches blues/jazz back in Ann Arbor once again, and plays in several A2 Gypsy swing, other different style bands.
Kimo went on to play in a pop band called Griddle, and now has teamed up with Ralph Spight and Jello Biafra -
you KNOW who they are, right?Scott is somewhere on an Indian reservation, Austin performs in an art rock band, and Kurt has become a film maker / novelist".
(Link will open in new window)Möl Triffid - Touch the Monkey
Thanks to Dave S. for getting in touch & sending the recordings - I missed them all these years and thanks to Smelly for the Lessons of the Road (amongst other things)...
