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Punk Rock and Other Assorted Bullshit

Saccharine Trust

September 19th, 2005 | Posted by: Eric | Category: 80's Punk

Why write my own description of LA’s Saccharine Trust when this quote from Perfect Sound Forever captures it all:

A screaming hybrid of punk energy, be-bop swing and beat poetics, for many, the ‘Trust were SST’s “difficult” outfit. Without the brutal anger of Black Flag, the populism of the Minutemen, the hillbilly stomp of the ‘Puppets or the pop smarts of Husker Du, the band was often left playing support to the stars and being content with their “cult band” status. So be it.

It took many years for the music of Saccharine Trust to sit well with me, but I’ve reached a point where I can now cautiously appreciate (if not fully understand) what Jack Brewer, Joe Baiza, and company were trying to do in the early ’80’s. I remember picking up the Sacramentel Element tape after reading about it in an SST catalog (which effectively hyped every release ), and being disappointed by what I heard. Or rather, what I didn’t hear (see above quote). In retrospect the Trust’s 1981 debut Paganicons is a classic 12″ filled with Baiza’s twisted guitar dissonance and Brewer’s impassioned rants. 1984’s Surviving You, Always is a more schizophrenic affair, mixing spastic jazz riffs with weird, psycho-religious lyrics to create some strange soundscapes. Sometimes great, often frustrating, Surviving You, Always can be an exhausting listen. As a result of my initial distaste I passed on Saccharine Trust final two LP’s - 1985’s World broken and 1986’s We Became Snakes. Below are a couple of my favorites from the first two albums:

from 1981’s Paganicons 12″
Saccharine Trust - I Have…mp3
Saccharine Trust - I Am Right.mp3

from 1984’s Surviving You, Always
Saccharine Trust - Sunk.mp3
Saccharine Trust - Speak.mp3

Stuff:

  • buy Saccharine Trust releases
  • photo from the official Saccharine Trust website
  • Dave Lang is the author of the quote from PSF

    • 13 Comments so far

    1. malfeitor September 21st, 2005 2:28 am

      Thanks for the second listen to a band I originally had written off. I thought Human Certainty was a great tune, but back in the day I could never warm up to them. I remember seeing them open for Black Flag (I think) and I couldn’t wait for it to be over, guess I’ll give ‘em another chance based on these tracks.

    2. Erick September 21st, 2005 4:41 am

      “A Human Certainty” is an incredible song, possilby their best. I saw the reformed line-up a couple years ago in LA and they were sweet and still rocked the old stuff.

    3. Matt September 21st, 2005 6:48 am

      it’s great to see someone finally give “the knod” to one of punks greatest,yet almost forgotten bands!!!

    4. fred September 21st, 2005 2:18 pm

      There were two tracks available on Chunks & Cracks previous to the LP, which I loved. I remember seeing them when the baldie hardcores first started showing up on the scene and they would run up to Brewer and toss complete beers right onto him, and just stand there, waiting for him to react, poor guy. He just sang right through it. That killer chicano guitarist always slayed me.

    5. Finn September 21st, 2005 5:27 pm

      great choice! so highly underrated. Jack Brewer is a great poet and a nice guy. I really like their latest cd they put out in early 2000 also, which says alot since 99% of bands who put a record out after so long put out something completely unappealing.

    6. Jaimi September 22nd, 2005 3:03 am

      Don’t forget Slovenly! Possibly even more underrated.

    7. tesco September 23rd, 2005 2:04 am

      Wow… so many memories!!

    8. Erick September 28th, 2005 7:04 am

      The song on ‘Chunks’ is “A Christmas Cry,” when “the middle class nobody pretends he’s better than the lower class nobody,” or something like that, with instruments crashing all around.

    9. Matt September 29th, 2005 4:33 pm

      i can’t find the “Surviving you Always” album anywhere!!!! i love the 2 songs from that are posted. could someone point me in the right direction to find this LP. SST doesn’t have it and cdnow.com doesn’t have it either. Ebay, Nope!!

    10. juan duque October 4th, 2005 5:12 am

      Hey, thanks for these songs!! I used to own an old sst 45 comp w the minutemen and sacch trust on it which was one of my favorite things back in the day, and coincidentally, when i happened upon this blog i thought to myself “gee, i should hunt me down some saccharine trust in some mp3blog somewheres”, then i scroll down, and find this!!

      Thanks from Medellin, Colombia,

      Juan

    11. Patrick December 7th, 2005 1:03 am

      “Surviving You” is out of print. Its definitely a cool LP. I picked a copy up on Ebay about a year ago for a reasonable price ($15, I think). Try gemm.com or musicstack.com. Someone might be selling the vinyl used. “Surviving You” was never released on CD. SST hasn’t been particularly good to the Sac Trust back catalog (I read an interview with Joe Baiza from a few years back where he mentioned that trying to get Greg Ginn to do anything for the band was “futile”), although they did issue “Paganicons” on CD a few years back.

    12. Drucifer Lush November 12th, 2006 3:23 am

      I still listen to Pagan Icons religiously to this day. Now if you could post “Hearts and Barbarians” (from the Cracks in the Sidewalk” comp, I would be truely pleased.

      And thanks for this site. Found you through Punk Vault and Strange Reaction.

    13. GUILHERME TELL April 2nd, 2007 2:23 pm

      PORRA ESSAS MUSICAS DO BLACK FLAG CONTINUAM DU KARALHO!

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