Street Eaters
Street Eaters are an American rock band from Berkeley, California. The band's sound, which they self-title using the moniker Truewave, has been described by critics as "powerful post-punk" that is simultaneously "bombastic and sharp, channel the raw approach to rock 'n' roll once taken by 1970s and 1980s innovators such as Wipers, Gang of Four, and X...the weird era between punk and new wave" while "wrap themselves in atmosphere like Savages".
Reflecting drummer/lead vocalist Megan March's background as a graduate of the avant-garde Mills College music program, Street Eaters is noted for ambitious album themes and making forays into Sonic Youthesque sound collage soundscapes, most notably on their 2017 album The Envoy and its 2018 instrumental companion release Inhabitations of Time.
History
Megan March and John No began Street Eaters as a bass-drums-vocals duo in 2008, with No utilizing an overdrive-heavy double amplifier setup for his unconventional bass playing, while March plays drums while singing in a tom-heavy, driving mid-tempo style with a heavy focus on shifting dynamics. Vocals generally have a defined lead voice, with frequent gang-style, harmonized, or synchronized vocals by the other member. While the band's early releases on St. Augustinebased label Bakery Outlet tended to switch equally between leads from March and No, more-recent albums and singles have featured March's distinctive vocals more prominently. According to Ravelin Magazine, "Drummer Megan March has one of those voices that can do anything: a Kim Gordon-like, guttural holler Debbie Harry's snide menace, a quick shout in time with a break, a rationed, powerful scream maybe built upon agit-pop timing and dynamics."Most of Street Eaters' current discography was recorded in the two-piece configuration, with and the duo spent much of 2009-2017 playing shows in the US, Europe, and Japan, including extended tours and residencies as direct support for bands such as Screaming Females, Jawbreaker, forgetters, and Shellshag. In 2018, Street Eaters were invited to perform four sets of their instrumental sound collage-oriented material at the Portland Art Museum for the premiere of the PBS documentary Worlds of Ursula K LeGuin.
In late 2017, during a six-week tour supporting Screaming Females, Marissa Paternoster joined Street Eaters live on guitar for nightly performances of the Gang of Four song "Love Like Anthrax", which was recorded live at The Pinhook in Durham, NC. That recording, and three other tracks recorded with Tony Molina Band's guitarist Steve Oriolo, were released as the Simple Distractions EP Street Eaters' first recording with six-string guitar. By early 2019, Joan Toledo, an editor of Maximum Rocknroll Magazine who March and No played with in the band Difficult, had become Street Eaters' permanent guitarist; a series of new singles recorded with the trio were released in 2024.
Discography
Studio albums
- Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons
- Blood::Muscles::Bones
- The Envoy
- Deep Cuts singles compilation
Singles and EPs
- Street Eaters/White Night 7” split
- Polluted Waters split with Severance Package
- We See Monsters 12” EP
- Ashby+Shattuck/Mother 7”
- Street Eaters Self-Titled 12” EP
- Street Eaters/Autonomy 7” split
- Inhabitations of Time cassette and digital-only
Compilation contributions
- Typical Girls Volume 1
- Our Lips Are Sealed - A tribute to THE GO GO's
- Frequency of the Truewave Volume I
- Frequency of the Truewave Volume II
- Collapse Board: Secret Punk and Basement Pop
- Total Fest 9 Sampler
- Live From The Devil's Triangle Eighteen
- By Any Means
- Lost Tapes From The Federal Sessions
- Do You Like Music?
- ''Dead Broke Tape Comp Four''