Imagine spending a year and a half to get a B+ from some asshole at the village voice. Fuck you. I don't need you to tell me I'm good.
-- Lou Reed, Take No Prisoners, 1978
There I was with Chet, and these strange sounds begin to emanate from the chambers above - I mean this was STRANGE stuff! Dare we enter?? You never know what freaked aggregations The Last Call might book. As I entered I think they were playing FREAKOUT. Dissonant, numbing cacophony.
-- Janis Reed, Hot Line To The Underground, The Beat, July 1984.
Slick musicianship and intellectual outrage power this still formulating fivesome. British frontman Eric Stanway spews out a worldly overview leaning torwad the ghastly and macabre..."Soldier of Fortune" examines the McDonald's killer, "Buy It In Cans" satirizes the Nestle Corporation/Third World issue, "Poison Tylenol" follows a victim's plight, "Please Mr. Grave Digger" is a redone Bowie graveyard epic, ansd so on. Sort of like a Fall or Proletariate style barage, but more eerie, especially with Charles Jowett's wacked-out synthesizer wailing throughout. Excellent accompaniment of sax, drums and guitars.
The crowd, prehaps more seasoned to this kind of unusual, outlandish assemblage, took the act in stride, while the audience at the Rat on the previous evening seemed transfixed, either in awe or disbelief, or both.
-- Sound Reactions, The Beat, Vol. 1, Number 13, October 27, 1984.
Lead vocalist Eric Stanway and his group unleashed a set of 10 angry songs at the Rat. Playing to a good sized crowd, Stanway sounded a great deal like John Lydon as he screeched out lyrics about Poisoned Tylenol, Frog Boys and Executioners. Brain Trust is scary, depressing, but never boring. Synthesist Charles Jowett provided some unusual sound effects that greatly enhanced this theatrical, experimental set.
-- Marney McFadden, The Beat, April 19, 1985
Fitchburg Will Never Be The Same...
Saturday night, May 10, at 10:45, the Brain Trust took the stage bringing their punk sensibility, new wave beat, and 90s cynicism to a confused Fitchburg audience as they attended a 10 band fundraiser for the LUK Crisis Center. The Trust opened with 'Who Do You Think You Are?', the first of 11 original tunes that pounded all but the hippest locals to the back of C.R. Goody's.
As they began their first number, the fog machine made sense for the first time, immersing drummer Tom Monahan while he banged out an energetic beat that quickly brought a strange group of bouncing dancers to the floor. Together with bass guitarist Chuck Cronis, he kept up a steady throbbing pace straight from the early 80s.
Band leader and vocalist Eric Stanway sang about dead fish eyes, easing the blinking, curious audience into a spiraling evening of nihilistic raving, brilliantly penned by Stanway over the last dozen years.
Sound maker par excellence, Charles Jowett used synthesizers and an electric guitar to generate driving rhythms and an unusual array of effects that came as close to melody as the band dares go. At times Jowett brought the crowd to attention by jamming on his guitar using a light bulb and a dental pick. His ultra high speed rhythms set the tone while Cronis laid down a surprisingly fast bass line.
They moved through their set, blending one intense musical cry for help with the next-- including some of my favorites: Attack of the Giant Leeches (they suck), The Head in Jeffrey's Fridge, Mobius Strip, and Poison Tylenol.
After a long day of cover bands, the crowd didn't know what to do with the Brain Trust's creative tour de force, but many were won over by Stanway's pointed stage banter and the raw energy flowing out from the stage. By the end of their set, they had created some new fans, driven another group right out of the club, and left the sound crew in confusion.
Stanway had a bloody finger as he finished an encore demanded by the hard core enthusiasts. As their final song washed over me, I couldn't help but notice: this is some mighty fine noise!
Since this is the first time I have heard them I can't say for certain if the Brain Trust will sound the same next time, however, I can say that it will be a long time before anyone in Fitchburg hears anything like it again.
-- Allan Cohen, independent web pundit, 5/11/97
