Victims Family will be playing tomorrow night at the Elbo Room in San Francisco, with Pins of Light and The Fleshies!
“With a partnership dating back over a quarter of a century, guitarist/vocalist Ralph Spight and bassist Larry Boothroyd have been making a uniquely hectic sound as the core of Victims Family since forming the band back in 1984 when they were just a couple of scrawny Santa Rosa teenagers.
VrMeer’s departure to start a family led to his short-term replacement by Eric Strand before roadie Tim Solyan stepped in and completed what many consider to be the band’s classic line-up. Victims Family crafted what still stands as one of the outstanding punk albums of the decade with 1990′s White Bread Blues while furthering their reputation as a blistering live act with multiple U.S. and European tours, sharing the stage with the likes of Nirvana and Primus while having future stars Mr. Bungle and Green Day serve as opening acts.
The line-up released a second album – The Germ in 1992, the band’s first for Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles imprint — but the grind of the road eventually led to a two-year hiatus. A reunion would produce another solid studio effort (Headache Remedy) and a live album that captured Victims’ volatile onstage chemistry before Spight and Boothroyd moved on to band projects Saturn’s Flea Collar (with the bassist switching to drums) and Hellworms.
Victims Family put out one more album with yet another drummer – Apocalicious in 2001 featuring My Name drummer David Gleza behind the kit — before the principles moved on to explore other creative outlets. Spight would front his own band The Freak Accident in addition to playing guitar in Biafra’s lauded new band The Guantanamo School of Medicine, while Boothroyd would tour and record extensively with celebrated experimental outfit Triclops! Still, periodic Victims Family reunions bringing Solyan back into the fold often find fans jetting across the globe to catch another epic and brutal live set. With word of the band making plans to put out its first new album in over a decade this coming year, followers will have even more to celebrate. The band headlines this Alternative Tentacles showcase with labelmates Fleshies and Pins of Light.
Victims Family plays the Elbo Room on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 9 p.m. $10″
