The Killer Shrews

A short-lived trio boasting an extraordinary avant-rock lineage, the Killer Shrews featured singer/guitarist Jon Langford, already at the helm of both the Mekons and the rawer Three Johns. Lead guitarist Gary Lucas had served as manager and bandleader for Captain Beefheart during the Magic Band’s closing period, shaping the sonic direction of the Captain’s final pair of albums, Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow. On bass, founding Pere Ubu member Tony Maimone also helmed his own experimental trio Drumhead while contributing to groups from the Red Crayola through They Might Be Giants; fellow Mekon Steve Goulding handled drums, and Langford, Lucas, and Maimone divided the songwriting.

Their lone album emerged from a four-day August 1993 session at Dave Trumfio’s Kingsize Sound Laboratories in Chicago, where punky noise, country blues, avant-garde weirdness, and pure country intermingled in a manner that echoed each participant’s prior work yet kept any single member’s imprint from dominating. Conceived strictly as a one-off collaboration, the Killer Shrews never evolved into a continuing band.