American indie rock subversive Falling James has guided the Leaving Trains through frequent personnel shifts ever since the ensemble originated in 1980. Prior to that project, she spent 1978 and 1979 in the Los Angeles punk outfit the Mongrels. In 1980 she assembled the Downers alongside David Roback, who would later join Mazzy Star, and John Hoffs, brother of the Bangles sisters, before launching the Leaving Trains later the same year alongside guitarist Manfred Hofer, bassist Tom Hofer, keyboard player Sylvia Juncosa, and drummer Hillary Laddin. The unit performed locally for the next three years, yet only the Hofer brothers remained when the group issued its vinyl debut, 1984’s Well Down Blue Highway on Bemisbrain/Enigma Records.
Compared with Falling James’ previous output, that debut album displayed a measured approach rarely encountered amid the West Coast punk milieu. Once the band delivered its initial SST long-player, Kill Tunes, the Hofers departed in favor of more animated players, guitarist Mike Barnett and bassist Eric Stringer. Across 1987’s Fuck, 1988’s Transportational D. Vices, and 1991’s Sleeping Underwater Survivors, Falling James focused on her most forceful and self-loathing compositions, intensified by the arrival of another noise-oriented guitarist, Bobby Belltower, formerly of the Nymphs. Following the bassist and drummer’s exit in 1991, she formed the short-lived Power of Sky with bassist Whitey Sims.
The Power of Sky dissolved quickly, prompting James to revive the Leaving Trains later that year with Sims, Belltower, and drummer Lenny Montoya. Recording halted amid the resulting upheaval until 1993, when SST issued The Lump in My Forehead and Sims contributed lead vocals on multiple tracks. That lineup soon collapsed as well, giving way to bassist/producer Chaz Ramirez and drummer Dennis Carlin, who commenced work on 1994’s The Big Jinx. Within roughly twelve months, Ramirez died in a warehouse accident, James completed the album, joined the side project Sluts for Hire only to be dismissed from it, and assembled yet another incarnation of the Leaving Trains featuring keyboard player Melanie Vammen, bassist Jimmy Green, and drummer Allen Clark. After the group’s eighth album, 1997’s Smoke Follows Beauty, SST issued the compilation Favorite Mood Swings.
