Reuniting for their first show since 1997, Crust aims to put a bold exclamation point on a band that ended with a faint question mark. During the early Nineties, the Austin trio simultaneously enchanted and reviled with an earsplitting conflagration of tribal percussion, jagged guitar barbs, industrial-strength samples, and a lyrical skew toward all things sacrilegious or scatological.
Multi-instrumentalists John Hawkins, Richard Smith, and Jerry Page reinforced their message with performances utilizing everything from stale white bread to duct-tape G-strings filled with worms. 1990’s Sacred Heart of Crust EP was the inaugural release on King Coffey’s Trance Syndicate label, but by mid-decade Crust’s high-decibel freak show lost its cachet.
"The scene literally caved in," recalls Hawkins. "We went from playing the Austin Music Hall to Hole in the Wall in a hurry," adds Smith.
Faced with declining attendance, increasing internecine squabbles, and no label to release their third full-length, Food Eater, Hawkins says the trio "just kind of quit calling each other." Spurred to reunite by the reincarnation of Smith and Page’s mid-Eighties act, the Bontempi Bros., and the new breed of noise documented by local label Perverted Son, Crust returns with a two-hour, no-holds-barred set with all that entrails.
"I don’t think the town has seen anything like this in awhile," hints Page. "It’ll be rejuvenating, just like a nice, big grunt." - Greg Beets
