Eyeball growth, shut the hell up/die.

I must spread the plague around before giving it to cuntface again...

That sums up my feeling about the Locust, pretty much. Small doses for sure. Same goes for most grindcore and most schticky bands...and especially so for schticky grindcore. But that's not to sell the Locust short as merely schticky grindcore. They have a bit more of a situationist streak than a typical grindcore band, and they are rather unique for incorporating vintage synths. They are also fairly unique for being rather remixable, and making themselves available as such.

They are very important for being a "gateway band" to help young people trip into a weird world of better music. In my position as "coach/trainer" for the new DJ's here at KDVS, I find many opportunities to drop the Locust on fans of Slipknot and that sort...people who say they like anything that's "extreme" or "loud/intense." And from the Locust, you're in the windows to the world of the vintage synth, or Mens Recovery Project, which can lead you to Middle Eastern folk textures, and then onto who-knows-what.

Their live show, to me, is kinda boring. Sure, they are great musicians, but I do get bored watching great musicians precisely duplicate their songs as heard on CD. It's more interesting to listen to the hecklers volley back and forth with the band. The hecklers are usually their biggest fans just trying to get a rise outta them, though, so the heckles have become more and more predictable.

The best Locust show I've ever seen, though, was on the first time they toured with Arab on Radar in 1998 or '99, I think. This tour stopped in Sacramento and played at the "secret" show-space called The Loft. Because of skinhead problems in Sacto throughout the 90's, the Loft was forced to keep their shows quiet, and word of mouth and very last-minute emails was the only way you'd hear about Loft shows. Yet, somehow, about 200+ kids flocked from the 'burbs to the parking lot behind the Loft despite the oppressive 110° heat we were saddled with that day. This show started kinda early, too, so it was still over 100° when things kicked off.

The Loft is a room big enough to hold maybe 70 with any modicum of comfort, but as many people as possible stuffed inside there, and it got so hot (no A/C either!) in there that the band stripped off their bug costumes and fencing masks and played in their undies. And their usual icy stage demeanor melted as the band joked with each other and laughed. Things got really loose, and this was probably their loosest, most mistake-ridden performance, yet I think it was their best, or definitely the most fun.

"Fun" is not a word I associate with the Locust, except for this particular night.

Every other time, it's like, "We are the Locust. Okay. Here is perfection."

nice remembrance! should i would have love seeing them back in the day.

i actually can't sit thru more than 20 minutes of fast, short songs. i mean, i have bestial machinery by agoraphobic nosebleed, two discs and 150-odd tracks and i've never make it past track 20, let alone disc 2.