Reunited noise-rock greats Steel Pole Bath Tub play rare show at Ivy Room
Reunited San Francisco noise-rock legends Steel Pole Bath Tub play their first East Bay show in over 20 years when they headline the Ivy Room Saturday night, sharing the stage with East Bay experimentalists Antler Family.
The group was founded in Bozeman, Montana, in 1986 when Morasky and bassist Dale Flattum began experimenting with an aggressive, overdriven style of punk noise. The pair relocated to Seattle, where they brought on drummer Darren Morey -- who had played in hardcore band Mr. Epp with future Green River and Mudhoney members Mark Arm and Steve Turner; Morey would later become Dorothy Kent -- and started to incorporate recordings from vintage television shows and films using cassette players operated with foot switches, adding to the chaos of their sound.
The band would move again, this time landing in San Francisco where they would establish themselves as part of the city's experimental punk scene through a series of 7" singles and albums for Boner Records, including their 1989 debut Butterfly Love. The band would build on its initial underground buzz with relentless touring -- playing with the likes of The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Firehose, Meat Puppets and fellow Bay Area iconoclasts Neurosis and Melvins -- and its subsequent efforts Tulip in 1991 and The Miracle of Sound in Motion two years later that further refined Steel Pole Bath Tub's unique sound.
The group would be among the many underground acts signed by a major label in the post-Nirvana feeding frenzy, scoring a deal with Slash Records. As with many of the era's instances where noise rock and commerce collided, the partnership did not end well. While the band's 1995 effort Scars From Falling Down released through Slash and London Records was more accessible than much of their earlier, the label's issues with some of the samples used curtailed the aspects of SPBT's unorthodox approach. Despite excellent reviews, the album wasn't the hit Slash/London desired. Their planned follow-up -- a full album re-recording of the debut record by the Cars -- was summarily dismissed by label representatives and a demo of new songs (that still included three Cars covers) was deemed "unlistenable."
Stuck in major-label purgatory, the band's activity slowed as Morasky and Flattum focused on their already established electronic side project Milk Cult (band members had also worked with former Dead Kennedys singer and San Francisco punk legend Jello Biafra under the name Tumor Circus). When the rights to the music recorded for Slash/London eventually reverted to SPBT, they released it themselves in the collection entitled Unlistenable in 2002 and were one of the marquee acts for the Neurosis curated Beyond the Pale Festival in San Francisco that year before splitting up.
Outside of a single performance in 2008 for the MusicFestNW held in Portland, OR, Steel Pole Bath Tub remained inactive until 2023 when the band reissued The Skull Tapes, an early demo that quickly sold out of a limited vinyl pressing. The band also reunited to play the "30ish" celebration for underground Houston club Emo's last month with former Neurosis keyboardist and Christ on Parade guitarist Noah Landis added to the line-up, contributing samples and soundscapes.
While Morasky continues to focus on his latest project Cassette Prophet, a new expansive band playing songs built around a mythical "First Church of Radio Shack" concept that currently includes Landis on lead guitar, drummer Wes Anderson (Idiot Flesh, Les Claypool), bassist Donny Newenhouse (Terry Gross, Film School, Hot Fog, Buffalo Tooth), and keyboardists Rachel Smith (Lickets) and Jessica Anthony, this Saturday SPBT headlines the Ivy Room. The show marks just the second time the group will play a Bay Area show in over two decades and their first since a cathartic hometown performance at the Great American Music Hall in February.
On Saturday, the band will be joined by self-described "post-apocalyptic rock" Oakland supergroup Antler Family. Led by trained opera singer Mia Dean (who also fronts the noirish post-punk/stoner-metal project Blood Moon Wedding), the band also includes veteran guitarist Tom Flynn -- best known as a founding member of influential East Bay punks Fang as well as playing stints in Melvins and Duh and running Boner Records; he's currently also in experimental punk group Suboptics -- bassist/keyboard player Tom Dean (also Blood Moon Wedding, Code of the West) and noted drummer Stark Raving Brad (Marginal Prophets, Undercover S.K.A., Mutaytor, the Freak Accident). The band's eponymous debut album had a lengthy delay after it's completion in 2019, but was finally released earlier this year, earning wide acclaim with its mix of stomping riff rockers and gothic, atmospheric balladry.
Steel Pole Bath Tub with Antler Family
Saturday, Sept. 7, 7:30 p.m. $35-$40
The Ivy Room