Poison Idea, Child Bite, Chud

Nihilistic Portland, OR, hardcore outfit Poison Idea was formed in 1980 by frontman Jerry A., guitarist Tom Roberts, bassist Chris Tense, and drummer Dean Johnson. The group debuted three years later with the EP Pick Your King, cramming 13 songs into a 16-minute time frame; the Record Collectors Are Pretentious Assholes EP followed in 1985, fine-tuning the band's blistering sound and fatalistic worldview. Thanks to their notoriously insatiable diet of drugs, alcohol, and junk food, the members of Poison Idea all ballooned past the 300-pound mark by the time of the 1986 full-length Kings of Punk, with Roberts -- who now tipped the scales at an impressive 450 pounds -- rechristening himself Pig Champion in honor of the occasion. Tense and Johnson were then dismissed from the lineup, although the former returned in time for 1987's War All the Time, recorded with second guitarist Eric "Vegetable" Olsen and drummer Steve "Thee Slayer Hippy" Hanford; Tense was then replaced by bassist Mondo for 1988's Filthkick EP. Both the Darby Crash Rides Again and Ian MacKaye EPs followed a year later, another period of roster tumult which made way for the addition of guitarist Kid Cocksman (soon replaced by Aldine Striknine) and bassist Myrtle Tickner. Poison Idea returned in 1990 with Feel the Darkness, with a series of live releases (the Official Bootleg EP, the Live in Vienna EP, and the Dutch Courage LP) preceding 1992's Blank Blackout. A collaboration with Jeff Dahl appeared a year later, concurrent with the covers album Pajama Party; however, in the wake of Pig Champion's subsequent departure Poison Idea disbanded, releasing their June 6, 1993, farewell gig at Portland's La Luna as Pig's Last Stand.


The no-fluff punk sensibility is combined with flourishes faintly reminiscent of acid-teas-era experimentation, and freaky, tweaked-out vocals. Alternating between 8-bit Nintendo sounds and expansively spacy and epic movements, the music of Child Bite will constantly challenge whichever musical genre you choose to describe them. Like a perfectly balanced amphetamine drunk, there is a sense of euphoria, urgency, and baseless paranoia blended with an overall sense of velocity, a hidden logic and inertia that is both satisfying and mildly frightening.