Introducing Hellworms, the last band you’ll ever need to know about for the rest of your life. Well, that’s the way the bio used to read before they decided to call it quits after drummer Joaquin left the band. But, the good news is that they have decided to re-start Victim’s Family . But this bio is about the Hellworms. Sorry.

The Hellworms formed from the ashes of Saturn’s Flea Collar, which was formed from the ashes of Victims Family. Hellworms is the latest collaboration of guitarist/vocalist Ralph Spight and bassist Larry Boothroyd who’ve been destroying eardrums and expectations together since 1984 when Victims Family first came to the attention of the Bay Area’s hardcore scene. Known for their ultra-tight off kilter thrash attack, they were often imitated, often reviled but never ignored. They relentlessly toured the US and Europe and released six albums of thought provoking and satirical material earning them a rabid following worldwide. When the trio finally imploded in 1994, Larry and Ralph both did time in Plainfield, the bay area’s backwoods cannibal-lounge-southern rock outfit, before forming Saturn’s Flea Collar. Their wacky sci-fi debut album, Monosyllabic, (Alternative Tentacles) rocketed them into the annals of obscurity while they managed to tour the US and Europe before eventually imploding as well.

In 1997 Larry and Ralph decided they had screwed around long enough and it was time to find a drummer and work on their backlog of new material. They hooked up with Joaquin Spengemann of Walrus and began working on new songs. The most daunting task was deciding on a new name… they finally settled on Hellworms because it was the only name that both their parents and Jello Biafra hated. With one less hurdle in their path, the trio made their live debut. The result: three seasoned veterans showing the kids how it’s done. Devastating. Intense. Engaging. Sexy. They started off with a bang, opening for Mike Watt at a sold out show at the Bottom of the Hill followed shortly by an opening slot for Nomeansno at the Great American Music Hall. They are quickly earning a reputation as an incendiary live act and rapidly gaining a loyal following.

Continuing in the Victims Family tradition, Hellworms are louder, faster tighter but also bring in a more song oriented, fun vibe while still having lots to say. Their debut album Crowd Repellent on their own Let Them Eat Records label will be co-released by De Konkurrent (Europe) and Alternative Tentacles (everywhere else). Crowd Repellent is fifteen songs of three chord punk, psychotic circus thrash, bad trip psychedelia mixed with lots of heavily caffeinated pointed lyrical observations on the music business, love gone postal, meaningless employment, inserting foreign objects into body parts and other burning issues of our times. The album was recorded at Found Sound in SF with the band producing and Thom Canova engineering. Look for the Hellworms touring the Northwest and the Southwest in November, December and January before heading off to Europe in February of 1999.