Formed in 1984, Sonoma county’s groove/thrash/bad-acid/punk/noise/metal/samba trio Victims Family has earned a reputation as one of the most consistently interesting bands in the underground. Musically diverse and lyrically ironic and topical, the group has become known for its prodigious displays: intense, impassioned playing while maintaining a sense of humor when singing about war, mass-murder, Barbara Walters, David Korsesh, greed, disease, soggy cereal, white bread, CIA drug smuggling, suicide, religious dogma, psychoanalysis, roommates from hell, unrequited love, and the music industry, among other things.

The group released two albums before the departure of drummer Devon VrMeer, who left to pursue fatherhood. When Tim Solyan, the band’s former roadie, stepped in to fill Devon’s shoes, the guys had a solid roadworthy unit for touring, which they proceeded to do – a lot.

Their third album, White Bread Blues, soon followed and was received on a much wider critical and commercial scale than before. More touring throughout the US and especially Europe cemented the group’s reputation as an incendiary live act. The Germ, their fourth album, and their debut for Alternative Tentacles Records, was a brooding, noisier excursion.

More touring. Then, after a severe case of road-burnout forced them into a premature split, the guys went their separate ways for a time.

After a ten-month breakup they reformed in the spring of 1993 to play a sold-out show at San Francisco’s Kennel Club, and this led to plans for a new album. Headache Remedy was the resulting recording, and was released by Alternative Tentacles in February, 1994. A recording of the band’s final show was released less than a year later, in 1995. Entitled Four Great Thrash Songs, the NorCal trio is showcased doing what they do best: astounding one and all with sheer excess! Founding members Ralph and Larry went on to play in Alternative Tentacles artists’ Saturn’s Flea Collar, Hellworms, and now, The Freak Accident!

Victims Family tour dates