| Background: | group_or_band |
| Street Eaters | |
| Origin: | Berkeley, California, United States |
| Genre: | Rock, Post-punk |
| Years Active: | 2008 - present |
| Label: | Nervous Intent Records, Contraszt! Records, Bakery Outlet Records, Cut The Cord That...Records |
| Current Members: | Megan March, John No, Joan De Toro |
Street Eaters are an American rock band from Berkeley, California. The band's sound, which they self-title using the moniker Truewave,[1] has been described by critics as "powerful post-punk"[2] that is simultaneously "bombastic and sharp, channel[ing] the raw approach to rock 'n' roll once taken by 1970s and 1980s innovators such as Wipers, Gang of Four, and X...the weird era between punk and new wave"[3] while "wrap[ping] themselves in atmosphere like Savages".[4]
Reflecting drummer/lead vocalist Megan March's background as a graduate of the avant-garde Mills College music program,[5] Street Eaters is noted for ambitious album themes and making forays into Sonic Youthesque sound collage soundscapes, most notably on their 2017 album The Envoy (a concept album based on the Ursula K LeGuin books The Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness) and its 2018 instrumental companion release Inhabitations of Time.[6]
Megan March (ex-drummer for Younger Lovers) and John No (bassist/vocalist, singer in Fleshies) began Street Eaters as a bass-drums-vocals duo in 2008, with No utilizing an overdrive-heavy double amplifier setup for his unconventional bass playing, while March plays drums while singing in a tom-heavy, driving mid-tempo style with a heavy focus on shifting dynamics.[7] Vocals generally have a defined lead voice, with frequent gang-style, harmonized, or synchronized vocals by the other member. While the band's early releases on St. Augustinebased label Bakery Outlet tended to switch equally between leads from March and No,[8] more-recent albums (on the band's own Nervous Intent Records and Koln-based label Contraszt!) and singles have featured March's distinctive vocals more prominently. According to Ravelin Magazine, "Drummer Megan March has one of those voices that can do anything: a Kim Gordon-like, guttural holler ("Means") Debbie Harry's snide menace, a quick shout in time with a break, a rationed, powerful scream maybe built upon agit-pop timing and dynamics."[9]
Most of Street Eaters' current discography was recorded in the two-piece configuration, with and the duo spent much of 2009-2017 playing shows in the US, Europe, and Japan, including extended tours and residencies as direct support for bands such as Screaming Females, Jawbreaker, forgetters, and Shellshag.[10] [11] [12] In 2018, Street Eaters were invited to perform four sets of their instrumental sound collage-oriented material at the Portland Art Museum for the premiere[13] of the PBS documentary Worlds of Ursula K LeGuin.
In late 2017, during a six-week tour supporting Screaming Females, Marissa Paternoster joined Street Eaters live on guitar for nightly performances of the Gang of Four song "Love Like Anthrax", which was recorded live at The Pinhook in Durham, NC. That recording, and three other tracks recorded with Tony Molina Band's guitarist Steve Oriolo, were released as the Simple Distractions EP (2021) Street Eaters' first recording with six-string guitar. By early 2019, Joan DeToro, an editor of Maximum Rocknroll Magazine who March and No played with in the band Difficult, had become Street Eaters' permanent guitarist.