Where Trash Talk Play, There Will Be Blood

"I didn't come to sling salvation/I bring you missiles tonight/Stand by and watch me," Trash Talk singer Lee Spielman screams through the sonic violence of 'Explode,' a track from the band's newest album of frantic hardcore, 'Eyes & Nines, inadvertently capturing the presence of the band and the reckless abandon of their fans. Have Trash Talk ever played a show without a splat of blood to be remembered from the floor or stage? Probably not.

"I know that every time I hit the stage I'm gonna have a good time and go off regardless of anyone else," bassist Spencer Pollard told Noisecreep. "My band feels the same way, and I would assume that somehow translates to the crowd." Far from uncommon, the band is greeted at show's end by fans dressed in scars, bruises and cupped hands displaying broken teeth -- all offerings unto the Sacramento foursome.

It's this kind of crowd reaction, as well as a their relentless DIY tour ethic that the show will go on no matter what, that has had many saying the band carries the spirit of Black Flag. "We've toured through broken bones, hernias, sprained ankles, pulled muscles, you name it. But we love to be on the road, so it's gonna take a lot more than that to stop us."

Pollard recalled one time they had to end a tour early (that wasn't the Canadian border), "One time our van blew up on the East Coast. I don't remember exactly what was wrong with it, but it would have cost far more than the van was worth to fix it. We all kind of hung out until we could figure our way back home to California."

When we caught up with Trash Talk, they were in the middle of a tour opening for the temperamentally poppy Alexisonfire, where they had already had two van breakdowns and were really enjoying playing to crowds that would never set foot into the rank and dank places they tend to play. "Nobody wants to play the same show to the same people for the rest of their lives, do they?" Pollard pointed out. "You can tell that a lot of the kids in the crowd have never experienced a band like us, but it's cool because they're sticking around and checking out something new. Luckily we have a lot of dedicated kids who have been coming to our shows for years who still come out to these gigs too."

But through all the shows they've played -- ones with bars and ones where you bring your own 40-ounce -- one of their sets at SXSW in 2009 sticks out for Pollard above the rest. "We played a show on a pedestrian bridge that was swaying under the weight of all the people on it. We didn't start until like 4 AM, but the entire bridge was packed with people. It was an unreal experience."