Biography

No Trend were an anomaly on the Washington, D.C. punk scene of the '80s, though they were a band that went out of their way not to fit in, and would doubtless have done the same wherever they were. At once plodding, aggressive, and eccentric, No Trend constructed a barrier of chaotic noise that just barely acknowledged melody (usually in the form of thick bass lines that just barely held the songs together), with jagged guitars, venomous shouted vocals, charging drums, and horns and keyboards injecting more off-kilter blare to the proceedings. Often compared to like-minded merchants of racket Flipper, No Trend's recorded body of work was at its most focused and elemental on their debut album, 1983's Too Many Humans, and reached its peak with 1986's ambitious Tritonian Nash-Vegas Polyester Complex, while the 2018 compilation You Deserve Your Life was a bracing look at the group's formative period. Hailing from Ashton, Maryland, No Trend was formed from the ashes of an earlier group called the Aborted in 1982 by lead vocalist Jeff Mentges, who was soon joined by guitarist Brad Pumphrey, drummer Michael Salkind, and bassist Bob Strasser. The Aborted played just one gig on a bill with Government Issue before they collapsed, and Mentges, Strasser, and Salkind recruited guitarist Frank Price to re-form under the name No Trend. Playing deliberately abrasive and confrontational music, No Trend were eager to go against the grain of the then-thriving Washington, D.C. punk scene, especially the city's straight edge movement, which they believed had sunk into the conformity they claimed to decry. They gained a valuable ally in Steven Blush, a fan who promoted punk shows in the nation's capital. Blush became their manager and helped them land spots opening for the Dead Kennedys, Hüsker Dü, T.S.O.L., and other notable punk acts of the day. (Blush would later go on to write the definitive book on the '80s hardcore punk scene, American Hardcore: A Tribal History.) In March 1983, No Trend booked time at Arlington, Virginia's Inner Ear Recording Studio, where the band cut their first record, a three-song 7" EP titled No Trend and included such sure-fire hits as "Mass Sterilization Caused by Venereal Disease," "Cancer," and "Teen Love." The release was intended to coincide with the group's first national tour, though delays led to the record appearing shortly after they returned home. A year later, the EP was remixed and reissued as a vinyl 12" with the addition of two bonus tracks ("Die" and "Let's Go Crazy"). In August 1983, Bob Strasser and Michael Salkind quit No Trend shortly after they recorded their first full-length album, Too Many Humans, which would see release in 1984. Bassist Jack Anderson and drummer Greg Miller did a yearlong stint with the band as their replacement rhythm section, and by the time No Trend brought out their second album, 1985's A Dozen Dead Roses, they had a completely new lineup. Jeff Mentges was the only survivor from the previous edition (though he was now billing himself as Jefferson Scott), and the new beefed-up ensemble included Dean Evangelista on guitar, Benard Demassy on sax, Danny "Spidako" Demetro on keyboards, Robert "Smokeman" Marymont on bass, and Ken Rudd on drums. The album also featured guest vocals from Lydia Lunch on four tunes, which were also released separately on the EP Heart of Darkness. While No Trend had previously self-released their material, for 1986's Tritonian Nash-Vegas Polyester Complex, the band struck a deal with the Midwestern indie imprint Touch & Go Records. The album marked another serious personnel shake-up for No Trend; Mentges (now calling himself Clif "Babe" Ontego) and Evangelista (who moved from guitar to keys) were the only holdovers, and now the band included two guitarists (Bobby Birdsong and Leif), bass (Smokey), percussion (Chris Pestelozzie), drums (James "Fuzz" Peachy), cello (Rogelio Maxwell), and a four-piece horn section (Paul Henzey, Johnny Ontego, Scott Rafal, and Nick Smiley). By this time, the group's sound had become more eclectic, with echoes of jazz, funk, and prog rock audible in the mix, and Mentges and his collaborators pushed the envelope even further when they set to work on their fourth album, which was to be their most polished and technically accomplished effort to date, though no less challenging. Unfortunately, Touch & Go opted not to release the material, deeming it too eccentric and polarizing for their tastes, and Mentges was unable to find another label willing to take a chance on it. Stuck with an album they couldn't put out and collaborators who could no longer continue with the project, Mentges folded No Trend in 1988. After the end of No Trend, Mentges wrote and directed a low-budget feature film, Of Flesh and Blood, and dropped out of music, eventually making a career in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning repair. Original drummer Michael Salkind coordinated an archival release, 1995's The Early Months, that combined the nine songs from No Trend's first recording session and ten tracks from a 1983 concert in Baltimore. In 2001, the idiosyncratic reissue label Morphius Archives finally gave the final, unreleased No Trend album a public hearing under the title More. The 1983 studio session that appeared in full on the Early Months collection was reissued on vinyl in 2018, along with a pair of live takes of otherwise unrecorded tunes, on the album You Deserve Your Life from Digital Regress. In 2020, Drag City Records brought out an expanded reissue of the Too Many Humans LP and the Teen Love EP in one package, with the addition of rare and unreleased studio material, demos, and live material. The Too Many Humans/Teen Love set was also made available in a special deluxe edition including a reproduction of No Trend's fanzine, show flyers, and a 40-page book with a full band biography. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi