Art punk quartet Pitchblende emerged in March 1991
from the same thriving metropolitan Washington, D.C., independent music
scene home to the Dischord/TeenBeat/Simple Machines axis.
Singers/guitarists Justin Chearno (a onetime member of Unrest and the
Dustdevils) and Treiops Treyfid first met while working at a local
bookstore, and made their earliest recordings as a duo, aided by a drum
machine; after placing an advertisement in the Washington City Paper,
they recruited bassist Scott DeSimon and drummer Patrick Gough, soon
making their live debut under the name Comet Anger. As Pitchblende, the
quartet recorded a ten-song demo tape that summer, and in early 1992
issued their debut single, "Sum," on the Landspeed label, moving to Jade
Tree later that year to release the EP Weed Slam. Their full-length
debut, Kill Atom Smasher, followed on Cargo in the spring of 1993, and
Pitchblende toured the U.S. relentlessly in the months to follow,
releasing their sophomore effort, Au Jus, in 1994. Early the next
winter, Chearno relocated to New York City; when DeSimon followed a few
months later, the group went on hiatus, although the foursome continued
working intermittently on their third LP, GYGAX! (so named in honor of
the creator of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons).
Pitchblende officially dissolved following the album's release; Chearno
and DeSimon later reunited in Turing Machine.
