Useless Eaters

Boiling up raw first-era punk rock and low-tech synthesizer squalling, Useless Eaters are a trashy lo-fi garage rock project launched by Seth Sutton. Sutton was a Memphis native and a protégé of garage punk legend Jay Reatard when he founded Useless Eaters in 2008. Sutton initially recorded as a one-man band, cranking out a steady stream of tunes that surfaced on 7" singles, the first of which, 2009's "Sucked In," was released on Goner Records with the participation of Mr. Reatard. Useless Eaters cranked out seven singles between 2009 and 2011 before the German label P. Trash Records issued the act's first album, Zulu, in 2011. (By the time the first album dropped, Sutton had left Memphis and relocated to Toronto.) Before 2011 was out, a second album, Daily Commute, was released by Tic Tac Totally Records, while the same label also brought out Cheap Talk: The Singles, a collection of early Useless Eaters sides from their 45s. Nomadic by nature, Sutton lived in Nashville for a while and spent time in Germany and Australia while continuing to keep up a relentless recording schedule and working with a rotating crew of musicians. Useless Eaters released the album C'est Bon! in 2012 and Hypertension in 2013, along with a steady stream of singles. In 2014, Sutton traveled to California and ended up settling in San Francisco, where he was able to set up a rehearsal and recording space and establish a semi-permanent lineup of Useless Eaters. Along with Sutton singing lead and taking turns on guitar, bass, drums, and keys, the band now featured Byron Blum on guitar, Miles Luttrell on drums, and Brendan Hagarty on bass and guitar. Sutton also found a new mentor and occasional collaborator in Ty Segall, and a like-minded label in Castle Face Records. The 2014 album Bleeding Moon, issued by Castle Face, introduced the slightly more refined sound of Useless Eaters' new lineup, while their more aggressive live attack was documented on 2015's Live in San Francisco. The tireless Useless Eaters had a new studio album ready in mid-2016, another Castle Face release known as Relaxing Death.
© Mark Deming /TiVo