Monorchid formed in Washington, D.C. in the mid-90s, growing out of the wreckage of Circus Lupus, the Dischord-affiliated post-hardcore band that vocalist Chris Thomson and guitarist Chris Hamley had both come up through. After a brief interim project, the two regrouped with Andy Cone on guitar, Andy Coronado on bass, and Tom Allnut on drums.
Their debut 7", "Impostor Costume," came out on Lovitt in 1996, the label's first release. What followed was a run of singles on Gravity and Simple Machines before the full-length Let Them Eat...The Monorchid (1997), recorded by J. Robbins at Inner Ear. The record had the DC lineage but didn't quite sound like anything else in it: post-punk, noise rock, and a strain of mutant blues, held together by Thomson's coiled delivery and guitars that seemed to be working against each other by design. Who Put Out the Fire? followed on Touch and Go in 1998, and the band broke up shortly after.
Odd, confrontational, and hard to pin down. Exactly the right band to start a label with.
