Longshoremen (band)


The Longshoremen were an American independent/alternative band from San Francisco, California, in the 1980s. Trouser Press describes them as a "cryptic poetry damage vocal trio." Their recordings are characterized by being mostly vocal "beat poetry chantings" that are uninhibited and whimsical. The three principal members were Judy Gittelsohn and Carol Detweiler and "Dog". They were often supported by members of Club Foot Orchestra and other seminal Bay Area punk or "alternative" bands of the mid-1980s.
The band released two albums on the Subterranean record label, Grr Huh Yeah and Walk the Plank.
According to a Trouser Press article, Voice Farm's Reilly and Brown co-produced and played on the second album by the Longshoremen, a cryptic San Francisco poetry-damage vocal trio. Where the amateurish and poorly recorded Grr Huh Yeah has too much distracting music for easy appeal, the Voice Farmers keep instrumental accompaniment tastefully understated on Walk the Plank, providing the group with a clear, solid platform for its theatrically chanted spoken-word weirdness.
The band's two records are still listed in the Subterranean catalog.