Toiling Midgets
| Toiling Midgets | |
|---|---|
| Origin | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genres | Post-punk, post-rock, instrumental rock |
| Years active | 1979–1983, 1989–1997, 2007–present |
| Labels | Matador, Rough Trade, Fistpuppet, Thermidor, Toiling Midgets Media |
| Associated acts |
Negative Trend American Music Club Steakhouse |
| Website | Official Website and Official Website |
| Past members | Tim Mooney |
Toiling Midgets is a rock band from San Francisco, California with "roots in seminal San Francisco punk acts the Sleepers and Negative Trend1." They were "one of the first West Coast punk bands to experiment with dub and post-punk elements1", and have been active on-and-off since 1979. They reunited in 2007 after a ten-year hiatus for Dirkfest, a June 7–June 8, 2007 festival taking place at Slim's and the Great American Music Hall, respectively, honoring the late Dirk Dirksen and to play the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair (June 10, 2007). They have continued to play shows to the present, including a tour of the Northwest in November, 2009. The current lineup does not feature a vocalist, and the Midgets' instrumental rock is almost always defined as "undefinable."
The Midgets were formed in 1979 by drummer Tim Mooney, of the The Sleepers and Negative Trend, and guitarist Craig Gray also of the local San Francisco band Negative Trend, guitarist Paul Hood from Seattle's Punk bands Meyce and The Enemy, and bassist Nosmo King (aka Johnathan Henrickson). Paul Hood had previously been a bassist in Seattle but picked up the guitar in the hopes of playing in a rock band (like his hero, Mick Ronson). The band added singer Ricky Williams to its lineup in 1981. The Midgets released their first album, Sea of Unrest about this time, before Williams insisted that Nosmo King leave the band, leaving the band without a bass player. At the end of 1982 bassist Aaron Gregory (Maggots) joined the group, and Annie Ungar (Gun Club) joined as a third guitarist. The formation of the band released "Dead Beats" on Joe Carducci's Thermidor label, which represented a return to the all-instrumental approach with which the Toiling Midgets has initially been formed. Toward the end of 1983, the band broke up. Hood moved to Seattle, Washington and Gray moved to the United Kingdom.
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