Pailhead “Trait”

Pailhead “Trait” 1988. Wax Trax! Records. 4-song industrial EP by the supergroup featuring Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi) on vocals and guitar, Al Jourgensen (Ministry) on guitar plus Paul Barker on bass and Bill Rieflin on drums (both also from Ministry). The EP is a comp of two singles released in ‘88 – “Man Should Surrender” b/w “Anthem” and “Don’t Stand in Line” b/w “Ballad.” Trait is definitely more Ministry than Minor Threat or Fugazi: very hard industrial but a bit of the Fugazi punk sound seeps in on “Ballad” and the lyrical delivery on “Anthem.”

Trait’s singles were the only releases by Pailhead besides another single: “I Will Refuse” backed by “No Bunny” from 1987 which features Eric Spicer (Naked Raygun) on drums. Those two tracks were included with the CD release of Trait in the 90′s. From Allmusic: “Pailhead was clearly a fun project to work on for two musicians who were allowed to make some music outside of their respective genres, and though their actual output was rather minimal, the record still stands as a bizarre time capsule of aggressive musical fringes from the 1980s.”