by Matt Carlson
The Dwarves began in Chicago as a teen garage-rock Sonics-style outfit called The Suburban Nightmare, a sound that was partially carried over into the first Dwarves release, Horror Stories. After the first album, The Dwarves blazoned across the country for seven more years, leaving a trail of blood from their own self-inflicted gashes, drug stories unparalleled since Keith Richards' heroin heyday, bizarre stage-show sex acts, and numerous 15-minute-long live shows.
The Dwarves, not surprisingly, self-destructed in 1993, shortly after a failed hoax in which the band issued a press release stating that guitarist He Who Cannot Be Named had died. The group's final album, Sugarfix, also carried a tribute to the guitarist, who was actually very much alive. Sub Pop was not amused and released the band.