Sohcahtoa formed, appropriately enough, in a basement computer lab in fall of 1994. Their first show involved a car accident and a fire, and their second show one week later was a packed-house gig opening for punk legends Sloppy Seconds at the Emerson Theater to the great annoyance of almost all in attendance.

Ben Adrian (drums) was the guitarist for the locally-known aggressive pop band Sunny Sea Heaven, and was winding up his tenure in the hardcore-oriented Lockstep. Matt Chandler (bass/vocals) had never before been in any band that didn’t involve marching around a field or emptying a spit valve onto the chair of a neighboring violinist. Matt Southworth (guitar/vocals) previously played bass in Sunny Sea Heaven, and bought his first guitar weeks before the first Sohcahtoa rehearsal.

The group was originally a quartet, writing its first songs and playing its first shows with guitarist/vocalist Chris Lucas. Chris was something of a musical and lyrical savant with a penchant for dramatic performance art, often removing clothing and yelling about sexy women. He left the band in early 1995.

Their music was loud, abrasive, complex and mostly instrumental. Sets rarely exceeded 35 minutes, both in the interest of brevity and the inevitable breakdown of gear. While relishing the idea of being annoying, the band was also fond of visual gimmickry.

For one Halloween show, the band chose to costume themselves collectively as a toaster, with functioning toasters on helmets. For one short tour, the band assembled an array of portable radios all tuned to different AM stations which were triggered via power switches at a particular point during the set, while the band put down their instruments for several minutes and listened. This cacophony was dubbed “The AM Symphony.”

Born in the days before the availability of cheap CD burning equipment and software, Sohcahtoa released a five-song cassette in 1995 called “A Visual Representation of Time Travel.” This was followed later that year by a self-titled 7” record on Urinine Records.

In the spring of 1996, the “Shamrock” split 7” was issued on Urinine with local comrades In Ano. After selling tens of copies of these records, Urinine released a split CD with three songs from Sohcahtoa and close friends and tour-mates Pound WI (Madison, WI). This CD featured a nifty die-cut cover, minimal audio production values, and nudity.

Sohcahtoa also appeared on two compilations, “More Than You Bargained For” and “Throwing Nickels: A Tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival.”

The band played 67 shows throughout the Midwest in its three short years with bands including Sweep the Leg Johnny, Spanakorzo, Melt Banana, Cerberus Shoal, Braid, Ativin, Weston, Lifetime, Endive, Calvin Krime, Karate, The Make-Up, Enkindel, The Teen Idols, Marmoset, Ice Nine, Herbal Flesh Tea, Toxic Reasons, Sloppy Seconds, Party of Helicopters, Fugazi, and many others.

The band played its final show on August 15, 1997. A reunion show occurred in February 1998.