A now-defunct intelligent punk band from Chicago, IL, consisting of Damon Locks (vocals/percussion), Chris De Zutter (guitar), Fred Armisen (drums), and Wayne Montana (bass).
They formed around the beginning of the 1990's, and released their first (now hard to find) LP on Skene! Records, "Construction of New Action" in 1991. They signed with Elektra for their 1994 flop after another well-recieved LP, then made their way back to Skene! for their last album (1996) before folding.
They were from Chicago, but all members lived in Washington, D.C. at one time or another, often being pegged as a part of the DC punk/Dischord scene. Most of their fans thought they were from DC anyway, since they had that distinctly DC style - politically charged lyrics and a sound sometimes a mix of Jawbox, the Nation of Ulysses, and Fugazi (all D.C. area residents).
Most punk/emo kids coming around after 1997 don't know they exist, and most of us old schoolers don't bring it up. It's hard enough to find that first (and by most standards, best) record already.
Trenchmouth are best remembered as putting on an explosive live show. They played small clubs and even basements, spreading out a bit into the crowd to make things more personal. And Damon's dancing, highwaters and boots flurrying all over, along with the band's business/mafia attire, made James Brown look bad (James Brown never did the splits while playing congas in a suit jacket, AFAIK).
After breaking up around 1996-7, two of the members formed the trippy experimental jazz group the Eternals (releasing "Chapter and Verse" on Thrill Jockey). Fred Armisen now heads a salsa group, but is better known for producing videos, interviewing bands for HBO, and comedy.
Trenchmouth took their name from the more common name for ANUG (Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis), an oral disease that causes loss of gum tissue. More info about it is left as an excerise to the noder (node it if you know it, please).
To get an impression of how important Trenchmouth is/was to the mid-90's punk/emo/indie/(whatever you wanna call it) scene, here's an experiment: Go to a major "indie rock" show, one that attracts plenty of people in their mid- to late-20's. During a quiet moment, scream "The volcanic action of my!" and see how many people scream back "Action!" I've done it (on accident, I was reminiscing with old friends), and it worked pretty well. At least, I wasn't *too* humiliated, since I wasn't the only one who yelled.