Pittsburgh local music spotlight: Ruth E. Toothless

Pittsburgh screamo band Ruth E. Toothless will celebrate the release of a split EP with a May 1 show at Hippo House, an underground basement venue, on the North Side.

“More Like a Warm Morgue,” a split release with The Hague from Portland, Oregon, has been streaming since December but a physical copy won’t be for sale until the show.

“It’s advisable to listen with ear protection,” guitarist Jon Rigati said.

The debut release from the band doesn’t have any specific influences other than the band’s personal tastes.

“This being the first recordings of the band,” guitarist Russell Ellis said, “we just brought what we could to our own parts and squeezed them into place.”

But thematically, there are some through-lines.

“A couple songs on the EP explore the theme of falling behind due to illness, disability, or the insanity of maintaining a standard of excellence in vampire capitalism,” drummer Jesse Tranfo said.

The relatively new band enjoys “the unpredictability” and “shear volume” of live shows, with favorite places to perform including Bottlerocket Social Hall, Mr. Roboto Project and Hippo House. Part of that unpredictability might include their instruments, as they’ve only played one show with no equipment issues.

“That’s unusual for almost any band,” bassist Dan Ryan said.

And you’ll never know what you might hear, perhaps even a 1980s power ballad favored by their guitarist.

“Russell giving a monologue about his favorite song, ‘Your Love,’ by the (expletive) Outfield,” Rigati said.

“Which we will sneak into a song one day,” Ellis added.

The band filled in TribLive on what else we should know about Ruth E. Toothless:

Band: Ruth E. Toothless

Band members: Jon Rigati (guitar); Jesse Tranfo (drums); Dan Ryan (bass); Russell Ellis (guitar)

Founding story: We were all more or less looking and posting Craigslist musicians listings at the same time (but not necessarily for each other).

Origin of band’s name: Jesse’s great aunt, who had an affinity for gingerbread houses.

For fans of: Fast, loud and short linear songs about our dystopian world.

Influences: Small Brown Bike, At the Drive-In, Luigi Mangione, French screamo, Torches To Rome

Releases: “More Like a Warm Morgue” split EP with Portland, Oregon’s The Hague on May 1. Appears on compilation albums: “Combustion V.3” on Middle-Man Records; “People Are People” on BSDJ Records; soon to be on a local heavy compilation in the works with Perry-House Productions.

Next show: EP release party, May 1 at Hippo House

How to find them: Ruth E. Toothless can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Bandcamp.

Three other Pittsburgh area bands to check out: Ten Cent Man, You Should Have Brought Me Flowers, Terminal Intensity

Favorite pizza shop: Spak Brothers. Duh. Best vegan pie in town.

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