San Francisco, California trio Terry Malts began in late 2009 when three members of Smiths-worshiping indie pop quintet Magic Bullets conceived the band as a less sensitive side project. Self-classified as "chainsaw pop," the group follows in lines drawn by both classic fuzz-pop institutions like the Ramones and Jesus and Mary Chain, pop-punk roots like the Descendents and Hüsker Dü, and the reverb-coated stable of late-2000s Slumberland Records bedroom pop. The band's debut was a six-song cassette in 2010, followed the next year by two 7" singles. In the following years, the band played sporadic gigs in the Bay Area and did several tours up and down the West Coast. Their first full-length album, Killing Time, was released in 2012. ~ Fred Thomas