Trotsky Icepick has been a long running side project for Kjehl Johansen and John Talley-Jones of The Urinals (AKA 100 Flowers) and Vitus Matare, John Rosewall and John Frank of LA's Paisley Underground heroes, The Last. Trotsky Icepick put a new twist on the art band motif with an oblique plan to avoid the usual trappings of the early 80's indy music scene, a 'pop' band that hated pop music. Various incarnations of the band began performing live in 1981 and released 7 albums on SST Records in the mid 1980's / early 1990's. The dual guitar interplay of Johansen & Matare is a blend of power-pop and post-punk minimalism. Influences include Wire, Mission Of Burma and Television. The current line-up features Tom Hofer of the Leaving Trains and man about town, Adam Marsland.