It was a short-lived side project of Al Jourgensen of Ministry that featured Dischord Records founder and former Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye on vocals.
The band's sound was a combination of industrial beats and hardcore punk, presaging what Ministry would later do with Jello Biafra in another side project, Lard.
MacKaye had been in Washington D.C. punk bands The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Skewbald/Grand Union, Egg Hunt and Embrace and was on the verge of forming Fugazi, while Jourgensen was taking his band Ministry into new territory—away from the more pop sound of With Sympathy and toward the harder sound of The Land of Rape and Honey.
The CD edition of Trait also incorporates both sides of the "I Will Refuse" / "No Bunny" single.
MacKaye stated on an episode of the Kreative Kontrol podcast that he has never played live with the band.