The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label “techno-punk” to the band in 1978. In the documentary Punk: Attitude (2005), the Dead Kennedys cite the Screamers as a key influence on their group and as one of the great unrecorded groups in rock history. (further reading…)
>> return to The Screamers page >>
This index will attempt to gather show dates and flyers for all appearances
Date: Saturday, May 28, 1977
Venue: Slash store front party on Pico Boulevard
Location: Hollywood
Notes: Photo from the June 1977 issue of Slash Magazine.
Date: Tuesday, June 21, 1977
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood (cancelled)
Notes: with Germs, Zippers, Screamers
Date: Monday, July 4, 1977
Venue: Starwood Club
Location: West Hollywood
Notes: with Shock, Backstage Pass
Date: Thursday-Friday, July 28-29, 1977
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Notes: with Avengers (?)
Date: Friday, August 5, 1977
Venue: Larchmont Hall
Location: Hollywood
Notes: with Dils, the Germs
Date: Sunday, August 7, 1977
Venue: “private party”
Location: Malibu
Notes: Screamers perform for Iggy Pop at a private party at his home in Malibu; Iggy calls them “Tomorrow’s Leaders”
Date: Monday-Thursday, August 8-11, 1977
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Date: Tuesday-Wednesday, August 16-17, 1977
Venue: Larchmont Hall
Location: Hollywood
Notes: Second Slash Benefit with Dils, The Germs
Date: Friday, December 16, 1977
Venue: Masque
Location: Hollywood
Notes: with The Weirdos, The Skulls
Date: Saturday, December 17, 1977
Venue: Masque
Location: Hollywood
Notes: with The Weirdos, Deadbeats, Bags, The Plugz
Date: Sunday-Monday, December 18-19, 1977
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Notes: with Deadbeats
Date: Friday, December 23, 1977
Venue: Masque
Location: Hollywood
Notes: with Eyes, Flesheaters; cancelled
Date: Thursday-Saturday, January 5-7, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Date: Thursday-Sunday, February 16-19, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Notes: with Deadbeats, F-Word
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 1978
Venue: CBGB’s
Location: New York
Date: Friday, February 24, 1978
Venue: Elk’s Building
Location: Los Angeles
Notes: with Zeros, Dils, Germs, Controllers, Bags, Deadbeats
Date: Wednesday, March 15, 1978
Venue: Marquee West
Location: Arcadia
Notes: with X, Alley Cats, Flesheaters
Date: Thursday, March 23, 1978
Venue: State Mental Hospital
Location: Camarillo
Notes: Easter dance for patients of the hospital
Date: Saturday, March 25, 1978
Venue: Straight Ahead Ballroom
Location: San Diego
Notes: with Pop!, Zippers, Gary & The Blind Dates
Date: Saturday, April 8, 1978
Venue: Elks Lodge
Location: Los Angeles
Notes: The annual Artists and Lawyers Ball at the Elks Lodge
Date: Thursday-Saturday, April 13-15, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Notes: with Zeros, F-Word
Date: Sunday, April 30, 1978
Venue: Japanese Hall
Location: Vancouver
Date: Saturday-Sunday, May 13-14, 1978
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Notes: Saturday with The Zeros, The Mutants;
Sunday with Screamers, Zippers, Space Trash
Date: Thursday, May 18, 1978
Venue: Beaver Hall
Location: Portland
Date: Friday, May 19, 1978
Venue: Bird (Carpenters Hall)
Location: Seattle
Notes: with Enemy, Telepaths
Date: Saturday, May 20, 1978
Venue: KRAB FM
Location: Seattle
Notes: Live on the radio
Date: Sunday, May 21, 1978
Venue: Dreamland
Location: Seattle
Notes: Live in front window of clothing store
Date: Tuesday, May 23, 1978
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Notes: with UXA, The Offs, Sharp
Date: Thursday, June 15, 1978
Venue: Beverly Hills Highschool
Location: Los Angeles
Notes: cancelled
Date: Thursday, June 22, 1978
Venue: Rock Corporation
Location: Van Nuys
Date: Monday, June 26, 1978
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Notes: with The Mutants, The Offs, DV8, Avant Guarde
Date: Saturday, July 1, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Date: Monday, July 3, 1978
Venue: Stardust Ballroom
Location: Los Angeles
Notes: with the Weirdos, Crime, the Controllers
Date: Monday, July 10, 1978
Venue: Abbey Road
Location: San Diego
Notes: with The Zeros
Date: Saturday-Sunday, July 15-16, 1978
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Notes: Saturday with Snot Puppies, The Twitch; Sunday with Snot Puppies, Middle Class
Date: Thursday-Saturday, July 20-22, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Date: Friday, July 28, 1978
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Date: Saturday, September 2, 1978
Venue: Mabuhay Gardens
Location: San Francisco
Notes: with Mutants, Dead Kennedys
Date: Thursday-Saturday, September 7-9, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Notes: Saturday with X
Date: Thursday, September 14, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Date: Saturday, September 16, 1978
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Date: Friday, October 13, 1978
Venue: Nunzio’s
Location: Lincoln Park
Notes: with Boners, Bored Youth
Date: Tuesday-Wednesday, October 17-18, 1978
Venue: CBGB
Location: New York
Notes: with Terrorists
Date: Tuesday, October 31, 1978
Venue: Horseshoe Tavern
Location: Toronto
Notes: with Drastic Measures, Card Board Brains
Date: Thursday, November 2, 1978
Venue: Hurrah
Location: New York
Notes: Cancelled
Date: Friday, November 3, 1978
Venue: Hurrah
Location: New York
Date: Wednesday, November 8, 1978
Venue: Rat
Location: Boston
Notes: with Marc Thor and The Destroyers
Date: Saturday-Sunday, November 11-12, 1978
Venue: Hotel Nelson
Location: Montreal
Date: Thursday, November 23, 1978
Venue: Hurrah
Location: New York
Date: Thursday-Friday, May 17-19, 1979
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Date: Friday, May 25, 1979
Venue: California Hall
Location: San Francisco
Notes: with Units, Tuxedomoon
Date: Thursday-Sunday, July 5-8, 1979
Venue: Hurrah
Location: New York
Notes: with Lounge Lizards on the first and last night
Date: Thursday-Saturday, July 19-21, 1979
Venue: The Roxy Theatre
Location: West Hollywood
Notes: with The Original Biblical Gospel Singers. This three day engagement was the first concert by an unsigned band in the history of the Roxy club.
Date: Thursday-Saturday, July 9-11, 1981
Venue: Whisky-a-Go-Go
Location: West Hollywood
Notes: “Palace of Variety” was the last Screamers concert. It was a multimedia theater piece performed by Tomata and KK
>> return to The Screamers page >>
This index includes unofficial recordings (no official releases exist)
A. Recordings
1. Screamers – Punish Or Be Damned
Label: not on label
Catalog Number: none
Format: Vinyl, 2×7″, 45 RPM, double-Single
Released: 1989
Notes: Recorded live in December 1978 at The Masque in Hollywood.
Tracklist
A – Punish Or Be Damned
B – Vertigo (Let’s Go)
C – Magazine Love
D – Peer Pressure
2. The Screamers – Scuzzy The Death Cone Clown Demos 1978
Label: Death Cone Records
Catalog Number: DC-1
Format: Vinyl, 2×7″, 45 RPM, double-EP
Released: circa 1994
Notes: Collection of demos, alternating between the Screamer’s first demo session in the summer of 1977 and perhaps their last (late 1978): Tracks A, B1, C2: recorded late 1978; Track C2: recorded for film “Population One”; Tracks B2, C1, D: first Screamers demo session, July 7, 1977 recorded on a TEAC 2340 4-Track.
Tracklist
A – And The Beat Goes On [s/b I’m A Mensch]
B1 – The Scream
B2 – Magazine Love
C1 – Peer Pressure
C2 – Need A Head-On [s/b Why The World]
D – Punish Or Be Damned
[Tracks A and C2 are incorrectly listed on the record sleeve; correct titles noted above.]
3. Screamers – Demos 1977 Volume One
Label: Stomach Ache Records
Catalog Number: none
Format: Vinyl, 7″, 33 1/3 RPM, EP
Released: 1996
Notes: Sleeve is 2 separate pieces of paper with full-sized artwork on the back. There is another design with a half-sized back, printed on either white paper or pale yellow paper. Product of first Screamers demo session, recorded July 7, 1977 on a TEAC 2340 4-Track.
Tracklist
A1 – I Don’t Want Anything
A2 – Mater Dolores
B – Punish Or Be Damned
4. Screamers – Magazine Love / Cholo Jump
Label: Meeuw Muzak
Catalog Number: mm024
Format: Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM, Single
Released: 2003
Notes: Tracks recorded live at the Whiskey a Go Go on September 14, 1978. Limited edition of 400 copies.
Tracklist
A – Magazine Love
B – Cholo Jump
5. Screamers – Demos 1977-78
Label: not on label
Catalog Number: SOB 01
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 1/3 RPM, LP
Released: 2008
Notes: A demo from summer 1978, recorded “live in the studio” by Geza X. Track A1 originally performed by Sonny & Cher; Track A3 originally performed by Germs.
Tracklist
A1 – The Beat Goes On
A2 – Thru The Flames
A3 – Sex Boy
A4 – If I Can’t Have What I Want (I Don’t Want Anything)
A5 – She’s The Girl
A6 – I Wanna Hurt
A7 – 122 Hours Of Fear (Part 1)
B1 – …122 Hours Of Fear (Part 2)
B2 – Punished Or Be Damned
B3 – Government Love Affair
B4 – Peer Pressure
B5 – In A Better World
B6 – Vertigo
B7 – Magazine Love
B8 – It’s A Violent World
6. Screamers – Pat Garrett Demos 7-7-77
Label: not on label
Catalog Number: none
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 1/3 RPM, single-sided LP
Released: 2009
Notes: First pressing limited to 300 numbered copies; second pressing, limited to 500 copies.
Tracklist
A1 – Punish Or Be Damned
A2 – Mater Dolores
A3 – Peer Pressure
A4 – Magazine Love
A5 – Anything
7. Screamers – Assault!
Label: Scream! Rekords
Catalog Number: SCREAM01
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 1/3 RPM, LP
Released: 2009
Notes: Tracks A1 to A6 and B8 recorded live at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco on September 2, 1978; tracks B1 and B2 are from the Pat Garrett Demos recorded on July 7, 1977; tracks B3 and B4 are from 1978 Demos; tracks B5 to B7 are from Rene Daalder / David Campbell Demos recorded in late 1978. Includes a folded insert reproducing lyrics and a 1979 interview.
Tracklist
A1 – Vertigo
A2 – Last 4 Digits
A3 – Magazine Love
A4 – The Beat Goes On
A5 – Punish Or Be Damned
A6 – In A Better World
B1 – If I Can’t Have What I Want (I Don’t Want Anything)
B2 – Mater Dolores
B3 – Why The World
B4 – The Scream
B5 – I’m A Mensch
B6 – The Scream
B7 – Why The World
B8 – 122 Hours Of Fear
8. Screamers – Strength Through Intimidation
Label: not on label
Catalog Number: none
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 1/3 RPM, LP
Released: 2014
Notes: Recorded and engineered by Geza X during the summer of 1978, live to a 4-track cassette tape in one session in Paul Roessler’s garage.
Tracklist
A1 – 122 Hours Of Fear I
A2 – 122 Hours Of Fear II
A3 – Through The Flames
A4 – Sex Boy
A5 – If I Can’t Have What I Want, I Don’t Want Anything
A6 – The Girl In The Car With The Glasses And The Gun
A7 – Magazine Love
A8 – Punish Or Be Damned
B1 – The Beat Goes On
B2 – Peer Pressure
B3 – I Wanna Hurt
B4 – Vertigo
B5 – It’s A Violent World
B6 – In A Better World
B7 – Don’t Pay The Whore
The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label “techno-punk” to the band in 1978. In the documentary Punk: Attitude (2005), the Dead Kennedys cite the Screamers as a key influence on their group and as one of the great unrecorded groups in rock history.
The Screamers were noted for unusual instrumentation, featuring synthesizer (ARP Odyssey) and electric piano (Fender Rhodes). Additional musicians, including violinists and a female vocalist, were occasionally incorporated into their performances. The group featured a theatrical presentation that centered on manic lead vocalist, Tomata du Plenty. DuPlenty and Tommy Gear, a keyboard player and vocalist, were the band’s principal songwriters.
Show List and Key Dates – This index features show dates, venues, and flyers
Recordings – This index includes unofficial recordings (no official releases exist)
History
The Screamers’ founders Tomata du Plenty (born David Xavier Harrigan) and Tommy Gear first collaborated in Seattle in 1975, where they formed The Tupperwares. The original lineup of the Tupperwares included Tommy Gear (at the time, using the name “Melba Toast”), Tomata du Plenty, and Rio de Janeiro on vocals, backed by Pam Lillig and Ben witz (later of Girls), as well as Bill Rieflin (later of The Blackouts and Ministry) and a teenage Eldon Hoke (later known as “El Duce” of The Mentors).
In late 1976, after legal threats from Tupperware trademark owners, the band’s name was changed to the Screamers. The trio Tomata, Tommy, Rio migrated to Los Angeles, leaving the other band members behind. Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro left the band due to creative differences and they added David Brown and drummer K. K. Barrett. Brown soon left to found the seminal punk label Dangerhouse Records; he was replaced by Paul Roessler.
The Screamers created a visual presence in the press before they ever played live. Studio photos of the band began to appear in magazines even before a full band had been assembled. Artist Gary Panter’s logo for the band, a stylized cartoon of a screaming head with spiked hair, became one of the most recognizable images to emerge from punk rock.
From 1977 through 1979, the Screamers became a sensation in Los Angeles rock clubs, selling out multiple-night engagements at the Whisky a Go Go. They were the first band without a recording contract to headline the prestigious Roxy on Sunset Boulevard. They also did several short tours during this period, playing in New York, at CBGB and Hurrah, in 1978 and 1979.
Describing a July 1979 performance, music critic Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times focused on “Tomata’s extraordinary power on stage”. According to Hilburn, “Tomata’s hair was greased to stand straight up, giving him the look of a man who had just stuck his finger into an electric socket. His performance reflected the nervous, relentless anxiety of someone whose troubles are even deeper… by the end of the 40-minute set, du Plenty has gone through the same disintegration of the human will that we associate with such books as “1984”. Eventually, the tuxedo jacket, shirt and tie are ripped off, leaving him symbolically naked in his attempt to maintain some dignity and individuality. As if suddenly put in another man’s body, he asks in horror: “Who am I?”
The Screamers never released a single official recording of any kind, although several bootleg recordings have appeared, composed of rehearsals or live tapes. At one point, the group determined they would release their debut album only in video form (a highly unusual approach before MTV existed or VCRs were common), and they devoted time and resources to constructing a small movie studio. Despite some fitful efforts in the early 1980s, the band had effectively dissolved before their video plans were realized. Roessler joined L.A.’s other “synthpunk” band, Nervous Gender. The other band members pursued non-musical careers, though K.K. Barrett reunited with Roessler to perform several Screamers songs live in late 2000, in tribute to Tomata du Plenty, who had recently died in San Francisco in August 2000.
Online Resources
Synthpunk.org – Screamers biography and discography
The aim of these pages is to compile information about punk vinyl (mostly in the 7″ format) in the years from 1976 to around 1983 — about the time speed took over from inventiveness as the number one priority for making punk rock music. Individual band pages will include ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ releases in chronological order, where possible. Pages for labels will attempt to describe releases. This is not a marketplace and no items are for sale, rather the pages here are meant for research and reading, and some listening…
Punk Rock in California
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Labels:
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