Screamers - Demo Hollywood 1977 : 12” vinyl EP (due to size and weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed)
SKU
28-SPRV177.1
“The Screamers were part of the first wave of L.A. punk bands, active in 1977-1981. They cleared new paths for the sound and image of rock music, abandoning electric guitars for a keyboard-based sound, as well as embracing video and theatrics in a manner that put them far ahead of their time. However, the band never released a record and outside of several bootlegs of demos and live performances, there has never been an official aural document of their trailblazing music.”
Until now!
"These songs were recorded a few months after the Los Angeles punk scene began. These five statements of intent transcend Punk and project forward into the future: to the analog synth wave of the late '70s and beyond, to the present day, four decades later, when they finally receive an official release. Sourced from the original reel-to-reels, they are a revelation compared to the countless copies that have been circulating by multiple generations of tape-traders. Here, for the first time, is the Screamers' initial and legendary manifesto. The Screamers concept was simple, yet audacious: take the spirit and the look of Punk-the pseudo-psychotic aggression, the spiky hair, vacant stares and barely concealed sadomasochism-and match it to a different configuration than the typical '60s rock template.
As launched, the Screamers featured two keyboard players (Tommy Gear and David Brown), a drummer (KK Barrett) and an intensely charismatic singer (Tomata du Plenty). The idea was to be confrontational-to evoke (as Tomata described in an early interview) a state of anxiety.”
“Forty years later, this release builds on the groundswell of interest in the Screamers that has been occurring in the early 21st century. There are web sites with detailed histories of the group and several bootlegs of demos and live material from 1977-79. This is the Screamers' time, and the time is now."-Jon Savage (excerpt from the liner notes)
- LabelSuperior Viaduct
- UPC857661008773