The Screamers were a synthpunk band which formed in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1975. The band emerged in Los Angeles' first wave of punk rock in the 1970s. The label "techno-punk" was applied to the band by the Los Angeles Times in 1978, and they are widely cited as the pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk." The Screamers were notable for their use of synthesizers in place of guitars, and for a highly developed theatrical presentation that centered around a manic lead voca...
The Screamers were a synthpunk band which formed in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1975.
The band emerged in Los Angeles' first wave of punk rock in the 1970s. The label "techno-punk" was applied to the band by the Los Angeles Times in 1978, and they are widely cited as the pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk." The Screamers were notable for their use of synthesizers in place of guitars, and for a highly developed theatrical presentation that centered around a manic lead vocalist, Tomata du Plenty, whose stage persona one early commentator described as "a psychotic Mickey Rooney." Though they developed a substantial following and generated considerable press coverage, the Screamers never released a record. Jello Biafra, lead singer of Dead Kennedys, once declared the Screamers to be "the best unrecorded band in the history of rock 'n roll."
The band disbanded in 1981. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
