Name: Screamers Demo Hollywood 1977
Brand: Screamers

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SV177

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2021-05-14

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Revol­ver

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

857661008773

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Total Cap

Black LP

Artist

Screamers

Genre US

Label US

Superior Viaduct

New Wave / Post Punk

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. The video of <i>122 Hours of Fear</i> – perhaps their peak moment, recorded at Target Video in August 1978 – has now passed over 650,000 views online. This is the Screamers' time, and the time is now.

Screamers Demo Hollywood 1977

Music US

Buy Screamers - Screamers Demo Hollywood 1977 (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.