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  • Castration Squad

    Location: Los Angeles

    Early Los Angeles punk band, with members like Alice Bag (The Bags), Dinah Cancer (45 Grave), Phranc (Nervous Gender), Shannon Wilhelm, Tracy Lea (of Redd Kross and appeared in  Desperate Teenage Lovedolls), Elissa Bello (Go-Go’s) and Tiffany Kennedy (Cambridge Apostles). They never had any official releases but appeared on New Wave Theatre television show.

    Related: The Bags, 45 Grave, Nervous Gender, Red Kross, Cambridge Apostles, Alice Bag, Phranc, Dinah Cancer, Los Angeles, New Wave Theatre

    This profile is in development. Contributions?

  • 45 Grave

    Location: USA – Los Angeles, CA
    Active: 1979 – current

    Hailing from Los Angeles California in 1979, founding members Rob “Graves” Ritter, Don Bolles, and Paul Cutler relocated from Phoenix, AZ (Cutler played in The Consumers, Ritter and Bolles in The Exterminators) added Dinah Cancer (formerly of Los Angeles’ Castration Squad) and emerged as one of that city’s first punk bands with a the dark, tongue in cheek aesthetic that is synonymous with what would become ‘deathrock’. After arriving in LA, Bolles initially played as drummer in LA’s keystone punk band The Germs and also participated in Nervous Gender, while Ritter played with The Bags and The Gun Club. 45 Grave eventually drew Paul Roeseller (formerly of The Screamers) into the fold. 45 Grave was a sort of nexus and galvanization point for those with a taste for more eclectic tastes than strictly hardcore punk, not to mention black dress and gothic humor. Bolles project Vox Pop was formed towards the end of his Germs career; Dinah Cancer would also be involved in Vox Pop which remained active during 45 Grave’s 1980s existence.

    45 Grave’s full length album ‘Sleep In Safety’ is one of the earliest bricks in deathrock’s foundations. Along with their singles, they appeared on the Hell Comes To Your House compilation, firmly cemented next to it in the very same foundation (along with Christian Death) and the equally regarded Return of the Living Dead soundtrack (alongside legends like The Cramps and The Damned, with TSOL, The Flesheaters, Jet Black Berries and Roky Erickson – all of whom have been talked about on this site over the years). In 2004, Dinah Cancer reformed a new 45 Grave after fronting the heavy punk band Penis Flytrap (1997-2001), releasing ‘Pick Your Poison’ in 2012, and as of 2024 are still active.

    Links:
    https://45gravemusic.bandcamp.com/music
    https://www.discogs.com/artist/232625
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/45_Grave

    Related: The Consumers, The Exterminators, Castration Squad, The Cramps, The Damned, The Gun Club, The Bags, TSOL, The Screamers, Nervous Gender, The Germs, Penis Flytrap, Return of the Living Dead, Dinah Cancer, Vox Pop

    This profile is in development. Contributions?

  • Phranc

    Phranc is a solo performer whose beginnings can be traced back to bands like Nervous Gender, Catholic Discipline and Castration Squad and an important figure in the emerging queercore development of the early punk scene.

    Related: Nervous Gender, Catholic Discipline, Castration Squad

    This profile is in development. Contributions?

  • Kommunity FK

    Location: Los Angeles, CA
    Active: 1978-present

    Kommunity FK emerged from the Los Angeles punk scene as one of the more experimental and avant grade acts, incorporating a dark element that would associate them with what became known as the emerging deathrock scene. The bleak and aggressive tones of their 1983 debut LP ‘Vision and the Voice’ peers them with bands like Savage Republic (whose label, Independent Projects, released the album) and Nervous Gender.

    Kommunity FK emerged from the Los Angeles punk scene as one of the more experimental and avant garde acts, incorporating a dark element that would associate them with what became known as the emerging deathrock scene. The bleak and aggressive tones of their 1983 debut LP ‘Vision and the Voice’ peers them with bands like Savage Republic (whose label, Independent Projects, released the album) and Nervous Gender. 

    Singer Patrick Mata designed many of the flyers and the dada-esque collage of the original LP cover, often using cut and paste techniques. They were residents at the more laid back atmosphere of the Lhasa Club, often at the infamous Anti-Club and later Scream Club. They were support for acts like Killing Joke on their first US tour in 1981.

    Their second album ‘Close One Sad Eye’ incorporated more melodic structures, resulting in one of the most definitive American gothic albums of all time. This would be their final album until founder and core member Patrick Mata reformed the band in 2008, although several compilation appearances would follow such as ‘Radio Tokyo Tapes Vol. Two’ (“Poisoning”) ‘Viva Los Angeles’ with ‘(Is It Your Face’). Kommunity FK performed throughout the late 80s, 90s and early 2000s with noteworthy musicians like Cam Campbell and Dave Roberts (Sex Gang Children), Eddie Branch (UK Decay), Shane Talada and Dave Skott (STG, Element) and others.

    Patrick Mata recorded solo material, 1979’s ‘Queen of Beverly Hills’ single and for the 1985 punk/thrash/deathrock compilation ‘Let’s Die’, and a 2000 full solo album ‘Hydrocarbons From A Meteorite (Green)’. He also fronted Sativa Luvbox in the 1990s and performed under the name Texylvania on multiple occasions. in 2020s he paired up with Dave Roberts once more for a project entitled Kult Children of The Damned

    Related: Patrick Mata, Nervous Gender, Uk Decay, Killing Joke, Sex Gang Children, Texylvania, Kult Children of The Damned, STG, Element, Los Angeles, Lhasa Club, Anti-Club, Scream Club, Independent Projects Records

    Links:

    Official: http://www.kommunityfk.com/

    Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/285076-Kommunity-FK

    Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kommunity_FK

    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kommunity.fk/

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kommunityfk/

    This profile is in development. Contributions?

  • ​​The Consumers

    Location: Phoenix, Arizona
    Active: 1977 – 1979

    Based in Phoenix, Arizona until relocating to Los Angeles where Paul Cutler would eventually form the nucleus of 45 Grave along with fellow Phoenix punk transplants, The Exterminators who brought Don Bolles (Nervous Gender, Vox Pop, The Germs) and Rob Graves aka Rob Ritter (†June 28, 1990) who would also play with The Gun Club and The Bags. Consumers songs like ‘Concerned Citizen’, ‘Dream Hits’, and ‘Anti Anti Anti’ carried over to 45 Grave. The sole album from The Consumers was only posthumously released as ‘All My Friends Are Dead’ in 1995. Other projects that the members were involved in included Human Hands, Cathedral Of Tears, and Vox Pop.

    Links:

    Discogs.com: The Consumers
    Wikipedia: The Consumers

    Related: 45 Grave, The Bags, The Exterminators, Vox Pop, Cathedral Of Tears, Nervous Gender, The Gun Club, Phoenix, 1977

    This profile is in development. Contributions?

  • The Screamers

    One of the earliest bands in the US and Los Angeles punk movement. The Screamers (along with bands like Monitor, Nervous Gender and others in LA) utilized electronic instruments and a drumset, a departure from the traditional guitar-bass-drums formula of rock bands of the time. 

    They began in Seattle as the Tupperwares with singer Tomata DuPlenty, Rio de Janeiro and Tommy Gear. While in Seattle, the Tupperwares collaborated with members Bill Reiflin (Blackouts, Ministry) and Eldon “El Duce” Hoke (Mentors). DuPlenty and Gear would relocate soon to Los Angeles and re-emerge as The Screamers, bringing in K. K. Barrett and David Brown (Dangerhouse Records) who was soon replaced by Paul Roessler (45 Grave, Nervous Gender). 

    The Screamers never released officially, though several demos and live recordings exist and have been released posthumously. They even made a cover version of fellow punk pioneers The Germs’ Sex Boy’. While they existed they did play prodigiously including gigs in New York (CBGBs) and San Francisco. By 1980 the Screamers had ceased all activity. 

    Tomata Du Plenty continued as a visual artist. He passed away in August 21, 2000, in San Francisco. His remains were cremated, and his ashes are interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in a niche in the Chapel Columbarium not far from the remains of Rozz Williams (Christian Death).

    Related: Nervous Gender, NON, 45 Grave, The Germs, The Blackouts, Ministry

    Links:

    Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screamers
    Discogs.com: https://www.discogs.com/artist/65390-Screamers

    This profile is in development. Contributions?