New York deathrock psychobilly from the mid-80s. Joe Truck and Andy Trash of Scarecrow, with Eddie Stern. They recorded one fantastic demo/album that was never officially released.
After Chop Shop, Joe Truck formed The Brain Eaters, joined by former Samhain guitarist Damien and later The Snake Charmers. Years later after relocating to Northern California Joe Truck is now in Drezden. Chop Shop’s recordings are available on BandCamp.
Pioneer of the No-Wave movement, spoken word artist and published poet. She was involved in the early punk scene in New York, and said to be the ‘lunch’ that Stiv Bators of Dead Boys needs in the classic song. She started her own band Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, 8-Eyed Spy, Big Sexy Noise, and her own solo work.
She has a prolific collaborative musical history with artists like Clint Ruin, Rowland S. Howard, Exene Cervenka (of Los Angeles punk mainstays X) and other well known names in punk and industrial/experimental music. In 1983 she performed with Marc Almond of Soft Cell, Nick Cave of The Birthday Party, and Clint Ruin/J. G. Thirlwell of Foetus. The combined troupe went under the name The Immaculate Consumptive and played limited engagements over the Halloween weekend on four shows in New York and Washington DC.
In film, she appears in Nick Zedd film infamous 1976 ‘They Eat Scum’ punxsploitation sleaze movie that potentially coined the term ‘deathrock’ in a modern punk context. Other films with underground transgressive filmmaker Richard Kern followed, and she was in the Beth B & Scott B film ‘Vortex’.
Her solo album ‘Queen of Siam’ came out in 1980, followed by ‘13:13’ in 1982 and ‘In Limbo in 1984. Michael Gira of The Swans (formerly Bpeople) and Lydia Lunch were the two speakers on the erotic monologue cassette ‘Hard Rock’ that year. In 1990 she and Rowland S. Howard of Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party put out the Shotgun Wedding EP. She still performs as a solo artist and with a full band and as a spoken word performer.
Related:Dead Boys, Teenage Jesus And The Jerks, 8-Eyed Spy, Big Sexy Noise, Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, Soft Cell, Foetus, X, The Immaculate Consumptive, Bpeople, The Swans, Stiv Bators, Clint Ruin, Rowland S. Howard, Exene Cervenka, Michael Gira, Marc Almond, Nick Cave, No-Wave, Nick Zedd, They Eat Scum, Richard Kern, Vortex, Spoken Word, Poet, New York
Gothic punk from New York in the mid 1980s. Joe Truck (formerly of Chop Shop and Scare Crow, later Snakecharmers, more recently of Drezden in Northern California) and Damien after he split from Glen Danzig’s post Misfits band, Samhain.
They released a single 7” and a casette in 1986. In 2022 a retrospective compilation was released, followed by a brief reformation in 2024 by Joe Truck before forming Drezden.
Gothic rock band from New York that played often through the mid 1980s throughout the area along with bands like Chop Shop, Scarecrow, Brain Eaters, The Children’s Zoo, The Ochrana, Fahrenheit 451, and The Naked and the Dead. Formed around the nucleus of Alan Dollgener on vocals and Samara Lubelski’s violin, the rhythm and guitars changed semi-frequently over their duration. Of A Mesh is a reference to the 1943 silent film ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’ by Maya Deren. They released only two 12” EPs, several cassette demos, and an appearance on the Sorority Sampler compilation, but after 5 years the band called it quits in 1988. The various members moved on to other musical projects in indie rock, alternative and experimental music, and Lubelski performs to this day as of 2025. Alan Dollgener passed away in 1995, a victim of the AIDS pandemic. In 2012, Of A Mesh along with several of the above mentioned New York bands, were featured on the Dark New York vinyl compilation.
Related: Chop Shop, Scarecrow, Brain Eaters, The Children’s Zoo, The Ochrana, Fahrenheit 451, The Naked and the Dead, Sorority Sampler, Dark New York, New York, 1983
Directed by Frank Hennenlotter (Frankenhooker, Brain Damage) and depicts the long gone seedy Times Square of New York City where he grew up and debuted his first films. Centering around the revenge murders carried out by Duane and his deformed brother Belial, Basketcase is truly an original application to the slasher genre that was becoming a popular formula ain the early 80s with films like Halloween and Friday the 13th. Made on a minuscule budget, the results have become one of horror’s cult classics and a must in any New York centric film collection next to Taxi Driver (in my opinion, anyway!). in 2017 the original 16mm print was restored for preservation by the Museum of Modern Art, receiving a remastered DVD release.
Writer & Director: Frank Henenlotter Stars: Kevin VanHentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner
One of the very early bands to hit the metal music genres was New York’s Plasmatics, fronted by the legendary Wendy O. Williams. Taking the bombastic stage antics of Kiss and Alice Cooper and the no limits attitude, over-the-top speed and aggression of punk, The Plasmatics were a phenomenon all their own.
Related: Metal, New York, Plasmatics, Wendy O. Williams, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Punk
At the forefront of the New York punk heavy metal band The Plasmatics was lead singer and female rock icon, the legendary Wendy O. Williams. Born May 28, 1949 – † April 6, 1998 she left home at an early age, eventually landing in New York City in 1976 where she joined The Plasmatics, a concept group of Rod Swenson. They were among the groups in the scene rising around CBGBs along with The Dead Boys, The Cramps and others. After several year’s career and problematic record deals, the Plasmatics split up in the 1980s.
Wendy O. released solo material under WOW, recording with artists like KISS and Lemmy from Motörhead, and starred in films like Reform School Girls and some television shows. Throughout her life she continually confronted issues like sexism in the music industry, promoted healthy eating and anti-drugs/smoking, eventually abstinence from alcohol as well. Towards the end of her life she lived in Connecticut with her long time companion and manager Rod Swenson, dedicating her life to healthy living and animal rescue and rehabilitation. In 1998 she took her own life.
Related: Reform School Girls, New York, CBGBs, The Dead Boys, Motörhead
After guitarist Bobby Steele was dismissed from The Misfits, he formed The Undead, which remained a fixture in the New York punk scene through the 80s and 90s.
Another State of Mind is a documentary film made in the summer of 1982 chronicling the adventure of two punk bands, Social Distortion and Youth Brigade, as they embark on their first international tour. Along the way they meet up with another band, Minor Threat.
The film follows the bands through New York, Montreal, Detroit, Washington DC and other cities, and some of the people they meet along the way, showing the diverse backgrounds, expressions and lifestyles of punks in the 1980s.
Writers & Directors: Adam Small, Peter Stuart
Stars: Mike Ness, M. Otis Beard, Dennis Danell, Brent Liles
