Teresa
Marie Ryan (January 4, 1958 - January 16, 2019), better known by her
stage name Lorna Doom, was an American musician best known as the bass
guitarist for the punk rock band the Germs from 1976 - 1980 and again
after they got back together from 2005 - 2009.
Doom grew up in Thousand Oaks, California and attended Newbury Park High School, where she met Belinda Carlisle, , who would be the Germs' first drummer. The band's main early lineup consisted of singer Darby Crash, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Lorna Doom, and drummer Don Bolles. The band's first live performance was at the Orpheum Theater.
The first single, "Forming", was recorded on a Sony 2-track reel-to-reel recorder in Smear's family garage, and arrived back from the pressing plant with the note, "Warning: This record causes ear cancer", printed on the sleeve by the plant staff. It was released in July 1977 on the What? label. They recorded two singles (with alternate tracks), an album-length demo session, and one full-length LP, (GI), each more focused and powerful than the last. Crash was generally regarded as a brilliant lyricist, and the final lineup of Smear, Doom and Bolles had become a world-class rock ensemble by the recording of (GI), considered one of the first hardcore punk records, and has a near-mythic status among punk rock fans. The album was produced by Joan Jett of the Runaways.
The
Germs were featured in Spheeris's documentary film The Decline of
Western Civilization along with , Black Flag, Fear, Circle Jerks, Alice
Bag Band and Catholic Discipline.
Following the release of their only studio album, (GI), on Slash Records, the Germs recorded six original songs with producer Jack Nitzsche for the soundtrack to the film Cruising. Doom wrote one of the songs, "Now I Hear The Laughter". Only one of these songs, "Lions Share", ended up on the Columbia soundtrack album. Other songs from this session did not appear until the 1988 bootleg Lion's Share, along with four tracks from their infamous last show at the Starwood. The Cruising sessions were finally released officially on the CD (MIA): The Complete Anthology.
Doom quit the band originally in 1980 after Crash fired Don Bolles. Crash committed suicide on December 7, 1980, at age 22. After Crash's death, Doom moved from California to New York City where she lived until the late 1990s.
She died of cancer on January 16, 2019.
