The Maggots

The Maggots was a band formed in San Francisco in 1977 by Vicki Berndt (vocals), Susan Garza (vocals), Dave Torres (guitar), Richard Mostert (bass), Robert Conner (synthesizer) & Jane "Insane" Weems (drums). 

Vicki Berndt provides de background: "The Maggots asked me to be their singer sometime in 1978. I was in high school in San Jose, CA at the time and would commute on weekends to rehearse with the band in Jane's basement in San Francisco. Jane's mother was always upstairs listening to country music and watching the Grand Ole Opry on TV. People magazine came out with a cover story about Tammy Wynette's abduction. She was beaten and left for dead. We thought that this was the funniest thing in the world so Jane wrote the lyrics, and I fit the lyrics into a song that the guys had written. The cover of the single is from that old People magazine cover with Jane's homemade punk lettering. 

The one and only show that I remember playing with The Maggots was at a warehouse show south of Market in S.F. We played before The Dils and I was scared to death! Due to my stage fright I realized that I would not make a good punk rock singer so I retired.

When it was time to record The Maggots' single, they asked me to come back to sing "(Let's Get, Let's Get) Tammy Wynette." Susan Garza, who was their current singer sang the B-side, "2/2/79."

Jane was the mastermind behind the record. She put it out and made all of the extras that went with it which included stenciled & spray painted stickers, buttons and a pet maggot. The maggot was a rubber fishing lure that came in it's own handmade carrying case."

They only put out this 7" but is a KBD classic. This is what Jane Weems has to say about the record: "yes the original Maggots did put out an apparently highly collectable record in 1980 called "Lets get, lets get, Tammy Wynette!!!" a song I wrote from the kidnappers point of view, after a bizarre "kidnapping" incident in the late 70s (later found to be an elaborate hoax concocted by Tammy to cover up for her abusive husband kicking her ass...) no wonder she was pissed when this guy I knew asked her to sign a copy of it at an autograph session at Marriots Great America Amusement Park...she actually threw his record and started screaming, and they escorted him out, sans autograph....it is now being re-issued by the Portland based Discourage rock & roll, who have made up quite a nice collectable package to go with it, a nice book, original demo versions, all on good old fashioned vinyl just like granpa used to make em..."

Su Tissue

Sue Tissue a.k.a Sue McLane is the frontwoman for cult New Wave band Suburban Lawns. The American post-punk band formed in Long Beach, California in 1978 by CalArts students William "Vex Billingsgate" Ranson and Sue "Su Tissue" McLane and they later recruited Richard "Frankie Ennui" Whitney, Charles "Chuck Roast" Rodriguez, and John "John Gleur" McBurney. 

After forming in 1978, Suburban Lawns released their debut single, "Gidget Goes to Hell", in 1979 on their own Suburban Industrial label. The song gained the band notoriety when its Jonathan Demme-directed music video was shown on Saturday Night Live.

Their sole album, Suburban Lawns, produced and engineered by EJ Emmons and Troy Mathisen, was released in 1981 on I.R.S. Records, featuring new wave radio favorite "Janitor" (previously released as a single in 1980). It has been said that the lyrics of "Janitor" were derived from a real-life conversation between Sue "Su Tissue" McLane and friend Brian Smith. According to Smith, the two were conversing in a loud room when they first met: She asked me what I did for a living. I said "I'm a janitor," and she thought I said "Oh my genitals." [Richard "Frankie Ennui" Whitney] overheard this and wrote the song.

According to Richard Whitney, this story is somewhat backwards; the music and all of the lyrics apart from “Oh, my genitals! I’m a janitor!” were already written when Sue McLane added them herself: Su was definitely more of a poet than I have ever dreamed of being. The lyrics, except for Su’s contribution, are pretty straightforward science-nerd stuff about all things explosive. Su’s addition, whatever the source (and I have no reason to doubt what Brian Smith has apparently written about how Su came up with that addition), gave the song a poetical spin that added the dimension it needed to make it interesting. That’s exactly why, in my opinion, our best songs were those that were written collaboratively.

Gleur departed during the recording of the Richard Mazda-produced five-song EP Baby, released in 1983, and the band folded shortly afterward. 

In 1982, McLane recorded a solo album, Salon de Musique. She also played the role of Peggy Dillman in Demme's 1986 comedy movie Something Wild opposite Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta.

There is a facebook page called "Whatever became of Su Tissue" where people obsessed with her.

Holly Beth Vincent

Holly Beth Vincent (born Holly Beth Cernuto in 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, and in 1962, her family moved to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where Bob Vincent was the entertainment director of Harrah's Lake Tahoe and where the young Holly came in contact for the first time with professional performing artists. When ten years old, she received her first acoustic guitar and began composing songs. After three years in Nevada, the family relocated to Los Angeles and Vincent started playing drums in high school bands, performing covers of The Rolling Stones and The Move. She earned money with obscure jobs, toured with a series of midwestern bar bands, was the drummer of the rockabilly outfit Brothel Creepers and a member of the all-female punk rock band Backstage Pass, where she played guitar and sang. Her musical and political preferences placed her within the nascent LA punk scene, gravitating around The Masque club.

In 1978, Vincent formed in Los Angeles the band Holly and the Italians with drummer Steve Young (aka Steve Dalton), whom she knew from high school. The new band moved to London in early 1979 where they met BBC disc jockey and music historian Charlie Gillett, who was also the owner of Oval Records. Gillett put under contract the new band, which was playing the local club scene at the time. Their bassist Bruce Lipson did not move to the United Kingdom and was replaced by the British Mark Sidgwick (aka Mark Henry), formerly of the band The Boyfriends. Guitarist Colin White also joined the group for live performances.

Through Oval Records, Holly and the Italians released in December 1979 the single "Tell That Girl to Shut Up", which was a minor hit in the UK and stirred the interest of the British music press. The papers treated the band as a major attraction in the period of new wave explosion and Vincent appeared twice on the front page of Melody Maker, even before the single was released. "Tell That Girl to Shut Up", written by Vincent, became a UK top 50 hit again in 1988 when it was covered by the British pop rock band Transvision Vamp as the second single from their debut album Pop Art. The song was cited by the magazine Mojo as one of the Top 20 Killer New Wave Tracks from the US. 

Holly and the Italians went on tour in the UK with The Clash and opened with ska band The Selecter for the American new wave chart-topping act Blondie at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 22 January 1980. The band eventually signed a two-album deal with Virgin Records. 

At the beginning of 1980, Holly and the Italians moved to the US and started recording their debut album, The Right to Be Italian, at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Internal struggles exploded within the group during the recordings and drummer Steve Young quit the band, replaced by Mike Osborn. Vincent was unsatisfied with the sound of the album, so The Right to Be Italian was given a final remix in the UK by producer John Brand and finally released in February 1981, more than a year after the project was set in motion. Such a long gestation was very expensive for the record company and detrimental for the band, which lost its initial momentum and was attacked by the music press, turned hostile after a mismatched tour with The Selecter and The Bodysnatchers. The Right to Be Italian was re-evaluated in modern times and considered a pop punk masterpiece. It appears at No. 40 in the article "60 Great Albums You've Probably Never Heard" by Jody Rosen from the November 18, 2013 issue of New York Magazine. Holly and the Italians went on tour in the US and in August 1980 played the major Heatwave festival near Toronto. The band notably toured with The Selecter, opened for The Clash during their Sandinista! tour pre-Bonds shows in New York City and did several shows around the US with the Ramones. They toured in the UK in the spring of 1981 and appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test TV show on May 12. After a few more dates in the US in summer 1981, Holly and the Italians were reduced to Vincent and Sidgwick and disbanded by the end of the year.

She went to live in New York City, where she was a member of The Waitresses for a short time and played in other local groups. In 1990, she moved to Los Angeles and two years later recorded the album America with a new band that she had formed called The Oblivious. The album Vowel Movement followed in 1994, as a collaboration with Concrete Blonde singer Johnette Napolitano.

Vincent continues to write and record and recently has released albums mainly in digital format, including two collections of tech house music. 

 

Mary-Jo Kopechne - The Modernettes

Mary-Jo Kopechne is a Canadian bass player and founding member of the band The Modernettes.

The Modernettes were formed in 1979, based on the central partnership of John Armstrong, aka Buck Cherry, and Mary Armstrong, aka Mary-Jo Kopechne. John formed the Modernettes soon after Active Dog split up in early 1979, drafting drummer John McAdams and Mary to form the “classic” three-piece.

They released the landmark Teen City 12-inch EP in 1980 on Quintessence Records, and made a video for lead-off track Barbra. They would split up, then reform, and release two more 12-inch EPs before dissolving in late 1983. In 1991 Zulu Records released a CD collection of Modernettes studio recordings and unreleased live tracks, Get It Straight; later reissued and currently available from Sudden Death Records.

The band created some of the most memorable music of the era. Unlike much of what came out of that period, Modernettes sound absolutely contemporary today.

Toody Cole

Kathleen "Toody" Cole is an American bass player and singer, best known as the bass player of Dead Moon she also played in the The Rast and The Range Rats.

Born  Kathleen "Toody" Conner in December 30, 1948 in Portland, Oregon she married Fred Cole  in 1967. In 1975 Fred and Toody created a record label called Whizeagle. Cole taught Toody to play bass and they formed The Rats. Their self-titled debut was released in 1980 on Whizeagle. Intermittent Signals followed in 1981, and 1983 saw the release of the third LP, In a Desperate Red.

After losing three drummers, and tired of the macho direction the punk scene had taken, The Rats were disbanded and Fred began an old-time country band called Western Front. Toody, who had occasionally performed with Western Front and recorded a single with them, rejoined Cole for another country-influenced project, The Range Rats, in 1986. Drummer Andrew Loomis auditioned for this band, but it didn't work out, so Cole and Toody carried on with a drum machine. In 1987, while returning from Reno (their favorite vacation spot), Cole and Toody decided they wanted to play rock 'n' roll again. They called Andrew Loomis, who was a better fit for this project, and Dead Moon was born.

Dead Moon combined dark and lovelorn themes with punk and country music influences into a stripped-down sound. Their early records, such as In the Graveyard, were released on the Tombstone Records label, named for the musical equipment store Fred and Toody operated at the time. Soon they caught the attention of the German label Music Maniac Records, and toured Europe successfully. Not until the mid-nineties did they tour the United States. Much of their following was in Europe. Dead Moon released 10 studio albums, 3 compilations and 5 live albums. In December 2006, near the end of the Echoes of the Past tour, Dead Moon announced that they were breaking up the band. Their last gig was at the Vera club in Groningen on November 26, 2006. Fred and Toody owned and operated their guitar shop, Tombstone Music, for 30 years and also ran the Tombstone General Store in Clackamas, Oregon for about eight years. 

Fred and Toody formed a new band called Pierced Arrows with Portland punk musician Kelly Halliburton and played their first show on May 18, 2007 at Portland’s Ash Street Saloon with the reformed Poison Idea.



Andrew Loomis, died on March 8, 2016 at age 54 and Fred Cole died on November 9, 2017 at the age of 69.

Nikki Corvette

Nikki Corvette (born Dominique Lorenz in Detroit, MI), is a singer best known as a member of the band Nikki & The Corvettes from 1977 through 1981. 

Corvette grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She was always fascinated with music, and at 16 ran away from home because her mother refused to allow her to attend an MC5 concert. In late 1977 or early 1978, a friend of hers arranged for Nikki to headline a concert at a bar. At the time, she was not a member of a band, and she spent the next few weeks organizing Nikki and the Corvettes. The new band had never rehearsed, and played together for the first time at the concert. Originally, they played mainly cover songs as well as a few original songs written by Corvette.

The group, comprised of Nikki Corvette, Lori Jeri, and Sally Dee and in 1979 they moved to L.A. for about nine months. The band toured across the country several times, making friendships with bands, building connections for shows. The group released a self-funded single, as Nikki Corvette and The Convertibles, in 1978. In 1980, BOMP! Records label released another 7 inch and a full-length album as Nikki and the Corvettes.

Nikki and the Corvettes disbanded in 1981. Corvette returned to music in 2003, forming a new band called Nikki and the Stingrays releasing an album, Back to Detroit on Dollar Records. Corvette  became friends with Amy Gore of the Gore Gore Girls. The two wrote several songs together, with Corvette providing the lyrics and Gore the music. In 2009 they formed the band Gorevette. Gorvette performed a fall 2010 tour opening for bands including Blondie and The Donnas. In 2012, she appeared at the "Girls Got Rhythm" fest in St. Paul, MN alongside artists such as Ronnie Spector, The Muffs, The 5.6.7.8's and L'Assassins. She is currently playing as Nikki Corvette and the Romeos.

Diamanda Galás

Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is a Greek-American soprano sfogato, composer, pianist, organist, performance artist, and painter. She has received international recognition for creating highly original and thought provoking political performance works. Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror". Her works largely concentrate on the topics of AIDS, mental illness, despair, injustice, condemnation, and loss of dignity. She has worked with many avant-garde composers, including Iannis Xenakis, Vinko Globokar and John Zorn, and also collaborated with jazz musician Bobby Bradford, and John Paul Jones, former bassist of Led Zeppelin. 

Galás was born and raised in San Diego, California. Her father was a gospel choir director who introduced her to classical music. He exposed her to New Orleans jazz and also the classics of their own Greek heritage. She began playing the piano at the age of 3 under the tutelage of her father. Galas also learned to play the cello and violin, and studied a wide range of musical forms. At 13, Galás began playing gigs in San Diego with her father's band, performing Greek and Arabic music. At 14, she made her orchestral debut with the San Diego Symphony as the soloist for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1. In the 1970s, Galás studied biochemistry at the University of Southern California, specializing in immunology and hematology studies.

Galás made her professional debut in Europe while doing post-graduate studies there in 1979. Galas made her solo performance debut later in the year, at the Festival d'Avignon, in France. Performing lead In Un Jour comme un autre, by composer Vinko Globokar, Galas's performance was based upon Amnesty International's documentation of the arrest and torture of a Turkish woman for alleged treason. Her first album was The Litanies of Satan, released in 1982. Her second album, Diamanda Galas, was released in 1984. Her work first garnered widespread attention with The Masque of the Red Death, an operatic trilogy which includes The Divine Punishment, Saint of the Pit and You Must Be Certain of the Devil. In it, she details the suffering of people with AIDS. Shortly after the recording of the trilogy's first volume began, her brother, playwright Philip-Dimitri Galás, became sick with AIDS, which goaded Galás to redouble her efforts in her activism. Philip-Dimitri Galás died in 1986, just before the completion of the trilogy. 

Galás appears on the 1989 studio album Moss Side Story by former Magazine and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds instrumentalist Barry Adamson. Moss Side Story is a "soundtrack for a non-existent film noir". Galás also sings in a blues style, interpreting a wide range of blues songs with her unique piano and vocal styles. This aspect of her work is perhaps best represented by her 1992 album, The Singer, on which she covered Willie Dixon, Roy Acuff, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, as well as "Gloomy Sunday".

In 1993, Galás released Judgement Day, a video of her performances, and Vena Cava, a live album, recorded at The Kitchen in 1992. In 1994, Galás collaborated with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, a longtime admirer of the singer. The resulting record, The Sporting Life, was released the same year. She was also featured on the soundtrack for Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers.

In 1997, Galás contributed vocals to the album Closed on Account of Rabies, a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe which also included Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry and Marianne Faithfull, lending their voices to the tales of the legendary author. Galás' reading of "The Black Cat" was the longest recording on the compilation. In 1998, Galás released Malediction and Prayer, which was recorded live in 1996 and 1997. In 2000, Galás worked with Recoil, contributing her voice to the album Liquid. She's the lead vocalist on the album's first single, "Strange Hours", for which she also wrote the lyrics, and can be heard on "Jezebel" and "Vertigen" as a backing vocalist. In August 2004, Galás released the album Defixiones, Will and Testament: Orders from the Dead, an 80-minute memorial to the Armenian, Greek, Assyrian and Hellenic victims of the Turkish genocide. Defixiones refers to the warnings on Greek gravestones against removing the remains of the dead. Will and Testament refers to the last wishes of the dead who have been taken to their graves under unnatural circumstances. December 2004, Galás released, La Serpenta Canta a live album including material recorded between May 1999 & November 2002. Galás' vocals from her song "Orders from the Dead" were used on the album Aealo by Greek black metal band Rotting Christ, released in February 2010. In 2008, Galás released her seventh live album, Guilty Guilty Guilty. In 2011, she collaborated with Soviet dissident artist Vladislav Shabalin on Aquarium, a sound installation inspired by the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The event took place at Leonhardskirche in Basel (Switzerland) from June 12 to 19. Aquarium was installed at the church of San Francesco in Udine (Italy), at the festival "Vicino/Lontano", from May 9 to 12, 2013. In 2016, Galás was remixing and remastering her earlier works as well as recording new material.

The Pandoras

The Pandoras were a rock band from Los Angeles, California from 1983 to 1990. The band initially found a following in the Hollywood garage rock scene, and later adopted a contemporary look and hard rock sound.

The Pandoras began in 1983 as part of the 1960s revival garage rock scene led by The Unclaimed. They were also associated with the Paisley Underground era in Hollywood's alternative rock scene that shared an aesthetic heavily influenced by 1960s garage rock and psychedelia. Most members came from the west side and beach cities area of Los Angeles County and Orange County. Pierce, a resident of Chino, California, had been a member of the Hollywood music scene and playing in bands since 1976. The Pandoras were formed when singer/guitarist Pierce, a member of the mod/garage/pop Action Now, met singer/guitarist/bass player Deborah Mendoza (aka Mende/Menday), at Southern California's Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga in 1982. Mendoza, an art major, answered an ad that Pierce, a graphic arts major, had posted on the bulletin board in the cafeteria. The ad read, "Wanted, another female musician to jam with! Influenced by sixties garage punk." They began bringing their guitars to school and jamming between classes. Pierce brought in a long-time friend, musician Gwynne Kelly (real name Gwynne Kahn) as a keyboardist, second guitarist and backing vocalist. Mendoza brought in drummer Casey Gomez. After a band meeting in January 1983, Kelly christened the band The Pandoras.

After recording their first EP in 1983, I'm Here I'm Gone on Moxie Records, Mendoza left the group. She was replaced by on bass by Bambi Conway. Conway appeared on The Pandoras' debut album, It's About Time, on Greg Shaw's Bomp! Records. In 1984, The Pandoras split into two factions just as the It's About Time LP was released. Conway, unhappy with Pierce's behavior and band decisions, quit The Pandoras. That was followed by Pierce firing Kelly, and shortly thereafter, Gomez split with Pierce. Pierce decided to continue as The Pandoras and recruit three new members. Before Pierce could form a band, Conway and Kelly played a show as The Pandoras, with other temporary fill-in musicians (notably Michael Quercio of The Three O'Clock on lead vocals/guitar). Gomez joined Conway and Kelly to form an alternative Pandoras to the band Pierce was assembling.  

Pierce's new version of The Pandoras included Melanie Vammen on keyboards, Julie Patchouli on bass, and Karen Blankfeld on drums. They went on to enjoy modest success with the release of the Hot Generation single on Bomp! Records in late 1984—the first of the two "Pandoras" bands to release a record. The Pierce-led band toured the east coast with the Fuzztones to promote the single. The Kelly-led Pandoras released "Worm Boy" on an Enigma Records compilation, Enigma Variations, in 1985. When readying for an EP on Enigma Records, the label insisted that the Kelly-led Pandoras change their name. This ended the controversy and the Pierce-led Pandoras prevailed. The Kelly-led band's EP, to be titled Psycho Circus, was never released, and a band name never settled upon. Patchouli quit The Pandoras in the spring of 1985, citing the band's change in direction away from garage music. Answering an ad in The Recycler newspaper, Gayle Morency joined The Pandoras and played bass for two shows before retiring from music to raise a family. Morency was replaced by bassist Kim Shattuck in July 1985.  

The Pandoras were signed to Rhino Records and began recording the basic tracks for the Stop Pretending album during the winter of 1985 with producer Bill Inglot, who had produced earlier Pandoras and Action Now releases. In 1986, Stop Pretending was released. The Pandoras was labeled "one of the bands that matter" by the LA Weekly. The band continued to play live and record new songs for their major label debut and were a top live club draw outside of Los Angeles, touring with Nina Hagen, and performing on bills with such acts as Iggy Pop, The Fuzztones, The Beat Farmers, Johnny Thunders, and The Cramps. The Pandoras played the inaugural LA Weekly Music Awards and showcased a slightly harder sound and were interviewed on the roof of the Variety Arts Center for a top French TV Show.  

Steve Pross signed the band to Elektra Records. The band made numerous attempts to record the album, to be titled Come Inside. During this period, Blankfeld was forced from the band due to disagreements about band management, and was replaced with Kelly Dillard. Blankfeld went on to play bass with former Enigma recording artists Wednesday Week, before forming the Billboard-charting all-female band The Rebel Pebbles. Dillard was in The Pandoras for only two months, and during that time did photoshoots intended for the cover of Come Inside and recorded "Run Down Love Battery" for the album. She was replaced on drums by Sheri Kaplan, and Susan Hyatt was added on guitar in December 1987. Kaplan and Hyatt had previously played together in the Los Angeles all-female band, Feline. After a month, Hyatt left The Pandoras due to a change in the band's musical direction and clothing style. Before the release of the LP, which had reached the test-pressing stage, Pross was fired by Elektra. As a result, the label dropped both bands he had signed — Jetboy and The Pandoras — with their respective records being withdrawn from release. Many of the demo recordings The Pandoras made during the Elektra era eventually surfaced on the Psychedelic Sluts bootleg CD.

The band continued to play live while looking for another record deal. Rita D'Albert joined as a guitarist. The Pandoras recorded new songs and released the Rock Hard mini-LP on Restless Records. A video for "Run Down Love Battery" received airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball, expanding their audience to include metal fans. D'Albert left The Pandoras in February 1989, just before a tour in support of Rock Hard, to join Human Drama, which had signed to RCA records. Rather than cancel the tour, the band went out as a four-piece. A show in Dallas, Texas at Z Rock was recorded for a "Coast to Coast Concert Series" broadcast. They also made an appearance on the first episode of The Arsenio Hall Show where they performed "Run Down Love Battery". Billie Jo Hash joined the band on guitar for the second leg of the Rock Hard tour, although she only lasted through the summer of 1989. Lissa Beltri joined The Pandoras in late 1989. Rather than record a new studio album with the new line-up, Pierce opted to let Restless Records release the Z-Rock concert as a live mini-album. Live Nymphomania was released and, even though Pierce was not happy with the recording, the band toured in support of it.  

In July 1990, keyboardist Vammen was removed from The Pandoras by Pierce, over Shattuck's and Kaplan's objections. Pierce's reason for Vammen's departure was that the new direction of the band did not require keyboards. An Australian tour and a European tour were cancelled; prompting Shattuck to leave the band in late 1990. There was a single show with a fill-in male bassist, and then Kaplan quit the band to join Hardly Dangerous, ending The Pandoras. In the wake of Shattuck's departure, Vammen and Shattuck formed The Muffs. In 1991, Pierce slowly worked on new material with Beltri. A drummer joined Pierce and Beltri, who began auditioning bass players. On August 9, a bass player auditioned who both Pierce and Beltri liked. She was to be brought back in for a rehearsal on August 11. However, on August 10, after dinner and an exercise session, Pierce suffered a fatal aneurysm in the shower.

B-Girls

The B-Girls were a Toronto punk rock band from the first wave of punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Formed in 1977 with an all-girl line-up with Lucasta Ross (A.K.A. Rochas) on vocals, Renee Chetsky (guitar), Xenia Holiday (guitar), Cynthia Ross (bass) and Rhonda Ross on drums. who would later be replaced by Marcy Saddy who had briefly played with the Demics. 

The band gigged heavily locally with bands like Teenage Head, The Viletones and The Poles as well as opening for The Clash and The Undertones at an infamous O'Keefe Centre gig where a riot broke out. After getting much press attention they relocated to New York where they would play with Blondie, The B52's, The Romantics, Levi and The Rockats, Niki and The Korvettes, Richard Hell, Lee Dorsey, The Cramps, Joey Ramone, Joan Jett, Johnny Thunders, The Dead Boys and even Allen Ginsberg.

In 1979 Greg Shaw, owner of Bomp! Records signed them and recordings were made produced by Bob Segarini resulting in a single "Fun At The Beach" b/w "B-Side" which was also released in Europe. They also sang backup vocals on Blondie's Autoamerican and Stiv Bator's solo album. A video was shot for "High School Dance" (A.K.A. "Boys Are Drinking"). Further demos were produced by Debbie Harry and Mick Jones but possible record or production deals with Bomp!, I.R.S. Records and Phil Spector fell through. I.R.S. would instead sign the similar sounding Go-Go's who were also fans of the B-Girls.  

Line up changes would lead to Lucasta leaving after the single and being replaced by Xenia moving to vocals, Rhonda having already left and been replaced by Marcy Saddy who had previously played in the London, Ontario band Demics. The reformed band carried on until 1981 before breaking up and returning to Toronto. Lucasta formed a new band called Minutes From Downtown who had a hit with "Wrapped In Velvet" breaking up a few years later. Marcy Saddy returned to London drumming in various bands and becoming an artist. The rest of the band dropped out of music although Cynthia Ross has since returned with a new band, New York Junk. The band's collected recordings were released in 1997, remixed by Chris Spedding, in a CD entitled Who Says Girls Can't Rock. The members of the band also appear in the documentary The Last Pogo Jumps Again.

Girlschool

Girlschool are a British rock band that formed in the new wave of British heavy metal scene in 1978, frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active after almost 40 years. Formed from a school band called Painted Lady, Girlschool enjoyed strong media exposure and commercial success in the UK in the early 1980s with three albums of 'punk-tinged metal' and a few singles.

In 1975, school friends and neighbours from Wandsworth, South London, Kim McAuliffe (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Dinah Enid Williams (bass, vocals) formed an all-girl rock cover band called Painted Lady, together with Tina Gayle on drums. Deirdre Cartwright joined the new band on lead guitar, Val Lloyd replaced Gayle on drums and they started playing the local pub scene. Cartwright left in 1977 to form the band Tour De Force. Her place in the band was briefly taken by visiting American Kathy Valentine, who approached the band through an advertisement in the British music newspaper Melody Maker. When Valentine returned to the United States in 1978 to form the Textones and later join The Go-Go's as bass player, Painted Lady broke up. However, McAuliffe and Williams were still willing to pursue a musical career to escape their day jobs in a bank and a bakery; they reformed the band, recruiting lead guitarist Kelly Johnson and drummer Denise Dufort in April 1978. The new line-up changed their name to Girlschool -taking it from "Girls' School", the B-side of the hit single "Mull of Kintyre" (1977) by Paul McCartney and Wings- and immediately hit the road, touring small venues in France, Ireland and Great Britain.

In December 1978, Girlschool released their first single, "Take It All Away", on the independent record label City Records, owned by Phil Scott, a friend of the band. The single had some radio airplay and circulated in the underground scene; it came to the hearing of Lemmy, leader of the British rock band Motörhead, who wanted to meet the band. He, together with Motörhead and Hawkwind manager Doug Smith, went to see the band performing live and offered them a support slot on Motörhead’s Overkill tour in the spring of 1979. This was the start of an enduring relationship between the two bands. After the tour and a few other shows supporting Welsh band Budgie, Doug Smith became the manager of Girlschool and obtained an audition with the British label Bronze Records, at the time home of Uriah Heep, Motörhead and Juicy Lucy. Bronze’s owner Gerry Bron himself attended the audition; he was impressed by Girlschool's stage presence and musicianship, offering them a contract with his label in December 1979.  

The band entered the recording studio with experienced producer Vic Maile in April 1980. Vic Maile had been working as live sound engineer for many important acts, like The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix, producing also the first two seminal albums of Dr. Feelgood and a few punk bands in the late 1970s. He captured the raw but powerful sound of Girlschool in ten short songs, with lead vocals shared by Williams, McAuliffe and Johnson. Girlschool released their debut album, Demolition, in June 1980, alongside the singles "Emergency", "Nothing to Lose" and "Race with the Devil". Demolition reached No.28 in the UK Album Chart in July 1980.

In December 1980, Girlschool officially started recording the follow-up to Demolition, again with producer Vic Maile, who had meanwhile produced Motörhead’s classic album Ace of Spades. During the sessions, Maile suggested a studio recording team-up with Motörhead, resulting in the release of the EP St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The EP contains the cover of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates’ song "Please Don't Touch" and two self-covers, with Motörhead performing Girlschool's "Emergency", and Girlschool playing Motörhead's "Bomber". Dufort played drums on all songs, because Motörhead's drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor was recovering from a neck injury. She also played the drums during the BBC One Top of the Pops TV show of 19 February 1981, where the two bands performed "Please Don’t Touch" under the moniker Headgirl. The EP reached No.5 in the UK Single Chart in February 1981 and was certified silver in December 1981, the best sale performance for both bands at the time.  

The album Hit and Run was released in April 1981, soon followed by the eponymous single. Both releases were very successful in the UK, with the album reaching position No.5 and the single position No.33 in the respective charts. The album charted also in New Zealand and in Canada, where it went gold. The success of their second album made Girlschool a rising attraction in the boiling British hard rock and heavy metal scene, ensuring headliner slots in medium-sized arenas in their sold-out UK tour or guest slots in stadium size concerts of major attractions like Black Sabbath and Rush. No dates in the USA were arranged, but Girlschool visited Canada in July. Their 1981 tour culminated on 28 August, headlining the Friday night of the three-day Reading Festival



At the beginning of 1982, Girlschool did a European tour and, at the last Danish date in Copenhagen with supporting act Mercyful Fate, McAuliffe received a potentially-fatal electric shock from her microphone. She recovered fast enough to complete a Japanese tour, to do other European shows supporting Rainbow on their Difficult to Cure tour and to start working on new material for the next album. However, the gruelling schedule of recordings, promotional work and concerts had started to take its toll on the group, with bassist Enid Williams the first to give up, right after the release of Wildlife in March 1982, an EP designed to launch the upcoming album. On the recommendation of Lemmy, Williams was replaced by Ghislaine 'Gil' Weston, former bassist of the punk band The Killjoys.

Girlschool’s third album Screaming Blue Murder was recorded in February and March 1982 under the direction of Nigel Gray, the successful producer of The Police and The Professionals. The album had a worldwide release in June 1982and reached No.27 in the UK Album Chart.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Girlschool focused on shows and tours and made few studio albums. During their career they travelled the world, playing in many rock and metal festivals and co-headlining with or supporting important hard rock and heavy metal bands. They maintain a worldwide cult following, and are an inspiration for many female rock musicians. Despite frequent changes of line-up, all original members who are still alive - Kim McAuliffe, Enid Williams and Denise Dufort - have been in the band until 2019, when Willams quit. Original lead guitarist and singer Kelly Johnson died of cancer in 2007.

Josie Cotton

Josie Cotton (born 1956) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for "Johnny Are You Queer?" and "He Could Be the One" from 1982.

Born Josie Jones in Dallas, Texas, Cotton sang with Dallas area bands before moving to Los Angeles, California. She met Larson Paine in Hollywood and him and his brother, Bobby, gave her "Johnny, Are You Queer?", previously performed by The Go-Go's, to record as a demo. After the first label to sign her folded, Bomp! Records released the song as a single.

The performance of the single attracted the attention of Elektra Records, which re-released both the single and a full album, with the future Kingdom Come member Johnny B Frank on keyboards, in 1982. The Convertible Music LP has music reminiscent of the 1960s girl group tradition. Cotton made an appearance in the 1983 film Valley Girl, singing "Johnny, Are You Queer?", "He Could Be the One" and "School Is In" during the film's prom scene.

 In 1984, Elektra issued Cotton's follow-up album, From the Hip, which returned a minor hit with the cover of Looking Glass' "Jimmy Loves Maryann" (with guitar work by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac). In 1986, Cotton appeared in a minor role as the character Silver Ring in the John McTiernan horror film Nomads opposite Adam Ant and Pierce Brosnan. "Johnny, Are You Queer?" was later used in Jackass: Number Two during the "Anaconda Ballpit" stunt. The punk band Screeching Weasel covered the song on their 1994 album, How To Make Enemies And Irritate People.

Cotton recorded Frightened by Nightingales (as Josey Cotton) in 1993. The collection of songs by the songwriter/violinist/self promoter Bill Rhea was released on the French label Silences. Continuing to work behind the scenes, Cotton co-founded B-Girl Records, which issued recordings by Goldenboy and Alaska!. An album of her own music, The Influence of Fear on Salesmen, was planned for release in 2002 on B-Girl but failed to materialize under that title. Cotton released Movie Disaster Music in 2006, followed by Invasion of the B-Girls, composed of B-movie theme song covers, also produced in part by Bill Rhea, in 2007. Building on the critical success of those disks, Cotton released Pussycat Babylon in late 2010. As of May 2018, "Johnny Are You Queer" ranks at No. 80 on VH1's "Top 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 80's" list.

Kembra Pfahler

Kembra Pfahler (born August 4, 1961 in Hermosa Beach, California, United States) is an American filmmaker associated with the Cinema of Transgression, a performance artist, rock musician, and film actress. She is mostly known as the lead singer of the glam, punk, shock rock band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, and for the often nude and sexual nature of her art exhibits. Pfahler has been called the "godmother of modern day shock art". She is the daughter of surfer Freddy Pfahler, and the sister of Adam Pfahler, the drummer of Jawbreaker. She grew up in Southern California and she went to college at the School of Visual Arts in New York and studied under Mary Heilmann and Lorraine O’Grady.

 In 1990, Pfahler and Samoa Moriki founded the band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black on the Lower East Side. The band was named in homage to actress Karen Black. They released three albums: A National Healthcare (1993); Anti-Naturalists (1995); and Black Date (1998); as well as several limited-edition presses on vinyl.

 Pfahler and Samoa shot many horror films and used visual and performance art for their performances. The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black's live performance of The Wall of Vagina appears on Disinformation DVD - The Complete Series. The band also appear on the album Virgin Voices: A Tribute to Madonna. 

Pfahler sang backup on the song "Shoot, Knife, Strangle, Beat and Crucify" on the album Brutality and Bloodshed for All of GG Allin And The Murder Junkies. In 2013, she covered the traditional "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" for the sea shanty compilation Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys.

 

Niagara

Niagara, born in Detroit, Michigan, is a painter and musician. She was the lead vocalist of the proto-punk rock bands Destroy All Monsters (DAM) and Dark Carnival. Her painting derives principally from the Lowbrow art movement. 

Destroy All Monsters was a band started in 1974 by University of Michigan art students Niagara on vocals; Mike Kelley on drums and vocals; Jim Shaw on vocals and squeeze toys; and Cary Loren on guitar and vocals. This proto-noise-band was the first pure noise-band according to music historian and Sonic Youth band member, Thurston Moore, who said, "I can find no earlier example of such primitive playing with the use of non-instruments." In 1994, drawing from early rehearsal and performance tapes, Moore released a three disc box set of these seminal basement recordings, "DAM 1974-1976" on his music label Ecstatic Peace.  The original line up of musicians was not around long. In 1977, Niagara met ex-Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, and he became her paramour. Ron thought the band's music had potential. To realize that potential, he recruited Michael Davis (ex-MC5 bassist), a real powerhouse crucial for rock bottom percussive bass. Davis, recently released from prison, was available and agreed to be part of the band. Next hired was Rob King on drums. King's drums were precise, fast and powerful, an unusual combination. Next the Miller brothers were added, Ben on saxophone, and Larry on guitar, both accomplished musicians with a punk-jazz pedigree. 

The local media, including the Detroit Free Press, and The Detroit News attended early shows and gave prominent coverage to the "events," as the press referred to them. Lester Bangs wrote about "Destroy All Monsters" affectionately in CREEM magazine . Even Rolling Stone took notice with articles and interviews about the new punk phenomenon, "Niagara is strange on stage, almost like she was awakened from a deep slumber and is surprised to find herself on stage." Spin Magazine described Niagara's stage presence as, "A thrift store Nico in a bloody gown." Accounts of Niagara falling off stage were numerous. Yet, Niagara seemed blessed with nine lives, and someone always caught her, including the MC5's Rob Tyner at the Kramer Theater, "I saved Niagara's life!" After a brief European tour four singles were produced in this early Punk era: "Bored," "You're Gonna Die," "What Do I Get?" and "Nobody Knows." The Monsters soon hooked up with the Ramones and The Dead Boys. The band members became fast friends and touring buddies. When in New York, The Dead Boys or Ramones would open, In Cleveland or Detroit, DAM got top billing. This led to many famous pairings with shows at Max's Kansas City and CBGB's in New York, The Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Bookies in Detroit and Second Chance in Ann Arbor. The punk incarnation of the band lasted from 1977 to 1985.  

In 1984, Niagara met Detroit music promoter and impresario Colonel Galaxy. The Colonel's ambitious project, Dark Carnival, had the original concept of a performance art troop that borrowed heavily from the Stooges, MC5, Velvet Underground blueprint. Bootsey X from the Lovemasters was the first member signed, then Mark Norton from the RamRods, Gary Adams from The Cubes, Mike McFeaters from What Jane Shared, Jerry Vile from The Boners, Sarana VerLin from Natasha, Greasy Carlisi from Motor City Bad Boys, Robert Gordon and Art Lyzak from The Mutants, Joe Hayden from Bugs Bedow, Pete Bankert from Weapons, Larry Steel from The Cult Heroes. Later Dark Carnival saw some turnover, with the "big" names signing on: Niagara from Destroy All Monsters, Ron and Scott Asheton from the Stooges, Cheetah Chrome from the Dead Boys, Jim Carroll even came in from New York.  The revolving Vaudeville-like assembly evolved into a battle-hardened, proto-punk outfit, which included Niagara, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, and Greasy Carlisi. This band toured the US, Canada, and Australia twice between the years 1984-2000. John Holstrom of Punk Magazine says, "Dark Carnival produced some of the best pure Punk music I've ever heard and did it longer than anyone".

When Niagara and Dark Carnival toured Australia in 1991 she befriended members of Dark Carnival's infamous opening band, The Hitmen. Based in Sydney Australia, The Hitmen were fixtures of the Australian musical landscape. Their elite membership read like a Who's Who in the Australian punk rock community. With members such as Deniz Tek from Radio Birdman, The New Christs, and Screaming Tribesmen, The Hitmen knew well the elusive Detroit sound Niagara was after. Other members of The Hitmen included world-famous guitarist Chris Masuak, Tony Jukic on rhythm guitar, Tony Robertson on bass, and Murray Shepherd on drums. Murray's brother Brad Shepherd, lead guitarist of the Hoodoo Gurus, also played on the tour's final show. Later, when Niagara decided to form a band and tour Australia, nobody was better than The Hitmen to back her, since these music veterans really knew how to rally an audience with their unique mixture of high-octane punk and "airborne Oz" guitar playing. Two tours resulted from this pairing. Twenty shows were played in 2008 and 2010. The CD "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre," on Steel Cage Records is a powerhouse recording of these sessions.