Craig Leonard’s Gift for the Screamers
I can’t imagine not liking this project. It was born for me to like. The Screamers were the most perfect punk band that ever was, when I was a younger fellow, and playing keyboard in a noise band, they were the band I truly wanted to be in. Having never released an official album, they’re like a punk ghost, seen only in documentary video, or heard via scratchy bootleg, their Gary Panter designed logo an electrocution in progress - like the fearsome visage of a post-apocalyptic biker gang. No Guitars. Loud. Barked vocals, with Tomata du Plenty’s stage presence like a more honest Ian Curtis - no pretense of desired celebrity there.
Kept pure and symbolically malleable by their short existence and the rareness of their recordings, The Screamers permanently lurk in Los Angeles punk mythology - touching everyone and yet somehow completely outside. Other bands of their era have a catalyst effect - theories about the genre inventing influential power of the Ramones, for example. The Screamers weave a subtle curse throughout punk music - while there are bands that most certainly have followed in their footsteps, their essential essence seems unimitated, and somehow, therefore, pure. Perhaps I’m simply too big of a fan to have any kind of real or objective understanding of their importance. I do own a pair of 6′ x 8′ mixed media paintings of the band that have been a dominant feature of my studio, and now my living room, for the past five years - maybe the omnipresence of those objects and their scale has assisted me in my Screamers delusion.
Yesterday, I finally made a visit to Craig Leonard’s Gift for the Screamers show at Raid Projects. I’m not really capable of reviewing this show, so I’ll just let the links and the photos speak for themselves. Luckily, Craig was working the front desk when we were there, so I was able to meet him and talk with him about the project and about punk in general. He’s a totally warm guy, and this project came about due to his discovery of the Screamers demos recorded at Toronto’s Crash ‘n Burn club in the late 1970’s. Given that he had a residency in Los Angeles coming up, it was the perfect opportunity to engage in a project of raw and honest appreciation - to make vinyl versions of the demos and present those records to the still living members of the group.
Craig’s been documenting his search via a blog, and as would be expected, this project has attracted the interest and the assistance of various people from throughout the Los Angeles punk community. During and following the the curatorial process for History of San Pedro Punk, I encountered some of the most amazing people and stories, and I know that Craig is probably knee deep in the oral history of Los Angeles punk. He still hasn’t found Tommy Gear, though, so if you know what Tommy is doing these days, drop Craig a line. Anyways, on to the pics. FYI - today is the last day of the show, from 12 - 5, so if you haven’t seen it, make a beeline if you can.
above - Crash & Burn Demos album cover.
above - Crash & Burn Demos stencil and overspray.
above - stereo for playing the cast records. The vinyl is a beautiful white.
above - televisions. One displays the Mabuhay Gardens Screamers video, one displays Craig making the records and one displays photographs by Jenny Lens (Jenny has an amazing photo archive of early Los Angeles punk..
above - the back wall with enlarged Screamers Fan Club forms, and the center pedestal with the record making apparatus.
Technorati Tags: Screamers, The Screamers, music, punk, punk rock, synth punk, Raid Projects, Craig Leonard, art, installation art, Gift for the Screamers
September 8th, 2007 at
I’m sorry to have missed this since I was a screamers fan as well.
their shows were before my time but I would run across Tomato from time to time before he passed away. He is buried at Hollywood Forever cemetary off of Santa Monica Blvd. His aquarium sized display shrine has some of his folk art in it (he painted friends and legendary country singers).
I remeber Tomato as very friendly and inquisitive. he did not like talking about the screamers though since he felt that was a phase in his life that he was done and over with and he wanted to go on to art.
He wasn’t a bitter person in the least bit and was very encouraging. When i talked briefly with him, he was interested in writting children books and illustrating them as well.
Close by is also the aquarium display of Rozz Williams with some of his collages and poetry. Our paths crossed but I never met him. I always liked his collages and writting.
other great synth~punk bands in L.A. were Nervous Gender, Wall of Voodoo, Monitor, Ruins, and Null ‘n’ Void. I’m sure there are alot I’ve missed from then till now.
September 9th, 2007 at
I met Rozz once, not long before his death. He was beyond wasted, an embarrassment, surrounded by adoring teen goths who wanted their lunchboxes and other whatnot signed.