The Screamers. darlings of the L.A. underground,
returned from a nine-month hiatus for six sold-out weekend shows
at the Whisky and reconfirmed their position as frontrunners in
the unsigned local band sweepstakes. Saturday's show was a total
event com- plete with film crew, colorful crowd and a promotional
spot for Screamers T-shirts, buttons and fan club. The Screamers
approach marketing as an art form. and although their performing
style is rooted In 1930s Berlin, their understanding of media is
state-of-the-art.
Their comeback show featured a wealth of new material
as well as an expanded instrumental lineup. Additions to the original
keyboards-drums instrumentation include two violinists and a backup
singer. Sheila, whose frighteningly powerful duel with Screamer
centerpiece Tomata du Planty provided the evening's peak moments.
The Screamers seem to take a perverse pleasure in the
agony of humanness, and their material deals with emotions overwound
to the breaking point. Life seems to run at slightly the wrong speed
in Screamerland, and things tend to feel a bit spooky and seasick.
There's a current of supremely decadent narcissism at the heart
of all their songs-neurosis is, after all, an upper-class luxury
for those with leisure time.
The group draws heavily from the fine arts (Ger-
man expressionism) and world history (the Third Reich), and is actually
more a theatrical than musical experience.
Du Planty' voice is not without a certain strange
authority. but the band is so highly visual that one wonders how
and if their material will transfer to record.
Keyboardist Tommy Gear stayed
in the shadows, but his cool air of cruel beauty functioned as a
steely foil
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to Du Planty's frenzy. Du Planty is inarguably the focal point,
but one gets the feeling that the ominous Gear is the Svengali behind
it all.
The Screamers are easily the most aggressively
adventurous band to come put of L.A.'s new wave scene. Their performance
goes beyond the realm of entertainment into primal experience, and
Saturday night they were so good they were scary.
-KRISTINE McKENNA
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