Possibly LA Times, ca. May 1979.

Primal Screamers at the Whisky

   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



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