The Screamers

The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label "techno-punk" to the band in 1978. In the documentary Punk: Attitude (2005), vocalist Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys cite the Screamers as a key influence on their group and as one of the great unrecorded groups in rock history. The Screamers were noted for unusual instrumentation (a drummer and two keyboardists usually on ARP Odyssey synthesizer and Fender Rhodes electric piano. Additional musicians, including violinists and a female vocalist, were occasionally incorporated into their performances. The group featured a theatrical presentation that centered on manic lead vocalist, Tomata du Plenty. DuPlenty and Tommy Gear, a keyboard player and vocalist, were the band's principal songwriters.