Screamin' Sirens

This article is about the all-women band called the Screamin' Sirens. For other uses, see Siren (disambiguation).
Screamin' Sirens
Genres Alternative country, cowpunk, post-punk, new wave
Years active 1983–1987
Past members Pleasant Gehman
Boom Boom Lafoon
Rosie Flores
Laura Bandit

Screamin' Sirens was an American all female band from Hollywood, California that recorded from 1983 to 1987. The band combined country music, punk rock, rockabilly and a dash of funk to create an eclectic wild party music. Screamin' Sirens predated what is usually referred to as alternative country, but influenced that subgenre's development.

History

Formation

Screamin' Sirens were formed in Hollywood, California about 1983. The band was formed by vocalist Pleasant Gehman who recalled in a 1986 Flipside interview:

I just wanted to have a really wild all-girl band that was like a gang or something. And Boom Boom [Lafoon][1] was the only drummer I could think of so even though we hated each other I wound up calling here anyway. We had all the same ideas about bands and life and drinking and everything.[2]

Lafoon had for three years previously been a member of the band Keith Joe Dick and the Goners and was acquainted from her time with that group with guitarist Rosie Flores, namesake of the band Rosie and the Screamers.[2] The trio added bassist Laura Bandit to the mix, she is a veteran of the minor punk bands One Doesn't Swallow and Hard as Nails, Cheap as Dirt.[2] A fifth member of the group, Marsky Reins, played fiddle in addition to guitar, helping the band to achieve a signature punked up country and western sound.

Sporting cowboy boots and western skirts, the band delivered a high energy live show. "A lot of people tell us we've got more balls than any girl band they've seen because we get real wild onstage," Pleasant Gehman noted. "We're not into wimpiness at all."[2]

The band also made a film called The Runnin' Kind which starred Brie Howard.

Lineup changes

The band had several lineup changes over the course of their existence, adding Miiko Watanabe on bass as well as former Pandoras drummer Casey Gomez.

Later bands

Original drummer and songwriter Diane Boom Boom Dixon went on to play with the Baloney Heads and the Real Dixons in Austin, Texas. Pleasant Gehman became a writer and editor, professional dancer [3] and a member of the Ringling Sisters. Rosie Flores went on to have a successful solo career in the alternative country and rockabilly scene. Miiko Watanabewent on to play with American Girls. Fur Dixon went on to play in The Cramps, The Dixons, Fur Dixon and Blow Up, Fur Dixon and Steve Werner, and a new band she formed in 2015, WTFUKUSHIMA!

Personnel

Discography

See also

List of all-women bands

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The punk rock name of Drummer Diana Dixon was "Boom Boom Lafoon".
  2. 1 2 3 4 Gary Indiana, "Screamin' Sirens", Flipside',' whole no. 49 (Summer 1986), pp. 18–19.
  3. ↑ http://www.pleasantgehman.com
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