Basses Wild: Lorna Doom of The Germs

"Basses Wild" is an opportunity for Girl Germs to showcase a female bass player in a band that we might not normally play on the show - a "wild card," if you will (get it?). This month we're featuring Lorna Doom, nee Teresa Ryan, bass player in The Germs.

Despite the the fact that the band only released one studio album - 1979's (GI), which was produced by Joan Jett - it became one of L.A.'s most influential punk groups, and not just to other punk bands. The Germs' reach and connections extend to a multitude of more mainstream bands: The Go-Go's, Foo Fighters and Nirvana to name a few (in fact Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go's was an early member of the band and good friends with Doom). The band, who quickly became notorious for its shows - which bordered on riots at times - called it quits soon after the release of (GI) and in late 1980 singer Darby Crash committed suicide. Guitarist Pat Smear went on to be in Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and collaborated with Hole for a Germs tribute band called The Holez. Hole also covered The Germs' first single, "Forming."

In 1981, Penelope Spheeris (who would later go on to direct Wayne's World!) released a documentary called The Decline of Western Civilization, which chronicled the rise of the The Germs among L.A.'s punk scene. In 2008 the lives of Doom and the other band members were portrayed in What We Do is Secret, a biopic about Crash. The remaining members of the band reunited (with actor Shane West - who plays Crash in the film - on vocals) and are now active again.

Basses Wild: Laura Ballance of Superchunk

"Basses Wild" is an opportunity for Girl Germs to showcase a female bass player in a band that we might not normally play on the show - a "wild card," if you will (get it?).

If you're a Superchunk fan, the thing that immediately identifies a song is probably Mac McCaughan's voice. But Laura Ballance, the band's bassist, is just as much a part of Superchunk's history, influence and signature sound as the dudes in the band. Ballance, a founding Superchunk member, has also played a key part in the Chapel Hill, N.C. indie-pop scene (Archers of Loaf, Polvo and Ben Folds Five all started there).

In the early '90s, after Superchunk's then-label, Matador, entered into a distribution agreement with Atlantic Records, Superchunk made the decision to release records on their own terms. Ballance and McCaughan had co-founded Merge Records to release a single in 1989 and, after leaving Matador, went back to their D.I.Y. roots, releasing all future Superchunk records on Merge.

Ballance and Superchunk are still active today (Majesty Shredding just came out this year) and Merge has gone on to indie superstardom, putting out releases by such influential artists as: Arcade Fire, Spoon, Neutral Milk Hotel and Tracey Thorn. Ballance is also a visual artist, creating cover art for several Superchunk records. Her sculpture was pictured on the cover of the Leaves in the Gutter EP.

Basses Wild: Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads

"Basses Wild" is an opportunity for Girl Germs to showcase a female bass player in a band that we might not normally play on the show - a "wild card," if you will (get it?).

This week we're featuring Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads. Weymouth was the only female member of the band, and her funk/reggae-tinged bass lines were a huge part of what made Talking Heads so popular. Her trademark style has inspired bass players - male and female - since the '70s.

Weymouth (who is now 59, if you can believe it) also made a name for herself as one half of Tom Tom Club, a dancehall-tinged take on new wave. Check out video below and see Weymouth's awesomeness for yourself! (We just wish she would have gotten half the screen time David Byrne got...)

Here's some background behind the formation of Tom Tom Club and their first single, "Wordy Rappinghood." ("But Tina, you don't have to sing. There's this new thing; it's called rap!"):

Basses Wild: Kira Roessler of Black Flag

"Basses Wild" is an opportunity for Girl Germs to showcase a female bass player in a band that we might not normally play on the show - a "wild card," if you will (get it?).

Last week we featured Kira Roessler of Black Flag. This is a band that might immediately bring to mind a certain Mr. Henry Rollins, but Roessler was just as much a member as Rollins (oops, we mean Henry Garfield) was. She replaced founding member Chuck Dukowski after a stint in another punk band, DC3 and was the band's bass player for several years in the '80s. She appears on Slip it In, Loose Nut, the 1984 live album, The Process of Weeding Out, Family Man and In My Head.

Roessler was married to Mike Watt of fIREHOSE (a basses wild marriage!) until 1994. The couple formed the double-bass duo Dos (and were performing as of a couple years ago). And to top it all off, she's trained as an engineer and is an Emmy award-winning dialogue editor who works on tons of TV and film scripts.

Here she is performing with Watt in Dos


...and with Black Flag

Basses Wild: Elizabeth Hart of Psychic Ills

We debuted another new feature tonight on Girl Germs. "Basses Wild" is an opportunity for us to showcase a female bass player in a band that we might not normally play on Girl Germs - a "wild card," if you will (get it?).

This week we featured the song "Red Split" by Psychic Ills, an experimental band from New York that combines elements of drone, noise and psych to create futuristic, yet hauntingly timeless songs. Elizabeth Hart, Psychic Ills' bass player (and the only lady in the band) is not only a great musician, but her stage presence is nothing short of mesmerizing. She is also involved in the NYC dance-music collective Skint. Psychic Ills just released a new 12" EP, Astral Occurrence.

Check out this epic video for "Mantis," and see what we mean by mesmerizing!

Psychic Ills myspace