Homage to West Coast Punks

L.A. could not only accommodate straightforward punk bands (the Dils, the Avengers, the Zeros) but also artists like the Middle Class, who, says Savage, were “four extremely pissed-off adolescents who were playing incredibly fast songs, all about a minute long”. There were also the Weirdos, influenced by pop art, and the Screamers. The latter had two lead vocalists, two synth players and no guitarists; they grandly announced that they wouldn’t release any records—just videos. “If it was creative and energetic, it was fine,” says KK Barrett, then the Screamers drummer, now a film designer for such stars as Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze.