7 Shot Screamers
Encyclopedia
7 Shot Screamers is an American psychobilly
band that resides in St. Louis, Missouri
.
Their music is a mix of classic Chuck Berry
-inspired rock and roll
, psychobilly
, 1970s glam rock
, and punk
. They have released three albums: I Was A Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
(2001), Keep The Flame Alive
(2004), and 7 Shot Screamers In Wonderland
(2006).
The band includes Mike Leahy on lead vocals, Kevin O'Connor on drums
, Deano Sabella on lead guitar
, and Chris Powers Jr. on upright bass. The name 7 Shot Screamers is purportedly derived from little-used European phrase "four shot screamer" (for a lightweight drinker), and reflects the band's love of alcohol.
On June 30, 2010, 7 Shot Screamers lead singer Mike Leahy appeared on the national television show America's Got Talent
as his alter-ego Clownvis Presley, an Elvis Presley
-impersonating clown
. The judges hastily rejected Leahy's performance, and colorful exchanges ensued with the judges, with Clownvis telling host Howie Mandel
that he "hasn't made anything good since Little Monsters
."
Drummer Kevin O'Connor composed a film score for accompaniment of Buster Keaton
's short film One Week for performance by The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra
. O'Connor and 7 Shot Screamers bassist Chris Powers Jr. play in the ensemble whenever O'Connor's score is performed.
(88.1 FM) St. Louis community radio. Swacker's praise of the band caught the attention of local venues.
In 1998, 7 Shot Screamers' self-released a 7" single, which sold over 1,500 copies. In 1999, they released their first album, the I Was A Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
LP
. The album featured music that leaned towards the rockabilly
genre. It sold over 2,000 copies on the 7 Shot independent label before being picked up by Hepcat Records.
In 2004, 7 Shot Screamers released their second album Keep The Flame Alive
, produced by Levi Dexter of The Rockats and mixed by Paul Roman of The Quakes
. It was released under the Chicago
-based Haunted Town Records label. It featured many songs that took on a darker tone than I Was A Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
, and leaned more towards the rock and roll
genre. The sound of the album is more polished than their previous album, albeit with a slightly emptier tone.
In 2006, 7 Shot Screamers left the Haunted Town Records label to join the St. Louis
-based Big Muddy Records, which is owned and operated by Johnny-O & the Jerks drummer Chris Baricevic. Between tours, 7 Shot Screamers recorded and released a third album, 7 Shot Screamers In Wonderland
. This album features a diverse range of songwriting styles, along with a new array of musical instruments, including brass instruments, string instruments, the flute
, the acoustic guitar
, and the piano
. It has the cleanest sound out of all three 7 Shot Screamers albums.
After releasing three studio albums and going on three national tours, the 7 Shot Screamers have resided in their hometown of St. Louis, playing local shows and touring the nation almost nonstop. As Deano Sabella explains, "There's a great scene here, and there is no reason to go anywhere else."
7 Shot Screamers are regular performers at the The Rockabilly Rebel weekend in Indianapolis
, IN
, and at and the Heavy Rebel Weekend in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
. They have opened for several well-known acts, including The Quakes
, X, Rancid
, The Turbo A.C.'s
, The Nekromantix
, and Henry Rollins
. Quirky covers are a staple of 7 Shot Screamers' concerts.
7 Shot Screamers have been known to play as The Original Sinners with vocalist Exene Cervenka
, of the Los Angeles
punk rock
band X, along with her husband, guitarist Jason Edge. The Original Sinners is made of all the 7 Shot Screamers members except Mike Leahy. The 7 Shot Screamers are the seventh and most long-lasting incarnation of the Original Sinners.
Exene Cervenka
has said: "They are one of the best bands out there, out of the Midwest — you could say out of the country. Before the end of the year, one of my goals is to make sure that they get signed to a good label."
Morrissey
described 7 Shot Screamers as a "rockabilly New York Dolls
." GaragePunk.com has suggested that perhaps the 7 Shot Screamers should be categorized as "nu-wave-abilly".
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
band that resides in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
.
Their music is a mix of classic Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
-inspired rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
, 1970s glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
, and punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
. They have released three albums: I Was A Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
I Was a Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
The first studio album by the 7 Shot Screamers. Released June 12, 2001 on 7 Shot Records.-Track listing:# "Hey Lady Luck" # "Camille" # "Hooker" # "Live Fast, Die Young" # "The Girls A Tramp" # "Meet Me"...
(2001), Keep The Flame Alive
Keep the Flame Alive
Keep the Flame Alive is the second studio album by the American psychobilly band 7 Shot Screamers.-Track listing:# "TV" # "Vampire" # "Liquor Store" # ""Take It All" # ""Better Off Dead" # "Kickin' Myself"...
(2004), and 7 Shot Screamers In Wonderland
7 Shot Screamers in Wonderland
The third studio album by the 7 Shot Screamers. Sometimes called "In Wonderland" for short.-Track listing:...
(2006).
The band includes Mike Leahy on lead vocals, Kevin O'Connor on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, Deano Sabella on lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, and Chris Powers Jr. on upright bass. The name 7 Shot Screamers is purportedly derived from little-used European phrase "four shot screamer" (for a lightweight drinker), and reflects the band's love of alcohol.
On June 30, 2010, 7 Shot Screamers lead singer Mike Leahy appeared on the national television show America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...
as his alter-ego Clownvis Presley, an Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
-impersonating clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
. The judges hastily rejected Leahy's performance, and colorful exchanges ensued with the judges, with Clownvis telling host Howie Mandel
Howie Mandel
Howard Michael "Howie" Mandel is a Canadian stand-up comedian, television host, and actor. He is well known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show's daytime and Canadian-English counterparts. Before his career as a game show host, Mandel was best known for his role on...
that he "hasn't made anything good since Little Monsters
Little Monsters
Little Monsters is a 1989 comedy-drama film starring Fred Savage as Brian Stevenson, a sixth-grader who has recently moved to a new town, and Howie Mandel as Maurice, the monster under the bed....
."
Drummer Kevin O'Connor composed a film score for accompaniment of Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
's short film One Week for performance by The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra
The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra
The Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra is an ensemble of composers and musicians based in St. Louis, Missouri. The ensemble composes and performs original scores to accompany films of the Silent Era, and composes and records soundtrack music for contemporary films.- Origins and History:The...
. O'Connor and 7 Shot Screamers bassist Chris Powers Jr. play in the ensemble whenever O'Connor's score is performed.
Career
7 Shot Screamers started as a rockabilly cover band while its members were in high school. Their first exposure to a wide audience came with Al Swacker's The Greaser's Lunchbox show on KDHXKDHX
KDHX is an award winning, independent, non-commercial, listener-supported community radio station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States located at 88.1 MHz FM offering a full spectrum of music along with cultural and public affairs programming since 1987...
(88.1 FM) St. Louis community radio. Swacker's praise of the band caught the attention of local venues.
In 1998, 7 Shot Screamers' self-released a 7" single, which sold over 1,500 copies. In 1999, they released their first album, the I Was A Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
I Was a Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
The first studio album by the 7 Shot Screamers. Released June 12, 2001 on 7 Shot Records.-Track listing:# "Hey Lady Luck" # "Camille" # "Hooker" # "Live Fast, Die Young" # "The Girls A Tramp" # "Meet Me"...
LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
. The album featured music that leaned towards the rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
genre. It sold over 2,000 copies on the 7 Shot independent label before being picked up by Hepcat Records.
In 2004, 7 Shot Screamers released their second album Keep The Flame Alive
Keep the Flame Alive
Keep the Flame Alive is the second studio album by the American psychobilly band 7 Shot Screamers.-Track listing:# "TV" # "Vampire" # "Liquor Store" # ""Take It All" # ""Better Off Dead" # "Kickin' Myself"...
, produced by Levi Dexter of The Rockats and mixed by Paul Roman of The Quakes
The Quakes
The Quakes are a psychobilly band from Buffalo, NY. They were formed in 1986. They are considered very influential to the current American psychobilly scene, but in the late 80's, there was no scene to speak of in the United States...
. It was released under the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based Haunted Town Records label. It featured many songs that took on a darker tone than I Was A Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
I Was a Teenage 7 Shot Screamer
The first studio album by the 7 Shot Screamers. Released June 12, 2001 on 7 Shot Records.-Track listing:# "Hey Lady Luck" # "Camille" # "Hooker" # "Live Fast, Die Young" # "The Girls A Tramp" # "Meet Me"...
, and leaned more towards the rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
genre. The sound of the album is more polished than their previous album, albeit with a slightly emptier tone.
In 2006, 7 Shot Screamers left the Haunted Town Records label to join the St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
-based Big Muddy Records, which is owned and operated by Johnny-O & the Jerks drummer Chris Baricevic. Between tours, 7 Shot Screamers recorded and released a third album, 7 Shot Screamers In Wonderland
7 Shot Screamers in Wonderland
The third studio album by the 7 Shot Screamers. Sometimes called "In Wonderland" for short.-Track listing:...
. This album features a diverse range of songwriting styles, along with a new array of musical instruments, including brass instruments, string instruments, the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, the acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, and the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. It has the cleanest sound out of all three 7 Shot Screamers albums.
After releasing three studio albums and going on three national tours, the 7 Shot Screamers have resided in their hometown of St. Louis, playing local shows and touring the nation almost nonstop. As Deano Sabella explains, "There's a great scene here, and there is no reason to go anywhere else."
7 Shot Screamers are regular performers at the The Rockabilly Rebel weekend in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, IN
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, and at and the Heavy Rebel Weekend in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. They have opened for several well-known acts, including The Quakes
The Quakes
The Quakes are a psychobilly band from Buffalo, NY. They were formed in 1986. They are considered very influential to the current American psychobilly scene, but in the late 80's, there was no scene to speak of in the United States...
, X, Rancid
Rancid (band)
Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the...
, The Turbo A.C.'s
The Turbo A.C.'s
The Turbo A.C.'s are an American punk rock band from New York, formed in 1996. The band's high-octane sound has led to comparisons with the likes of The Supersuckers and New Bomb Turks.- Band history :...
, The Nekromantix
Nekromantix
The Nekromantix are a Danish-American psychobilly band formed in 1989 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their music is generally structured around monster and horror themes. A central icon of the band's image is founder and frontman Kim Nekroman's "coffinbass", a custom-built double bass with a body in the...
, and Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
. Quirky covers are a staple of 7 Shot Screamers' concerts.
7 Shot Screamers have been known to play as The Original Sinners with vocalist Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka is an American writer, musician and artist, most famous as the co-lead vocalist of the Los Angeles punk rock band X.-Career:...
, of the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band X, along with her husband, guitarist Jason Edge. The Original Sinners is made of all the 7 Shot Screamers members except Mike Leahy. The 7 Shot Screamers are the seventh and most long-lasting incarnation of the Original Sinners.
Praise
Bob Putnam, co-owner of The Way Out Club in St. Louis, commented on their first performance at the venue, "I was blown away by the fact that they were so young and so talented."Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka
Exene Cervenka is an American writer, musician and artist, most famous as the co-lead vocalist of the Los Angeles punk rock band X.-Career:...
has said: "They are one of the best bands out there, out of the Midwest — you could say out of the country. Before the end of the year, one of my goals is to make sure that they get signed to a good label."
Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
described 7 Shot Screamers as a "rockabilly New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...
." GaragePunk.com has suggested that perhaps the 7 Shot Screamers should be categorized as "nu-wave-abilly".
Studio albums
- I Was A Teenage 7 Shot ScreamerI Was a Teenage 7 Shot ScreamerThe first studio album by the 7 Shot Screamers. Released June 12, 2001 on 7 Shot Records.-Track listing:# "Hey Lady Luck" # "Camille" # "Hooker" # "Live Fast, Die Young" # "The Girls A Tramp" # "Meet Me"...
(June 12, 2001) (7 Shot Records) - Keep The Flame AliveKeep the Flame AliveKeep the Flame Alive is the second studio album by the American psychobilly band 7 Shot Screamers.-Track listing:# "TV" # "Vampire" # "Liquor Store" # ""Take It All" # ""Better Off Dead" # "Kickin' Myself"...
(September 7, 2004) (Haunted Town Records) - 7 Shot Screamers In Wonderland7 Shot Screamers in WonderlandThe third studio album by the 7 Shot Screamers. Sometimes called "In Wonderland" for short.-Track listing:...
(August 18, 2006) (Big Muddy Records)
Compilations
- "Friday Night Rumble, Vol.6" (Run Wild Records)
- "Rocked and Loaded, Vol. 2" (Rock-n-Roll Purgatory Records)