Scream

Scream was formed in Northern Virginia in 1981 by singer Peter Stahl, his brother Franz on guitar, bassist Skeeter Thompson and drummer Kent Stax. They are considered one of the benchmark bands in the history of the Washington, DC hardcore

Scream was formed in Northern Virginia in 1981 by singer Peter Stahl, his brother Franz on guitar, bassist Skeeter Thompson and drummer Kent Stax. They are considered one of the benchmark bands in the history of the Washington, DC hardcore music movement, and along with bands such as Minor Threat and Black Market Baby,Scream ultimaely merged the attributes of the movement, which were blinding speed, heavy political and social connotations in the lyrics, unpretentiousness of attitude, and shunning of commercialism. There music is faithful to the roots of rock, but spun itself into other genres by employing sounds that predate the raunchiness of grunge, while saluting reggae and speed metal. Scream hated the classification of bands into certain types and considered what they played as simply 'music.' Recording their music in the basement of the now legendary Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA, Scream became the first band on the Dischord label to release a whole album,Still Screaming, as oppossed to singles or 12 inch EP types. Like the world renowned metal/reggae band Bad Brains, they could play clearly at breakneck speed, but what set them apart from their were mid-tempo songs like "Laissez-Faire," which were metal-tinged reggae. Short blasting songs such as "Zoo Closes at Dark" from their second album, the much acclaimed "This Side Up," captured the intense unique nature of the band. For the second album, Scream decided to add a second guitarist to their line-up named Robert Lee "Harley" Davidson, a veteran of the local heavy metal band Tyrant, to thicken the overtracks and dubs from Franz in their live performances. In turn this led to more complex guitar tracking, a more powerful live sound, and a crunchier recording sound for their 3rd album. For a few compilation efforts and some live shows they added a keyboard player, the local keyboard wizard Bobby Madden, who for years was a colleague of Davidson's from the same metal scene.

After the 3rd album Banging the Drum, Kent Stax left the band for personal reasons and he was replaced by local drummer Dave Grohl. By that time, however, the seeds of angst that entrenched the hardcore movement gave way to splinter genres, such as the grunge sound of Seattle, which became so commercially overloaded that it licence of legitimacy was called into question. Scream recorded the uneven Fumble (which was released several years later) and then called it quits in late 1990. Pete and Franz gave rock a major-label shot with the band Wool, while Grohl joined Nirvana and helped make catchy punk the sound of the '90s. In 1997, Franz Stahl briefly joined Dave Grohl's post-Nirvana group the commercially successful Foo Fighters. Thompson continued working in bands, while Stax committed himself to a family life. Davidson continued creating new bands, including Festival of Fools with Madden in 1998.