Penelope Houston (born December 17, 1958 in Los Angeles, California) is an American singer-songwriter best known as the singer for the San Francisco-based punk rock band The Avengers. In 1977, Houston moved to San Francisco, attended the San Francisco Art Institute and shortly thereafter became the lead singer and songwriter for the Avengers. That band released only one album, their eponymous debut in 1983. In the mid-1980s, she helped originate the West Coast neo-folk movement. (More from Wikipedia)
The name Romeo Void might not ring a bell, but you more than likely remember the lyric “I might like you better if we slept together” from their 1981 hit “Never Say Never”. However, there is a lot more to this band – and to “Never Say Never” for that matter – than that salacious lyric. Lead singer Debora Iyall (Cowlitz) moved to the Bay Area in order to attend the San Francisco Art Institute. She and two fellow students, Peter Woods and Jay Derrah formed a tongue-in-cheek 1960’s revival band called the Mummers and the Poppers (a takeoff on the name of the Mamas and the Papas). Iyall then began incorporating music into her poetry and performance-art pieces and started working with Frank Zincavage, a bass guitarist who is also a sculptor.
Debora Iyall was also influenced by the punk and post-punk scene that included other Art Institute students like Penelope Houston, front woman for first-wave San Francisco punk band the Avengers (who is now an accomplished folk rock singer) plus members of the Mutants and Pearl Harbor and the Explosions.
(August 2013)
* * *
Joan Jett then placed an ad in L.A. Weekly saying that she was “looking for three good men” (a play on the advertising campaign of the U. S. Marine Corps at the time). John Doe of X sat in on bass guitar during the audition sections; and he mentioned Gary Ryan, a bassist that he knew who was crashing on his couch at the time. Ryan was a long-time fan of the Runaways and was picked after Joan Jett recognized him. Gary Ryan in turn recommended guitarist Eric Ambel; they had both been playing with a local punk rock artist named Rik L. Rik. Rounding out the band was drummer Danny “Furious” O’Brien, who was in the San Francisco punk band the Avengers, whose frontwoman was Penelope Houston. Joan Jett’s band was named the Blackhearts after the name of her record company Blackheart Records, and not the other way around.
(November 2013)
