They Are:
- John Brannon - vocals
- Larissa Strickland - guitar
- Ron Sakowski - bass
- Todd Swalla - drums
'84 was a tough year. It was the year that Orwell prophesied. In the U.S.
Reagan was voted into power for another four years. In Detroit, two seminal
rock bands split, leaving musicians with no gigs. Reagan went on to
blunder through a mock presidency, while the splintered bands, Negative
Approach and L-Seven (NOT L7), spawned a spitting, snarling, replacement
greater than the sum of its parts.
Laughing Hyenas - the nucleus: from Negative Approach came John Brannon, the frontamn, the voice, the man. L-Seven vocalist Larissa Strickland, the guitar, the volume, the woman. Feeling that she could add a new dimension to the band with a guitar style that was untrained (she had been playing guitar less than 6 months when she joined the 'Hyenas) Larissa picked up the guitar and played from the gut - the way music should be. With the addition of Kevin Strickland, the bass, the thud, the tattoos and Jim Kimball, the drums, the motor - the circle was complete.
The response was as primal and chaotic as the music itself. In 1987 the 'Hyenas released the Merry Go Round EP on Touch and Go and followed it a full year later with their debut full length album, You Can't Pray A Lie. Two US tours with Sonic Youth and a European tour with Killdozer ensued. The band released their second full length album, Life Of Crime, in the autumn of 1990.
Late in 1991, after seven years together as a band , musical differences were impeding the band's natural progress and Kevin and Jim left to form Mule.
John and Larissa recruited Todd Swalla (swiped from the Necros) and Kevin Reis a long time fan from Cleveland. Whilst this incarnation recorded the Crawl EP, Kevin didn't share the band's quest to conquer by touring and promptly left the band. Enter Ron Sakowski, bassist with the now defunct Necros.
1994, ten years strong the Laughing Hyenas have come full circle. Hard Times, the band's third full length release for Touch and Go, was recorded in Memphis at Easley Studios. Originaly owned by Memphis/Stax soul outfit the Bar Kays, it has since been used by the likes of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Jim Thirwell.
They ingest the blues style and spit it out 'Hyenas style. Striving beyond comparisons and butting head to head with Howlin' Wolf, the 'Hyenas' blues injection becomes more apparent without losing it's ability to hit you hard below the belt. The band exudes a new confidence, if not cockiness, as they claw and scratch their way through your woofers like John Lee Hooker on a 90's tip.