Oliver Joseph Nanini (1955 – December 4, 2000) was an American rock

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

, most famous for being the percussionist and a founding member of new wave group

Wall of Voodoo Wall of Voodoo was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States. Though largely an underground act for the majority of its existence, the band came to prominence when its 1982 single " Mexican Radio" became a hit on MTV and ...

during their heyday in the 1980s. He was known for playing with pots, pans, and other objects. This arrangement can be seen in the motion picture ''

Urgh! A Music War ''Urgh! A Music War'' is a 1982 British concert film featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk bands and artists. Filmed in August to September 1980 it was directed by Derek Burbidge and produced by Michael White and Lynd ...

'' in which Wall Of Voodoo performed a live version of the song "Back In Flesh" from the '' Dark Continent'' album, and also later in the video for the hit single "

Mexican Radio "Mexican Radio" is a song by American new wave band Wall of Voodoo. Produced by Richard Mazda, the track was initially released on their 1982 album '' Call of the West'' and was released as a single. With regular airplay on MTV in the United S ...

". Along with

Stan Ridgway Stanard "Stan" Ridgway (born April 5, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and film and television composer known for his distinctive voice, dramatic lyrical narratives, and eclectic solo albums. He was the original le ...

and Bill Noland, he left the band after their performance at the

US Festival The US Festival (''US'' pronounced like the pronoun, not as initials) was the name of two early 1980s music and culture festivals in southern California, held east of Los Angeles, near San Bernardino. Background Steve Wozniak, cofound ...

in 1983. Nanini went on to become one of the co-founders of the neo-traditional band The Lonesome Strangers and played on their first record, ''Lonesome Pine''. He was also the drummer for numerous 1970s

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

bands, including

Black Randy and the Metrosquad Black Randy and the Metrosquad was an American punk rock band from the late 1970s and early 1980s in the Los Angeles punk scene. They gained notoriety not only for their surreal and smutty sense of humor, but also for their amalgamation of pro ...

The Plugz The Plugz (also known as "Los Plugz") were a Latino punk band from Los Angeles that formed in 1977 and disbanded in 1984. They and The Zeros were among the first Latino punk bands, although several garage rock bands, such as Thee Midniters an ...

, and Bags. Before his death, he was a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

for

Dangerhouse Records Dangerhouse Records was a Neff, Joseph (August 13, 2013)"(Re)Graded on a Curve: Dangerhouse Records' Compilation, ''Yes L.A.''" ''The Vinyl District''. Retrieved August 21, 2015. punk music record label based in Los Angeles, California Overvie ...

recording with many bands, notably recording with the band Sienna Nanini during the 1990's, Nanini and his fellow musician, known only as Lamb Cannon, believed the "Los Angeles club scene" was "disgusting" and decided to commit to a

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

act, via the album Pants down time, released after his passing. He was born in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1955 to a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

military family. Nanini died at his

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

home on December 4, 2000, of a

brain hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

, at age 45.

References

1955 births 2000 deaths Musicians from Los Angeles American rock drummers Punk rock drummers Deaths from intracranial aneurysm American people of Japanese descent 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians {{US-drummer-stub