Kamala Lyn Parks is an American drummer and songwriter from

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. She played drums for Kamala & The Karnivores (with Ivy DuBois of Bitch Fight and Sweet Baby, Lynda Skulpone, and

Michelle Cruz Gonzales Michelle Cruz Gonzales (born October 29, 1969, in Los Angeles, California) is a musician, author, and college English instructor. She is a founding member and drummer of the groundbreaking all-female hardcore punk band Spitboy. Gonzales is featur ...

of Bitch Fight and

Spitboy Spitboy was an American anarcho-punk band founded in the San Francisco bay area, in California in 1990. The all-female band aggressively criticized patriarchy and gender roles but did not associate with the contemporaneous riot grrrl movement. ...

Cringer Cringer is a fictional large cat in the '' Masters of the Universe'' franchise. He has green and orange striped fur, similar to that of a tiger (although his species is not truly known), and is Prince Adam’s feline companion. Whenever Adam t ...

, The Gr’ups,

Naked Aggression ''The Decline of Western Civilization III'' is a 1998 documentary film, directed by Penelope Spheeris, that chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers. It is the third film of a trilogy by Spheeris depicting life in Los Angeles at ...

, and Hers Never Existed. In 1986, Victor Hayden and Kamala partnered with

Maximumrocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily featur ...

to establish

924 Gilman Street The Alternative Music Foundation located at 924 Gilman Street, often referred to by its fans simply as "Gilman", is a non-profit, all-ages, collectively organized music club. It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California, about ...

, an all-ages collectively organized music venue in Berkeley. She was instrumental in finding the warehouse in North Berkeley that became home to the local punk scene. She also actively participated in the city council meeting for the venue's zoning approval. For years, she booked shows at Gilman, while also cultivating a national tour network for punk bands such as

Operation Ivy Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Is ...

Neurosis Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...

, and

Citizen Fish Citizen Fish is an English punk rock band that has been active since 1990 and shares members with Subhumans. Citizen Fish does not emphasize the raw political statements and nihilistic viewpoint of the former, instead focusing on issues of ...

. She starred in and acted as a consultant for the 2018 movie '' Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk''.

Discography

With Kamala & the Karnivores

* ''Vanity Project'' (Song Preserve, 2018) * "Back To Bodie" in the '' Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk'' soundtrack ( 1, 2, 3, 4 Go Records, 2018) * ''Girl Band'' 7-inch EP (

Lookout Records Lookout Records (stylized as Lookout! Records) was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California and later in Berkeley, California, Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having ...

, 1989)

With The Gr'ups

* ''The Gr'ups'' 7-inch EP (Immature Records, Zafio Records, 1992) * ''Buildings Are The Purtiest Trees I've Seen'' 7-inch, EP (Zafio Records, Duotone Records, 1993) * ''A Li'l Lost 1992-1994'' (

Recess Records Recess Records is an independent record label founded in 1988. Label founder Todd Congelliere (frontman for F.Y.P and Toys That Kill) initially made 100 cassettes of F.Y.P's songs and sold them at skateboard contests. Two years later, Congel ...

, 2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parks, Kamala Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women songwriters American women drummers Musicians from Berkeley, California Songwriters from California 21st-century American women