Laughing Hyenas was an American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

band from

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, that existed from 1985 to 1995, fronted by

Negative Approach Negative Approach is an American hardcore punk band, formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1981. The band is considered among the pioneers of hardcore punk, particularly in the Midwest region. Like most hardcore bands, Negative Approach was little known ...

vocalist John Brannon. According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, "At first, the band specialized in dirges overlaid with the tortuous, throat-shredding vocals of frontman John Brannon. As time passed, their

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

connections became more and more explicit".

History

Laughing Hyenas formed in 1985 in

. The original lineup consisted of vocalist Brannon (previously of

), guitarist Larissa Strickland (aka Larissa Stolarchuk, previously of

L-Seven L-Seven was an American post-punk band from Detroit, Michigan, United States. The band existed during 1980–1983. Some band members had been formerly active in Detroit punk bands The Blind, Algebra Mothers, and Retro.Detroit Punk Archive: L-Sev ...

), drummer

Jim Kimball Jim Kimball is an American punk drummer. His former bands include noise-punk band Laughing Hyenas, Mule, and The Jesus Lizard, as well as The Denison/Kimball Trio (which contains only Kimball and fellow ex-Jesus Lizard Duane Denison). Kimball ...

and bassist Kevin Strickland (aka Kevin Munro). Following an eponymous 1986 demo cassette, they released their debut EP, ''

Come Down to the Merry Go Round ''Come Down to the Merry Go Round'' is an Extended play, EP by garage rock band Laughing Hyenas. It was released in 1987 on Touch and Go Records. It was reissued in 1995 accompanied with five bonus tracks. Track listing Personnel Adapted ...

'' in 1987 on

Touch and Go Records Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. Tou ...

. The band released their first studio album, '' You Can't Pray a Lie'', in 1989. '' Life of Crime'' followed in 1990, both recorded by future

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

producer

Butch Vig Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the drummer and co-producer of the alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of the diamond-selling Nirvana album ''Neve ...

. Later that year, the original rhythm section of Kimball and Kevin Strickland left the Hyenas and teamed up with P.W. Long to form

Mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...

. In 1991, they recorded an

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

song for the

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

singles club tribute to Cooper. After their departure, former

Necros Necros was an early American hardcore punk band from Maumee, Ohio, although they are usually identified with the Detroit music scene. They were the first band to record for Touch and Go Records. History Necros was formed in mid-1975 by then-t ...

members Todd Swalla (drums) and Kevin Ries (bass) joined the band, which released the ''

Crawl Crawl, The Crawl, or crawling may refer to: Biology * Crawling (human), any of several types of human quadrupedal gait * Limbless locomotion, the movement of limbless animals over the ground * Undulatory locomotion, a type of motion characteriz ...

'' EP in 1992. Ries was later replaced by another Necros bassist, Ron Sakowski,

Laughing Hyenas Biography Laughter is a Pleasure, pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the Thoracic diaphragm, diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or ...

llmusic (accessed 1 June 2008) Huey, Steve. who appeared on their third and final album, '' Hard Times'' (1995). The band self-released a covers EP, ''Covers: Stolen Tapes 92 to 94'' that same year, before splitting. Brannon later formed the American band, Easy Action, and reunited with Negative Approach. Larissa Strickland died on October 8, 2006, at the age of 46, from a drug overdose in

North Port, Florida North Port is a city located in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The population was 74,793 at the 2020 US Census. It is part of the North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was originally developed by G ...

.Thedeadrockstarsclub.com
- accessed August 2010

Former members

* John Brannon –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(1985–1995) * Larissa Strickland (Larissa Stolarchuk) –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(1985–1995) *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(1985–1990) * Kevin Strickland (Kevin Munro) –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(1985–1990) * Todd Swalla – drums (1990–1995) * Kevin Ries – bass guitar (1990–1994) * Ron Sakowski – bass guitar (1994–1995)

Discography

Studio albums

*''Merry go Round'' (1987, Touch And Go Records) – 1995 Re-issue *'' You Can't Pray a Lie'' (1989,

) *'' Life of Crime'' (1990, Touch and Go Records) *'' Hard Times'' (1995, Touch and Go Records)

Singles and EPs

*''Laughing Hyenas'' demo cassette EP (1986, self-released) *''

'' EP (1987, Touch and Go Records) *"Here We Go Again" 7-inch EP (1987, Touch and Go Records) *''

'' EP (1992, Touch and Go Records) *''Covers: Stolen Tapes 92 to 94'' EP (1995, self-released)

Compilation albums

*''Life of Crime/You Can't Pray a Lie'' (1990, Touch and Go Records)

Compilation appearances

*"Dedications to the One I Love (Live)" on ''Howl 7'' EP (1990, Howl) *"Public Animal #9" (

cover) on ''Alice Cooper Tribute'' EP (1991,

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designate ...

) *"Candy" on ''Mesomorph Enduros'' (1992, Big Cat) *"Solid Gold Hell" (

The Scientists The Scientists is a post-punk band from Perth, Western Australia, led by Kim Salmon, initially known as the Exterminators and then the Invaders. The band had two primary incarnations: the Perth-based punk band of the late 1970s and the Sydney/ ...

cover) on ''Set It on Fire!'' (1993, Dog Meat) *"Shine" on '' Jabberjaw...Pure Sweet Hell '' (1996,

Mammoth Records Mammoth Records was an independent record label founded in 1989 by Jay Faires in the Carrboro area of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The majority of the acts on Mammoth were executive-produced by Faires and the label's general manager, Steve Balcom ...

) *"Just Can't Win" on ''American Pie 2'' (1996, Rubber Records)

References

External links

Band's biography / discography
* Allmusic entry on Laughing Hyenasbr>Trouser Press entry on Laughing HyenasLaughing Hyenas Website on Touch and Go RecordsOfficial 1988 Tour Diary
{{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from Michigan Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups disestablished in 1995 Musical quartets Punk blues musical groups Touch and Go Records artists 1985 establishments in Michigan Third Man Records artists Musicians from Ann Arbor, Michigan