Tav Falco's Panther Burns
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Tav Falco's Panther Burns, sometimes shortened to (The) Panther Burns, is a rock band originally from
Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...
,
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
,
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 ...
, led by
Tav Falco Gustavo Antonio "Tav" Falco is an American-born musician, performance artist, filmmaker, actor, author, photographer, and dancer. Falco has fronted the rock band Tav Falco's Panther Burns since 1979, and founded a parallel solo career that inco ...
. They are best known for having been part of a set of bands emerging in the late 1970s and early 1980s who helped nationally popularize the blending of
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 ...
,
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
, and other American
traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
styles with rock music among groups playing in
alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alternative metal *Chris ...
and punk music venues of the time. The earliest and most renowned of these groups to imbue these styles with
expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
theatricality and primitive spontaneity were
The Cramps The Cramps were an American rock band formed in 1976 and active until 2006. Their lineup rotated frequently during their existence, with the husband-and-wife duo of singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy the only ever-present members. T ...
, largely influenced by
rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
music. Forming just after them in 1979, Panther Burns drew on obscure
country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...
music,
Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...
's works like ''The Theater and Its Double'',
beat poetry The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatione ...
, and Marshall McLuhan's media theories for their early inspiration. Alongside groups like The Cramps and
The Gun Club The Gun Club were an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States, which existed from 1979 to 1996. It was formed and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce. History Early days (1979–1980) The Gun Club w ...
, Panther Burns is also considered a representative of the Southern Gothic-tinged roots music revival scene. After forming Tav Falco's Panther Burns and making their first recordings in Memphis, the group soon evolved as a rotating crew of additional musicians hailing mostly from Memphis,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, and
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
. Falco moved
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and later to
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, at which time he began working more with European musicians.


Background and early history

In 1977 and 1979,
Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...
, attracted by The Cramps' feral, flamboyant rockabilly style, had brought them to Memphis to record sessions he produced that were later released as ''Gravest Hits'' and ''Songs the Lord Taught Us''. Chilton had initiated the development of a rockabilly and country-tinged alternative rock music scene in Memphis, beginning with his Cramps sessions and his off-kilter ''Like Flies on Sherbert'' sessions recorded in 1978 through August 1979, following a stint working in New York's
CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...
punk scene as a solo artist after the breakup of
Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a new l ...
. This New York period had somewhat converted him to a turbulent and chaotic "punk performance ethos", according to Ross Johnson, writing in ''The Memphis Flyer''. The Cramps sessions were the catalysts inspiring some of the young musicians who eventually helped launch Panther Burns to first start performing in public. Future Panther Burns drummer Johnson first performed publicly in a group called The Yard Dogs led by Alex Chilton in the summer of 1978; he made his first recording session appearance on ''Like Flies on Sherbert'', drumming and bantering off-the-cuff, comical lyrics to "Baron of Love". This Chilton album is sometimes panned in retrospective reviews today by writers expecting Big Star's chiming guitars and tight, power pop recordings, but at the time the album came out, it was praised by critic Robert Christgau and was influential among young Memphis alternative musicians breaking out of the late 1970s era of
disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano ...
and slick, mainstream radio rock and starting to create their own punk rock/garage music scene unrestrained by industry dogma. Falco had focused his 1970s work on video and photographic documentation of blues performers and local culture in the Memphis area with fellow videographer Randall Lyon, in a partnership they called TeleVista Projects, Inc. Chilton, who first encountered Falco while Lyon and Falco were videotaping some of the ''Sherbert'' sessions, formally met Falco a couple of months later after witnessing his self-described "art-action happening" during an October 1978 Mud Boy and the Neutrons "Tennessee Waltz" event in Memphis, at which Falco, untrained in music theory, surprised the audience by blowing a police whistle and chainsawing a guitar on stage halfway through a haywire rendition of
Lead Belly Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...
's "Bourgeois Blues". Falco's association with Chilton and a small circle of record-collecting musicians helped deepen their shared, longstanding interest in the blues form. Chilton became inspired to work more with his blues and soul roots, after having temporarily been focused more on rockabilly and country music by the late 1970s. At the same time, ''The Memphis Flyer'' piece viewed the origin of Chilton's interest in forming the band as stemming from a desire to find "enthusiastic amateurs to play with" in Memphis, due to his recent exposure to Manhattan's budding punk music scene. "We were inept and offensive — just what Alex was looking for", wrote Johnson. After Chilton completed the ''Like Flies on Sherbert'' recordings (for which Falco created some cover art graphics), Tav Falco's Panther Burns group was formed in February 1979 in Memphis by Falco (vocals, guitar) with Chilton (lead guitar/drums/backing vocals), Ross Johnson (drums), and Eric Hill (synthesizer). In the first couple of years Rick Ivy (trumpet),
Jim Dickinson James Luther Dickinson (November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009) was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the band Mud Boy and the Neutrons, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Biography Dickinson was born in Lit ...
(piano), Vincent Wrenn (synthesizer), Ron Miller (bass), Jim Duckworth (guitar/drums), and
Jim Sclavunos James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s ( Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and 8 Eyed Spy, ...
(drums), soon joined to play important roles. The group took its name from th
Panther Burn
plantation south of
Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. Hi ...
. The town, in turn, had taken the name in reference to a wild cat whose raids and nocturnal shrieks had so disturbed area residents in the 19th century that they set a
canebrake A canebrake or canebreak is a thicket of any of a variety of ''Arundinaria'' grasses: '' A. gigantea'', '' A. tecta'' and '' A. appalachiana''. As a bamboo, these giant grasses grow in thickets up to 24 ft tall. ''A. gigantea'' is generally ...
on fire to keep it at bay after all attempts to trap or kill it had failed; the lore of the elusive animal shaking up a sleepy planters' hamlet appealed to the band. The attention Chilton's early presence brought the band led to an increased interest in blues music, along with the already emerging Cramps-influenced rockabilly interest, in Memphis' alternative music scene at that time. Falco's initial inclusive approach of mixing enthusiastic players without formal musical training together with professional musicians was in tune with those of noted primitive experimenters
Half Japanese Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair around 1975, sometime after the family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland. Their original instrumentation included a small drum set, which they took turns playi ...
and the 1970s East Village alternative music movement of performers like
Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...
,
James Chance and the Contortions James Chance and the Contortions (initially known simply as Contortions, a spin-off group is called James White and the Blacks) was a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York ...
, and
Klaus Nomi Klaus Sperber (January 24, 1944 – August 6, 1983), known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona. In the 1970s Nomi immersed himself in the East Villag ...
in which visual artists and musicians formed bands together. In the beginning years of the band Falco told writers that because of his unschooled musical background, he represented "the possibility of anyone performing who wants to". Though confounding the expectations of some listeners, these musicians considered restoring a sense of unbridled enthusiasm to creative work to be more important than conforming to sterile, rigid industry standards, as reflected in the name choice for the small recording label moniker Falco soon adopted to release and co-release the group's future recordings: Frenzi.


Performance and recording notes

As interest in the band grew, Panther Burns soon played early gigs in Memphis and other cities, horrifying the host of a Memphis morning television talk show on which they performed. During the talk show performance, Lyon simultaneously encoded and transmitted an experimental, live, slow-scan feed to experimental artist groups OPEN SPACE in
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
, Center for New Art Activities in New York, and RELAY in San Francisco. Falco explained to the disgusted host that the group was merely a "neo-rumorist orchestra" for a TeleVista experiment, creating what he termed an "anti-environment" to make visible cultural treasures and older, local performers overlooked in the daily environment by mainstream society and the establishment. The band's early
happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow during the 1950s to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happen ...
-styled, so-called "art-action" performances at downtown Memphis cotton lofts at the time frequently included waggish
projected Projected is an American rock supergroup consisting of Sevendust members John Connolly and Vinnie Hornsby, Alter Bridge and Creed drummer Scott Phillips, and former Submersed and current Tremonti guitarist Eric Friedman. The band released thei ...
images, like the group's trademark burning panther image, trained on the musicians, harking back to Velvet Underground-era, psychedelic days of the 1960s. A
screen-print Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh ...
artist since the 1970s, Falco promoted many of the early 1980s local live shows by using hand-screen-printed posters which band members and friends helped him create and paste around midtown Memphis. They performed many of these Memphis concerts at local new music dive The Well (later called Antenna Club) with other area bands of the period. They also opened for The Cramps and played double bills with The Gun Club during this period in cities including New Orleans, New York, and Los Angeles. In the early 1980s they performed in an anti-nuclear rally with
Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
at The Peppermint Lounge in New York. Reactions to the cacophonous, disjointed, amateurish side of the group's early performances varied from enthusiasm to disparaging ridicule. In 1980, New Orleans writer Bunny Matthews, explaining that he enjoyed the group's ability to put its audience "through changes", drolly summed up the experience: "No one is ever going to attend a Panther Burns recital and leave with mixed feelings". ''Behind the Magnolia Curtain'', the group's first album, was recorded in 1981 and released on the British
Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...
label in 1982. The album featured on some tracks, including "Bourgeois Blues", an appearance by a small, marching drum corps that included blues artist Jessie Mae Hemphill, who had participated in her grandfather's Northern Mississippi fife-and-drums groups as a child. The contrast between the strong, military beats of the drum corps dueling with Falco's occasionally out-of-sync vocals resulted in the wild, blues-rock chaos of songs on the album like the frenetic "Bourgeois Blues". "We were thrown off quite a few stages during that period", wrote Johnson. "Though we initially enjoyed the effect we had on club audiences, somewhere along the way we tried to clean up our sound". The recording was followed by the slicker rockabilly revival style of ''Blow Your Top'', without Chilton's participation, and in 1984, the Jim Dickinson-produced ''Sugar Ditch Revisited'' album was recorded, featuring a more subdued playing style by Chilton along with New Orleans bassist René Coman. That year, following a brief tour opening for
The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...
before irritable college audiences impatient for the main act, Chilton stopped touring regularly with the group to resume his increasingly
minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
solo touring and recording career. Chilton's restrained, evolving solo style was beginning to diverge from his previously fiery, strident Panther Burns guitar style that had often featured
reverb Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...
and
feedback Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
; however, he continued to produce several of their later albums.


Transition to less primitive performance style

Since the more refined productions of ''Sugar Ditch Revisited'' and 1987's ''The World We Knew'', the band has concentrated less on raw, primitive sounds than in its early years. The group has developed into a combo working more with the feel and subtleties of the genres it explores, including tango and roots-oriented styles, with occasional forays into deranged, garage blues, as heard in ''Panther Phobia'' or in the frenzied guitar work performed in some of the 1980s and 1990s live shows by New Orleans musician George Reinecke, as also heard on ''Red Devil''. The main constant in the varied work remains Falco's provocative vocals and wordplay. Over the years, the group has recorded and toured with different lineups featuring a mix of energetic, alternative musicians working at times alongside seasoned rock and roll, soul, and jazz veterans to create its howling sounds, always centered around the presence of vocalist Falco. Panther Burns occasionally opened for major punk rock acts in the 1980s, appearing on double bills with some of their older heroes like Cordell Jackson, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and rockabilly great Charlie Feathers in the same time period, but usually headlined its own gigs at small clubs across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Venues the group has played at during its career have ranged from no-wave clubs in the East Village to New Jersey
hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...
pits, music heritage festivals, alternative rock clubs, the
Ottawa Bluesfest Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music festival that takes place each July in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. While the festival's lineup historically focused on blues music at its inception, it has increasingly showcased mainstream pop, ...
, Central Park Conservatory, and many others. In the early 2000s, the group began to play mostly in Europe due to Falco's relocation there. A 2006 minitour of Europe and the United States featured the main lineup from the previous several years performing with Falco: Roman drummer Giovanna Pizzorno with Parisians Grégoire Cat on guitar and Laurent Lo on bass. Panther Burns have released a number of recordings through the years on
indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
labels like New Rose Records (France), In the Red, Au Go Go Records (Australia), Last Call Records (France), Triple X, Upstart, and
Sympathy for the Record Industry Sympathy for the Record Industry (also known as Sympathy Records or Sympathy 4 the R.I.) is a mainly independent garage rock and punk label formed in 1988 by Long Gone John. The first Sympathy release was the Lazy Cowgirls' ''Radio Cowgirl'' LP ...
. The band's recordings have included raucous, yet controlled studio albums produced by Chilton and sometimes Dickinson; a live 10th anniversary show album was produced in 1989 by longtime group guitarist Ron Easley, followed the next year by a studio album, ''Return of the Blue Panther'', produced by former group bassist Coman. Coman, a jazz musician who leads The Iguanas rock group of New Orleans, recorded the album with guitarist Reinecke at the mixing board. The group has also recorded a tango-oriented album, a live concert mini-album, and a
lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
studio album with Doug Easley of
Easley McCain Recording Easley McCain Recording is an American recording studio, based in Memphis, Tennessee, notable for recording musicians such as Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Oblivians, Grifters, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Come, White Stripes, Townes Van Zandt, Pezz, Je ...
. Among the group's early recording engineers were Ardent Studios' John Hampton, as well as former
Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...
session musicians Stan Kessler and Roland Janes of
Phillips Recording Phillips Recording is the short name widely used to refer to the Sam C. Phillips Recording Studio opened at 639 Madison Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, by Sam Phillips in 1960. Internationally regarded at that time as a state-of-the-art facility, it ...
. In August-September 2014, Falco recorded an album in Rome, Italy's Exit Studios. The album, titled ''Command Performance,'' was produced by Panther Burns guitarist Mario Monterosso and released in 2015 on the UK label Twenty Stone Blatt Records, with distribution by Proper Records. Also in 2014, Stag-O-Lee Records (Germany) compiled a double album of Falco's favorites from his personal music collection, released as ''Tav Falco's Wonderful World Of Musical & Exotic Obscurities''. Falco contributed to the varied artists album a liner notes essay and a Panther Burns song called "Real Cool Trash," which ''The Wire'' likened to "the rock 'n' roll energy" of The Cramps. ''The Wire'' described the album styles as ranging from rockabilly to "far-flung genres" that include "tangos, waltzes, and concertina music." In 2022, Tav Falco's Panther Burns undertook an extensive US Tour, which began in August 25 in San Francisco and featured dates in 34 US cities. The setlist included songs from throughout the Panther Burns' career, including songs from ''Command Performance'' and ''Cabaret of Daggers'' as well as covers of songs by
Charlie Feathers Charles Arthur Feathers (June 12, 1932 – August 29, 1998) was an American musician most associated with the rockabilly scene of the 1950s. Although not initially recognized for his contributions to rockabilly, over time his presence would bec ...
,
Leadbelly Huddie William Ledbetter (; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk music, folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, Virtuoso, virtuosity on the twelve-string guita ...
,
Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...
and others. Falco's producer Mario Monterosso backed Falco on guitar for the tour, along with bassist Guiseppe Sangirardi and drummer Walter Brunetti.


Musical style

According to the band, Panther Burns is " a Southern Gothic, psychedelic country band influenced by Memphis music styles". The original band lineup featured two guitars, synthesizer, and drums, later usually omitting keyboards or synthesizers at live shows. The group's somewhat experimental recordings have embraced and deconstructed a number of influences and genres, including rockabilly,
blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
and Southern Gothic. With his signature
Höfner Karl Höfner GmbH & Co. KG is a German (originally Austro-Bohemian) manufacturer of musical instruments, with one division that manufactures guitars and basses, and another that manufactures other string instruments, such as violins, violas, cell ...
fuzz-tone guitar and a stage presence characterized by his Argentine-styled pompadour, pencil moustache, smoking jacket, and urbane manner, Falco infused his shows with theatrical antics and a reverence for the originators of country blues and rockabilly. The band's assorted song subjects and album photography themes have included Memphis scenery,
Carroll Cloar Carroll Cloar (January 18, 1913 – April 10, 1993) was a nationally known 20th-century painter born in Earle, Arkansas, who focused his work on surreal views of Southern U.S. themes and on poetically portraying childhood memories of natural sce ...
's ''Panther Bourne'' painting, the occasional reference to historical figures like American rampage murderer
Charles Starkweather Charles Raymond Starkweather (November 24, 1938 – June 25, 1959) was an American spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming between December 1957 and January 1958, when he was nineteen years old. He killed ten of his victi ...
, motorcycle imagery, denizens of Memphis neighborhoods, tango imagery, and blithe introspection, among other themes. Falco's treatment of the blues classic "Bourgeois Blues" adds a line from Ginsberg's famous beat poem "
Howl Howl most often refers to: *Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species *Howl (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl may also refer to: Film * ''The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 American arthouse b ...
". In a 1984 interview discussing his anti-environment concept and music, he said that many outstanding, but lesser known blues and rockabilly artists were "treated like the idiot wind". Similarly, he continued, "the beat writers and theorists like Antonin Artaud were treated like they were crazy. It wasn't until he died that everyone realized he was a genius". Two of his originals, "Agitator Blues" and "Panther Phobia Manifesto", evinced playful humor and a left-leaning,
Utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
political stance. In "Panther Phobia Manifesto", Falco referenced lines from influences as disparate as
William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
,
Screamin' Jay Hawkins Jalacy J. "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, operatic vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of s ...
,
Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...
,
Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...
, French psychedelic band The Dum Dum Boys, and
Dadaist Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...
poet
Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...
, in wishing a "huge firedamp explosion" to closed-minded members of society who blindly follow the dictates of the establishment. Proclaiming that everywhere the Panther Burns go, they are greeted with derision, he riffed from Aragon, "Laugh your fill, the Panther Burns are the ones who always hold out a hand to the enemy". The group's wide-ranging styles have included
Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
tango music Tango is a style of music in or time that originated among European and African immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay (collectively, the " Rioplatenses"). It is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble, kn ...
,
country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
, rockabilly, R&B,
soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...
, novelty tunes, early
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
, country blues, and pop standards of the 1950s and 1960s like
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
's "The World We Knew", among others. Set lists have included mutated covers of songs originally performed by such diverse artists as J. Blackfoot,
Doc Pomus Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall ...
, Bobby Lee Trammell,
Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...
,
Reverend Horton Heat The Reverend Horton Heat is the stage name of American musician James C. Heath (born 1959) as well as the name of his Dallas, Texas-based psychobilly trio. Heath is a singer, songwriter and guitarist. A ''Prick'' magazine reviewer called Heath ...
, Jessie Mae Hemphill, R. L. Burnside,
Mack Rice Bonny "Mack" Rice (November 10, 1933 – June 27, 2016), sometimes credited as Sir Mack Rice, was an American songwriter and singer. His best-known composition and biggest hit as a solo performer was " Mustang Sally". He also wrote " Respe ...
, and Allen Page (of the small 1950s Moon Records label helmed by early rock-and-roll producer/songwriter Cordell Jackson), among others. The earliest description the band gave itself on a concert poster read simply: "Rock'n'Roll". Media confusion in categorizing led the band to eventually invent its own self-descriptive terms, such as "panther music" and "backwoods ballroom", also at times calling its tumultuous performance style "art damage".


Performing personnel


Current Lineup

*
Tav Falco Gustavo Antonio "Tav" Falco is an American-born musician, performance artist, filmmaker, actor, author, photographer, and dancer. Falco has fronted the rock band Tav Falco's Panther Burns since 1979, and founded a parallel solo career that inco ...
: lead vocals, guitar (1979–current) *
Mario Monterosso Mario Monterosso is an Italian-born musician, producer, songwriter, and cabaret and theater, theater performer. Originally from Sicily, Monterosso worked professionally in Rome, and is currently based in Memphis, Tennessee in The United States. ...
: guitar, bass, producer (2014–current) * Giuseppe Sangirardi: bass (2016–current) * Walter Brunetti: drums (2018–current)


Past Members (in alphabetical order)

* Perry Michael Allen—keyboards, backing vocals: 1995 * David Berger—drums: 2002 * Barri Bob—percussion, rhythm guitar: some 1980s gigs * Orazio Brando—guest guitarist: 2005 * William Brandt; (also of "Beyond Einstein's Eulipion Bats") drums 1988 including live recording "Live at Vienna Messeplast" 24 May 1988 * Roy Brewer—violin: 1980s and 1990s * Benny Carter—drums: 1994 * Grégoire Cat (real name: Grégoire Garrigues)—lead guitar: early 2000s onwards * Ben Cauley (also of
The Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays are an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of record chart, charting single (music), singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" (US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, Hot R&B/Hip ...
)—trumpet: 1990s * Raymond Cavaioli—lead guitar: some 1980s gigs *
Alex Chilton William Alexander Chilton (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star. Chilton's early commercial success in the 1960s ...
(aka L X Chilton and Axel Chitlin)—lead guitar: 1979–early 1980s and occasional appearances thereafter; produced several of the albums * Riccardo Colasante—drums: 2016 * Rene Coman (also of The Iguanas/New Orleans)—bass: early to mid–1980s and occasionally thereafter * Francesco D'Agnolo—keyboards: 2015 * Toby Dammit—drums: 2015 (guest appearances in 2016, 2018) * Peter Dark (also of
Bellmer Dolls Bellmer Dolls is a New York-based post-punk band. Biography Named after the life-sized mannequins of German Surrealist Hans Bellmer,
, real name: Peter Mavrogeorgis)—guitar: early 2000s, 2011 onwards *
Jim Dickinson James Luther Dickinson (November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009) was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the band Mud Boy and the Neutrons, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Biography Dickinson was born in Lit ...
—producer and keyboardist: occasionally 1980s and 1990s * Peter Dopita—singing saw: 1991 * Jim Duckworth (also of
The Gun Club The Gun Club were an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States, which existed from 1979 to 1996. It was formed and led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeffrey Lee Pierce. History Early days (1979–1980) The Gun Club w ...
)—drums: 1981; lead guitar: early 1980s, 1989 * Doug Easley—bass: occasionally, including 1989 live album * Ron Easley (aka Durand Mysterion; also of the Country Rockers)—lead guitar: 1980s and 1990s sporadically; producer: 1989 * James Enck (later of Linda Heck and the Train Wreck)—lead guitar: 1984, 1991; bass on "Cuban Rebel Girl" from the 1984 ''Now!'' cassette release * Kai Eric (aka Red West)—bass: mid-1980s–2000 on most tours except some in the South U.S. * Cyd Fenwick—backing vocals, dancing: 1979–1981 * Kitty Fires 1 (real name: Sue Easley)—backing vocals: 1984; Kitty Fires 2 (different woman)—guitar: 2000 * Bob Fordyce (also of the Odd Jobs)—drums: 1989 * Lorenzo Francocci—drums, percussion: 2015 * Doug Garrison (also of The Iguanas/New Orleans)—drums: 1996 * Diane Green (also of The Hellcats/Memphis and the Odd Jobs)—theatrics, tambourine, dancing: occasional 1980s appearances * Alex Greene (also of Big Ass Truck and Reigning Sound)—organ: 1989–1990 * Stacy Hall and Dawn Hall—dancers: 1979 * Jim Harper—snare drum: 1981 * Mark Harrison—guitar: 1984–1985 * Linda Heck (later of Linda Heck and the Train Wreck)—bass: 1984 *
Jessie Mae Hemphill Jessie Mae Hemphill (October 18, 1923 – July 22, 2006) was an American electric guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist specializing in the North Mississippi hill country blues traditions of her family and regional heritage. Life and career Hemp ...
(as part of the Tate County Mississippi Drum Corps)—snare drum: 1981 * Eric Hill—synthesizer: 1979–1980, 1989 * Douglas Hodges (aka Tall Cash)—drums: 2001–2002 *
Teenie Hodges Mabon Lewis "Teenie" Hodges (November 16, 1945 – June 22, 2014) was an American musician known for his work as a rhythm and lead guitarist and songwriter on many of Al Green's soul hits, and those of other artists such as Ann Peebles and Syl J ...
—lead guitar: 1990s * Michael Hurt (also of The Royal Pendletons)—bass: 1999 * Rick Ivy—trumpet, vocals: 1979 * Cathy Johnson—backing vocals, dancing: 1979–1981 * Ross Johnson—drums: since 1979 on a number of albums and live shows * Amanda Jones—backing vocals: 1984 * Jules Jones—backing vocals in studio and live shows: 1979 * Via Kali—tango dancer at live shows: 2006 onwards * Kye Kennedy—lead guitar: mid-1980s touring * Gabriele Kepplinger—backing vocals: 1991 *
Little Victor Victor Mac (born Victor Macoggi on January 31, 1967) who is better known as Little Victor, The Beale Street Blues Bopper, and also DJ Mojo Man, is an Italian-American blues and roots singer, guitarist and harmonica player, as well as a record c ...
—guitar, harmonica: 2005 * Laurent Lanouzière—bass: 2002–onwards * Michael Lo (real name: Michael Rafalowich)—bass: early 2000s, 2011–onwards * Andrew Love (also of
The Memphis Horns The Memphis Horns were an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson (November 24, 1941 – June 21, 2016) on trumpet and Andrew Love (November 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012) on ...
)—saxophone: 1990s * Vickie Loveland—backing vocals: 1991 * Tammo Lüers—guitar: 1995 * Randall Lyon—theremin: 1991 * Olivier Manoury—bandoneon: 1995 * Bob Marbach—piano: 1991, 1995 * Lisa McGaughran (also of The Hellcats/Memphis including in one compilation as Lisa Burnette)—backing vocals, bass: 1984–1990 * Ron Miller—bass: early 1980s * Billy Mitchell—drums: 2013 * Robert Palmer—clarinet: 1989 * Giovanna Pizzorno (also of The Hellcats/Memphis)—drums: first sporadic tours began 1986; steady member since the early 2000s; duet vocals: 2015 * Jon Ramos—bass: 2002 * George Reinecke (also of Busted Flush)—lead guitar: 1980s and 1990s * Will Rigby (also of
The dB's The dB's are an American alternative rock and power pop group, who formed in New York City in 1978 and first came to prominence in the early 1980s. Their debut album, '' Stands for Decibels'', is often acclaimed as one of the greatest "lost" powe ...
,
Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...
) – drums: 1980, 1999 *
Jimmy Ripp Jimmy Rippetoe (born 1956), better known by his stage name Jimmy Rip, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer, who is known for his work with Jerry Lee Lewis, Mick Jagger, Debbie Harry, Paul Collins & The Beat, Michael Monroe ...
—guitar: 1983 * Roland Robinson—bass: 1992 * Kurt Ruleman—drums: 1984–1989 * Raffaele Santoro—keyboards: 2010 onwards * Harris Scheuner—drums: 1989 *
Jim Sclavunos James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s ( Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and 8 Eyed Spy, ...
—drums: since about 1982 on a few albums, beginning with ''Blow Your Top'' * Jim Spake—saxophone: 1984, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1995, and occasional live appearances * Brendan Lee Spengler—keyboards: 2000 *
Ken Stringfellow Kenneth Stuart Stringfellow (born October 30, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. Best known for his work with The Posies, R.E.M., and the re-formed Big Star, Stringfellow's discography include ...
—bass: 2011 * Nokie Taylor—trumpet: 1991, 1995 * Nina Tischler—backing vocals: 1991 * Lorette Velvette (real name: Lori Greene; also of The Hellcats/Memphis and The Kropotkins)—backing vocals: 1984–1990; guitar: 1984 briefly *
Mike Watt Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. Watt co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ...
—bass: 2015 (guest appearances in 2016, 2018) * Misty White (also of The Hellcats/Memphis and Alluring Strange)—drums: 1988 * Vincent Wrenn—synthesizer: 1979–1980 *
Jack Yarber Jack Yarber (born March 15, 1967), also known by his stage name Jack Oblivian, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist based in Memphis, Tennessee. He was a founding member of the garage bands The Compulsive Gamblers, and The Oblivian ...
(aka Jack Oblivian)—bass, organ: 2000 * Abe Young—bass drum: 1981


Discography


Notes


References

* Ambrose, Joe (2005)
"By the Time I Get to Memphis".
''Outsideleft''. Accessed May 3, 2005. * Christgau, Robert (2000)
"Alex Chilton: Consumer Guide Reviews".
''Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics''. Accessed Apr. 26, 2005. * Cleary, David. "Like Flies on Sherbert (released 1979) album review and song list".''Allmusic.'' Accessed Apr. 25, 2005. * Dawson, Walter (October 25, 1981). "Album Captures the Untamed Fire of Panther Burns". ''The Commercial Appeal''. * Deming, Mark. "Tav Falco biography" ''Allmusic''. Accessed Dec. 9, 2004. * Donahue, Michael (February 19, 1995). "THE ANTENNA: Weirdo club's a 'trash hole,' but consider the alternative". ''The Commercial Appeal.'' * Duane, Paul (October 5, 2004)
"Tuesday, October 5, 2004 blog entry".
''It Came From Memphis blogspot site''. Accessed May 3, 2005. * Duckworth, Jim

''The Gun Club and Jeffrey Lee Pierce website''. Accessed Dec. 9, 2004. * Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Alex Chilton Live in London (recorded 1980/released 1982) review and song list".''Allmusic.'' Accessed Apr. 25, 2005. * Falco, Tav
"Tav Falco Biography: Tav Falco/Panther Burns"
''Tav Falco/Panther Burns fan website''. Accessed Dec. 9, 2004. * Gordon, Robert (1995). ''It Came From Memphis''. New York: Pocket Books. . * Hart, Gabe (November 10, 2011)
"Tav Falco: Sexual, Abandoned, Political"
''LA Record''. Accessed Mar. 31, 2015.

''The Barbican website''. Accessed May 2, 2005.

''Tav Falco/Panther Burns fan website". Accessed May 2, 2005. * Johnson, Ross (February 1–7, 1996). "Bad Decisions and Busted Eardrums: an Insider's Retrospective on Tav Falco's Panther Burns, the Band That Won't Go Away". ''The Memphis Flyer''. * Johnson, Ross (October 22, 1997)

''Memphis Flyer online''. Accessed Apr. 26, 2005. * Jordan, Mark (February 11, 1999)

''Memphis Flyer online''. Accessed Dec. 9, 2004. * Jurek, Thom "Command Performance (released 2015) review and song list".''Allmusic.'' Accessed Mar. 31, 2015. * Lisle, Andria (May 2005). "Unsung Heroes: The Underbelly of the Memphis Sound". ''MOJO'' magazine. * Matthews, Bunny (September 1, 1980)
"Tav Falco Sizzles While Panther Burns".
''Figaro'' (now defunct; reprinted in Tav Falco fan website). Accessed Apr. 24, 2005. * McGaughran, Lisa (May 1984; revised 2005)

''Tav Falco/Panther Burns fan site''. Accessed May 14, 2005. * O'Brien, Glenn (August 1988). "Memphis blues again; Tennessee's most evasive R&B man — Tav Falco of Panther Burns". ''Interview'' magazine, pp. 50–51. * Palmer, Robert (January 15, 1982). "Beat generation lives in a night of rock and poetry". ''The New York Times'', p. C6.

''In the Red website''. Accessed May 1, 2005. * Sprague, David (April 17, 2001). "Panther Burns". ''Variety''.
"Tav Falco's Wild And Exotic World Of Musical Obscurities."
(November 2014). ''The Wire'', issue 369, p. 83. Accessed Dec. 25, 2014. * Turner, Jeremy (December 2003)

''Outer Space: The Past, Present and Future of Telematic Art''. Accessed Apr. 28, 2005.


External links

*
Panther Burns overview and discography, Allmusic Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

Panther Burns' personal reissue label, Frenzi, run by the band

Panther Burns' 2015 CD release page at the CD distributor ProperMusic's website on behalf of the TSB record label

Tav Falco/Panther Burns fan site

Tav Falco Biography at Trümmer Booking and Promotion



Tav Falco and Panther Burns site at Myspace
{{Authority control American blues rock musical groups Gothic country groups Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups from Memphis, Tennessee Rock music groups from Tennessee Rockabilly music groups Rough Trade Records artists