One of the defining punk rock bands to come out of Los Angeles in the late 1970s was The Germs. Fronted by self-destructive singer Darby Crash, the lineup also featured Pat Smear (who would go on to play with Nirvana and Foo Fighters), a succession of drummers including Donna Rhea, Belinda “Dottie Danger” Carlisle (Go-Gos), and Don Bolles, and bassist Lorna Doom (née Terri Ryan), who had her hands full keeping up with and playing in the shadow of Crash’s commitment to living up to his pseudonym and his ill-fated interpretation of a Five-Year Plan.

The Germs only released a single album, 1979’s GI (produced by Joan Jett), and the band were featured in Penelope Spheeris’ 1980 documentary film, The Decline of Western Civilization. The end came on December 7, 1980, when singer Darby Crash committed suicide. In the aftermath, Lorna moved to New York City, and the band’s members went their separate ways.

Lorna doesn’t get much screen time in this twenty-minute concert video from 1979, the videographer preferring instead to focus on Crash’s onstage antics, but watch for her in the background, holding a tight bassline while all hell breaks loose.

In 2005, What We Do is Secret, a biographical film about The Germs, began production. Played by actress Bijou Phillips in the movie, Lorna Doom soon reunited with her bandmates, and, along with actor Shane West standing in for the late Darby Crash, toured extensively, giving a second life to a band that had existed longer in legend than reality.

And that’s Lorna (circa 1979) on the front and back cover of Chick Bassist, courtesy of photographer Theresa Kereakes.

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