Texas Terri Bomb!

Texas Terri Bomb!

Texas Terri Bomb! is a United States punk rock act centred on Texas Terri, the performance name of Terri Laird, a singer and songwriter originally from Austin, Texas. She grows up in Fort Worth, Texas and later relocates to Hollywood, California in 1984, where she begins her recording career in trash rock and punk-influenced music.

Early career

Before using the Texas Terri Bomb! name, Terri forms The Killer Crows. After that group breaks up, and following a three-year break, she forms Texas Terri & The Stiff Ones with Don “Demon Boy” Cilurso, who becomes her songwriting partner. The band lasts for six years and builds a cult following in the United States and Europe.

Recordings

Texas Terri & The Stiff Ones release one album, Eat Shit, on the Burning Tree label in 1998. The album is later reissued twice as Eat Shit +1 and Eat Shit +4, with the added title indicating bonus tracks on each re-release. After Cilurso leaves because of personal problems, Terri changes the group’s name to Texas Terri Bomb! because she feels the project has changed without her writing partner.

Style and performance

Terri is described in the music press as being compared with Iggy Pop, Lux Interior, Mick Jagger and Wendy O Williams. Her stage performances develop a reputation for wild, scantily clad behaviour, including shows where she tears off her shirt and covers herself only with electrical tape reading “TXT”, a shortening of her name that she prefers. She later performs in black underwear instead.

Later work

Under the Texas Terri Bomb! name, she releases Your Lips...My Ass!, an album produced by Jack Douglas and including a guest appearance by Wayne Kramer of the MC5. She says she originally wants Lemmy Kilmister to appear on the track.