Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Jeff Palmer, Gary Floyd, Bob Leto
All Music Guide:
Sister Double Happiness formed in San Francisco in 1986 and immediately became the city's favorite concert draw before even releasing their first album of over-the-top, white blues-rock.
Gary Floyd and Lynn Perko, who'd played together in the punk group the Dicks, joined with Ben Cohen (from Pop-o-Pies and Polkacide) and Mikey Donaldson on bass. The foursome recorded a self-titled album of hard-driving songs for SST in 1988, the bulk penned by Floyd and Cohen. Owing much to Floyd's Texas roots as a blues/punk belter, the band played a fiery mix of blues-inflected hard rock and punk, the likes of which were incomparable. Subject matter was primarily confined to the human condition and spirituality in the face of AIDS and urban decay. The band's promise earned them a contract with Reprise in 1991 for Heart and Mind, but failed to find them a wider audience. That same year the band won a Bammie (Bay Area Music Award) for Outstanding Club Band, and Jeff Palmer replaced Donaldson on bass. A Sub Pop single and two albums for the label's German arm, 1993's Uncut and 1994's Horsey Water, followed. Danny Roman was added as a guitarist, and Miles Montalbano replaced Palmer on bass.The video release, Greetings from Zurich, is a lasting testament to their live prowess.The band also contributed to a number of tribute albums that were popular in the early '90s paying homage to artists diverse as Roky Erickson, Dead Kennedys and Frank Sinatra. The band broke up in 1995 -- none of their recorded work ever quite captured the heat they were capable of live. Floyd immediately formed the Gary Floyd Band and records and tours, mostly in Europe. Perko is in Imperial Teen with Faith No More's Roddy Bottum, and Cohen works as a guitarist, currently with El Destroyo. The posthumous Stone's Throw from Love: Live and Acoustic at the Great American Music Hall appeared in 1999.
Wikipedia:
Sister Double Happiness was an alternative blues-rock band that existed from 1986 until 1995, formed in San Francisco, CA, United States.
History
Sister Double Happiness recorded and released four LPs, one EP, and one live record in its nine-year existence. Its core members were Gary Floyd and Lynn Perko, who were in the seminal punk blues band The Dicks. Their music was bluesier than that of the Dicks, and lyrically they were generally more personal than the politically radical lyrics of that band; however, Floyd and Perko's leftist lyrics and punk influences were not entirely gone.
Members
Heart and Mind
Gary Floyd - vocals and harmonica.Lynn Perko - drums, percussion, piano and organs.Ben Cohen - guitar, mandolin, and 6 string base.Jeff Palmer - bass guitarUncut and self-titled EP
Gary Floyd - vocalsLynn Perko - drumsBen Cohen - guitarDanny Roman - guitarMiles Montalbano - bassPost-breakup
After the dissolution of Sister Double Happiness, Floyd formed and primarily played in Europe with the blues group The Gary Floyd Band; an overview of this material, Backdoor Preacher Man, is available in the United States.
Floyd and Sister Double Happiness guitarist Danny Roman formed Black Kali Ma, a blues-punk act that recorded an LP for Alternative Tentacles in 1999. Drummer Bruce Ducheneaux (Assassins of God) and guitar player Matt Margolin (Smokin' Rhythm Prawns) joined Roman and Floyd in Black Kali Ma. Rolling Stone Magazine reviewed Black Kali Ma's album and gave it three stars.
Gary Floyd is now in a band called the Buddha Brothers, and has recorded solo as a country musician. Perko went on to become a member of indie rock band Imperial Teen in 1996, and appears on You Ride The Pony (I'll Be The Bunny).
