Germs drummer Don Bolles disclosed on Facebook on Jan. 16 that the punk band's bass player Lorna Doom died that same day. Doom had joined the influential Los Angeles punk band in 1976. It was formed by Darby Crash and Pat Smear, who went on to win eight GRAMMY awards for his work with Foo Fighters and Nirvana. Although Germs disbanded in 1980 after the death of Crash by heroin overdose at age 22, their performances and style helped stoke punk rock's wild and free expressiveness. Doom was 60.
An official statement, released on Jan. 17, from Doom's friends and family reads:
"Teresa Ryan aka Lorna Doom was always a woman of mystery. So much so, that even in her final days as she fought a tough, year-long battle with cancer, very few people even knew she was ill. She kept a very close knit social circle, and those who knew her and loved her always respected her desire for privacy.
When she finally lost her struggle with cancer at 12:50 pm yesterday, Wednesday January 16th, it came as a shock to many, as she had chosen to not burden others with what she was going through."
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The band's club performances blended rock with performance art, noise art and theatrics all taken to extremes. Their only album was 1979's (GI), produced by Joan Jett and ranked by Rolling Stone as #28 of the 40 greatest punk albums of all time. A Germs biopic titled What We Do Is Secret was released in 2007 starring Shane West as Crash.
Germs tried out several drummers before Bolles. Dottie Danger, the drummer when Doom first joined Germs, went on to non-punk musical fame under her birth-name Belinda Carlisle as lead singer for the Go-Gos. Doom's birth-name was Teresa Ryan.
Following the release of the biopic, Bolles, Doom and Spear reunited to perform with the movie's star, Shane West, substituting for the one-of-a-kind Crash. "We were all consultants on the film and ended up having so much fun playing the wrap party we decided to continue," Doom said. "Shane isn't channeling Darby but he still gets it right by being himself."
