https://theweereview.com/review/death-valley-girls/
While Larry Schemel is not a household name, he most certainly should be. As the former lead guitarist of the band Death Valley Girls, and connoisseur of all things alternative, he has over 30 years of experience in the music industry.
What’s more, is that he’s so incredibly modest, one might never know any of this unless they were savvy enough to ask the right questions.
Here is the tale of an underground rockstar living what Schemel’s bandmate and best friend, Bonnie Bloomgarden, describes as his “hero quest.”
Growing up in the nowhere town of, Marysville, Washington in the 70s, Schemel’s childhood consisted of musical enlightenment in the form of Rock N Roll. As latchkey kids in search of excitement, Larry and his sister Patty often stole records from their older sister. Being only a year apart in age, Larry and Patty constantly shared new bands they found with each other, as well as binging campy thriller films. Through this and local radio stations, the two developed a distinct taste in music and horror movies. This is where they came to love the band KISS, which Patty explained had tons of theatrics and merchandise that made them stand out.
“[KISS] was the first thing that was super exciting,” Larry explained. “They looked like monsters and were just totally rock n roll.”
The impact KISS had on Larry never left him. Watching him take the stage, at arguably the peak of his career with Death Valley Girls, his presence as the mood setter sticks out like nothing else. For how reserved of a guy he is, watching him on the stage is a show in and of itself.
“Man, these days when I see him play he’s such a loud, aggressive sound,” Patty said. “I love that he has something that allows him to release that.”
As teenagers in the 80s, music only continued to influence both siblings’ lives. Patty picked up drums, and soon after Larry began playing guitar. From there the two wandered right into the web of the notorious Seattle grunge scene (Although in both interviews the siblings explained that was not what they called it at the time). While Patty immediately joined bands from the likes of Doll Squad, The Milk Bones, and 5000 Clams, Larry and she didn’t start their first band together till the inception of Kill Sybil in 1990.
“The band with Larry was the first time I really loved the music,” Patty explained in relation to Kill Sybil. “I think because I could talk with him and communicate in a different way.”
Kill Sybil went on for several years after that, even though Patty left to join the band, Hole. While the project’s virtually unheard of today, at the time they were a sight to see as Patty explained. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love were big fans of the project—specifically, the song Olympia which was written about the Seattle scene.
With a thrashy sound that felt equally moody and loud, Kill Sybil’s influence on the subsequent Live Through This Hole album, can very clearly be heard. The chaotic mix of shaky vocals and atmospheric dissonance create an unsettling, yet powerful feeling.
Looking back on those times Larry talked about how crazy it felt to live in that scene because not only were they playing shows each week locally, but then larger touring bands, such as Pavement, would come along and ask his band to open for them.
“I think we all realized, maybe overtime, oh we have a really cool scene here with such great stuff happening, but we never thought it would be a huge phenomenon even years later” Larry admits.
The scene changed as harder drugs came into the mix, everything felt like it shifted, Larry explained. Hole was blowing up on the cover of The Rolling Stone and playing on SNL, and Nirvana was huge, but there was a darkness to the entire movement.
Kurt’s death struck the crowd intensely, and a few months later Hole’s newest bassist, Kristen Pfaff overdosed. And yet with these tragedies, everyone—Larry and Patty included—were still heavily on drugs.
This darkness is what eventually brought Larry to Los Angeles. Still intoxicated and struggling to keep jobs after Kill Sybil’s demise, Larry knew something had to change. Patty, who had moved to LA several years earlier to play for Hole, told him to come down. Within a week he had a plane ticket. This is what Larry described as his rebirth. With the new city’s sunny skies, he felt ready to become sober and clear his head.
“Going to AA meetings I met a lot of people who were sober musicians doing the same things as me, and that helped to know other people were in my position,” Larry said.
Jumping through several bands in LA such as the Flesh Eaters and Midnight Movies, Larry wanted to find gigs that could satisfy his desire for the stage. Trying to be in the music scene clean was rather hard at first because those around him were still into drugs and alcohol. This all changed when he met Bonnie.
“I think we both needed a best friend, and were into all the exact same things, so it came naturally” Bonnie explained. “Not just being friends, but friends working towards a goal.”
Larry and Bonnie met through Patty and instantly connected. So, the three would meet every Friday for a year to practice. This was especially healthy for all of them because it was a safe space as former addicts to make music clean, Bonnie explained. From these sessions Death Valley Girls was born.
In contrast with Kill Sybil’s chaotic noise, Death Valley Girls has a much more manic-pixie girl feel to it. With themes that are often magical and kooky their music feels like a revenge-seeking soundtrack for an A24 film. Playing songs that dance the line of punk and indie, their shows remain spontaneously energetic, which gives their spacey aura much more edge.
Though Patty couldn’t stay a part of the project as a new mother, she still actively supports the project.
“The newest Death Valley Girls record is super impressive, and I don’t just say that because he’s my brother,” Patty said. “I’m so amazed and excited for him.”
Ten years later Death Valley Girls are still growing and touring all over the world, with each new album reaching farther audiences.
As of this past January, Larry decided to leave Death Valley Girls to pursue new music. Although he stresses how much love he has for the project, with the way they’ve been blowing up recently he felt like there was no time to work on other music as well.
“The touring was getting very stressful in terms of having money,” Larry said. “ It was very up and down, and I wanted the time to work on new music.”
Looking back at his time on Death Valley Girls, Larry talks about how many friends and memories he took away from the project. Not only that but how much his love of music has propelled him in terms of playing with his heroes and touring the world
From his roots in Seattle to the fulltime rockstar that Larry is today, it’s so amazing to think about his progress. And further, that this never compromised his character.
“Larry set out to live a clean life thinking that was as good as it was going to get and ended up being what his heroes are, one of the best guitar players, a really nice guy, a total wealth of information who knows everything about music and movies, and one of the sweetest guys ever” Bonnie said.
And in case you’re wondering there’s more music to come… Larry assured us to keep an eye out for new recordings in the next couple of months…
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