Larissa Strickland, guitarist for early '80s Detroit hardcore band L-Seven (NOT L7) and late-'80s/early '90s Detroit horror-punk band the Laughing Hyenas, has died. Exact cause of death has not been confirmed. The Hyenas sound, unleashed over four albums on Touch & Go, can be still heard in bands like garage goths the Hunches or the Horrors, and numerous dark metal groups. While the band marauded around the stage like the Birthday Party in an especially foul mood, their soul was deep in the saddest reaches of the blues while their mind was locked in future-shocked punk rock. Singer John Brannon's imposing howl was ever-scary, but the band's power came just as much from Strickland's fuzz riffs, which could sneak around your back with gothic creep then snap your neck with a Stooge-y twist. She and the band went to dark-living extremes, the depths of which most bands rarely travel. The intense stage presence and drug rumors were in stark contrast to how nice and approachable Strickland was offstage. While she was not very active musically since the band's demise in 1997, Strickland's advances on gutter blues guitar remain impressive and influential. http://www.tgrec.com
