Screaming Sneakers collection

Collection

Screaming Sneakers collection

• 1979-1983 (Creation)

1 box (0.25 linear feet)

"An archive of ephemera detailing the short-lived Miami punk band, Screaming Sneakers, compiled by their drummer Mark Evans. The collection includes artwork, flyers, 28 letters, 12 photographs, maquettes, newspaper clippings, promotional material, and other items collected between 1981 and 1983 by Evans.

These items show the early days of the band in 1979 and their do-it-yourself rise to their only recordings in 1982. Featured throughout are various letters from fans and inquiring music writers including Mick Mercer of the English zines, ZigZag Mag and Panache Fanzine. In his letter he writes to frontwoman, Lisa, asking for an interview and saying, 'you seem to be a special sort of band.' Another letter is a retained copy of a note written by Mark to Blondie guitarist, Chris Stein, asking if his new record label, Animal Records, would be interested in the band. A group of 12 black and white band photos showing them posed around New York is featured here. A promotional poster for the band features a piece from the Miami News on Lisa which reads, 'she is more interesting simply sitting at her table than any of the bands cavorting on stage.'

Formed in 1979, the Screaming Sneakers were a punk, New Wave band based in Miami, Florida. The band consisted of then 17 year-old front woman Lisa Nash, Mark Evans (drums), Bud Gangemi (bass), and Gary Sunshine (guitar). Part of South Florida’s fleeting punk and new wave scene, the band was active mostly throughout Dade and Broward County. In 1982 they cut a four-song EP titled Marching Orders, which prompted new management, a move to New York, and a brief glimmer of fame, but despite their best efforts the band slowly faded into obscurity. Little enough is written on them, though they were recently featured in Gary McLaughlin’s 2012 documentary Invisible Bands, which covers the South Florida music scene between 1979 through the mid-1980’s.

An interesting collection of ephemera following a female fronted Miami punk Band’s short-lived time in the 1980s punk scene." -Between the Covers Rare Books

This collection is open for research.

Items from this collection are kept on-campus and may be requested from the first floor Kislak Center in the Otto G. Richter Library at University of Miami.

Screaming Sneakers collection finding aid © 2022 University of Miami. All rights reserved. Requests to reproduce or publish materials from this collection should be directed to asc.library@miami.edu.

• English

Purchase from Between the Covers Rare Books, Inc.

Items containing sensitive and personal information were removed from collection.

This collection was processed by Yvette Yurubi, March 2022.

• Music
• Musicians

• Miami (Fla.)
• Florida

• Photographs
• Correspondence
• Ephemera (general object genre)
• Periodicals
• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Fliers (printed matter)
• Promotional materials