The Flesh Eaters

The Flesh Eaters
1980; L-R: Chris D, DJ Bonebrake, Dave Alvin, John Doe, Steve Berlin, Bill Bateman.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Punk rock roots rock
Years active	1977–1983, 1990–1993, 1999–present
Labels	Upsetter, Slash/Ruby, Homestead, SST, Atavistic
Associated acts	The Divine Horsemen, the Plugz, X, the Knitters, the Blasters, Los Lobos, Bonebrake Syncopaters, The Gun Club
Members	Chris D.
Past members	DJ Bonebrake, Dave Alvin, John Doe, Steve Berlin, Bill Bateman, Texas Terri, Wayne James, Glenn Hays, Ray Torres, Juanita Myers, Christian Free, Stuart Lederer, Bobby Bones, Madonna M., Robert Arce, Jeff Vengance, Larry Schemel

The Flesh Eaters are an American punk rock and Rockabilly band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1977. They are the most prominent of the bands which have showcased the compositions and singing of their founder, punk poet Chris Desjardins, best known as Chris D. While Desjardins is the group's only continual member, the Flesh Eaters' lineup has drawn from some of the most famous bands of the L.A. punk scene, such as the Plugz, X, the Blasters, and Los Lobos.

The band's greatest success was in the early 1980s. Though a part of that era's productive punk rock scene, their music was distinctive for its morbid lyricism and often for its sophisticated arrangements, as heard, for example, on 1981's A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die. Desjardins's poetry has been described as "wonderful bleeding collages of B-movie dementia, street crime, Mexican Catholicism and Dionysian punk spurt poetics."

The band recently reformed and tours the Los Angeles area on occasion.

The Flesh Eaters were started in the fall of 1977 by punk poet Chris Desjardins, a singer known for morbid lyrical themes, as an experimental side-project featuring temporary performers from other major Los Angeles area bands, including John Curry, Dennis Walsh, and Scott Lasken of the Flyboys, Tito Larriva of the Plugz, Stan Ridgway of Wall of Voodoo, John Doe and drummer DJ Bonebrake of X, Dave Alvin and Bill Bateman of the Blasters, and Steve Berlin of the Blasters and of Los Lobos.