Seven Machine Performances

A selection of Survival Research Laboratories early performances, a must for those interested in how such an enterprise ever got started in the first place.

Diamanda Galas: The Litanies of Satan

Live performance of Diamanda Galas in 1985, released by Target Video. The performance, based on a poem by Charles Baudelaire, devotes itself to the emaraldine perversity of the life struggle in hell.

The Cramps: Live at Napa State Mental Hospital

The concert was recorded with a black-and-white video camera and a single microphone on June 13, 1978.

Iggy Pop: Live San Fran 1981

While this film may look rough and raw to 21st Century eyes, it is also the best representation of Iggy live during an otherwise pitifully undocumented era of his career. Fronting a crack band featuring Blondie drummer Clem Burke and future David Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar, Pop is as unpredictable and dominant as ever (no small feat since he is sporting a mini skirt, garters and stockings for most of the show). Filmed on November 25 1981 near the end of their tour supporting his 1981 album Party, Iggy and co. are raw and ready for busines...

Screamers ‎– Live In San Francisco: Sept 2nd 1978

Live in concert at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco + bonus material.

The Mutants at Napa State

On June 13, 1978, the soon-to-be legendary rock band the Cramps went to play Napa State, a psychiatric hospital in the small town of Napa in Northern California. Opening for them was the Mutants, an eclectic septet of art school punks from nearby San Francisco. Also in the van was seminal Bay Area art collective Target Video, there to capture the show using one of the first video cameras available to the public, democratizing a medium controlled by mainstream media outlets. Target Video's 22-minute ½” open reel recording of the Mutants' ope...