45 Grave

Originating in Los Angeles, the death rock group .45 Grave crafted music that blended the macabre and morose with occasional humor, thereby nudging American goth-rock into its unsteady early phase. The lineup dissolved in 1985 once gloom-laden shows and a string of bleak recordings had drawn modest notice, sending Paul B. Cutler and Dinah Cancer—born Mary Sims—toward separate endeavors that included Dream Syndicate, while drummer Don Bolles and bassist Rob Graves joined guitarist Geza X to form Silver Chalice. Irregular reunion concerts from 1988 onward produced the live album Only the Good Die Young, restoring momentum to the band until Graves’s fatal overdose in 1991 brought its history to a conclusive close. Don Bolles subsequently fronted Celebrity Skin, and Sims joined Penis Flytrap.