The Skulls

Genre:Punk Rock


The Skulls were a Los Angeles punk band formed in 1977, and later reformed in 2000. Their final show was in Corona, California in March 2006. The Skulls had several line-ups with only one consistent member, vocalist Steven William "Billy Bones" Fortuna.The Skulls formed in 1977 and are widely considered to have been one of Los Angeles's first punk rock bands. Their influences consisted of American punk bands such as the Ramones and The Avengers, British punk bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Vibrators and glam/pre-punk artists such as Roxy Music, David Bowie, T.Rex and MC5. They were at the forefront of the early Los Angeles punk scene alongside infamous acts like The Germs, The Screamers and The Weirdos and were a staple band at the venue The Masque, where Bruce Moreland (brother of the Skulls' then-guitarist Marc Moreland, who went on to form Wall of Voodoo) was the emcee.
Singer Billy Bones joined the band for one of their first practices and became the only consistent and long term member of the Skulls. The band's most common line-ups in the late 1970s consisted of Billy Bones on vocals and Marc Moreland on guitar, with bass duties being held by Bruce Moreland or Chas T. Gray and drums by Michael "Sten Gunn" Wallace. The band did not tour extensively nor make many official releases. Bootlegs can be found of original recordings, but the band's studio albums were all recorded and released years later. They broke up with no apparent plans to reunite.