2 chicks and 2 dudes make some gloriously unique punk rock in Los Angeles and the Southbay. Put out by Flipside records in 1987.

In the '80's and 90's Bulimia Banquet appeared on the covers of a multitude of punk fanzines, and were featured on many punk rock comps. Most notable was the cover of Southern California’s Flipside magazine. The band prided themselves on their aggressive and extremely fast paced playing style. Their sound was like no other bands at the time, and they quickly gained notoriety as a band to watch. Their songs were social commentaries on everything from societal problems, gender inequities, and their own humorous and personal glamorization of the mundane. They were non-conformists, who made sure to not take themselves too seriously.

Bulimia Banquet’s live shows were a head spinning discordant to chordal delight, peppered with heavy chunky guitars, timely self deprecating humor, and the occasional sing-a-ble punk anthemic lyrics, all mixed in at a fiery pace. They were tight and powerful, and exhilarating to watch live.

Jula Bell was famous for her aggressive “sea shanty” punk bass style, her versatile banshee pipes (Bell was an Opera Major in college), and for not using a pick when she played bass. Al Hansford was renowned for his diabolical experimental demon guitar and home made guitars, amps, and pedals. Ingrid Baumgart was respected for her straight ahead metal, punk, and speedcore influenced bombastic rhythm guitar and vicious growly voice. Even though Jason Greenwood was only 14 years old when he joined the band, he was already an incredibly accomplished drummer. His drumming style included some unwieldingly ferocious hardcore drumming mixed with some very unique backwards beats that he added in without pause. Dez Cadena was a welcome addition to the group. He lent his legendary vocals and super solid ass-kicking guitar mastery (as well as infinite punk rock credibility) to the mix. Later guitarist Mia Ferarro sang some soulful harmonies, and laid down some beefy and guitar licks. The final lineup included veteran guitar legend Steve (Dro’)Drojensky, who shredded some fat chords for a brutally solid punk rock guitar rhythm. Travis Johnson, who was also in the final lineup, was a human drum metronome who threw down some speedy, effortless, and intricate solid skin beatings.

Bulimia Banquet toured the US and Europe in the pre cell phone era and played a variety of punk venues. They played across the globe with hardcore bands, art punk bands, pop punk bands, riot grrrl bands, metal bands, speedcore bands, and thrashmetal bands.

The band members included Jula Bell (Bobsled, Marc Spitz Freeystyle, Nip Drivers, Miss Derringer) on Bass/ Vox, Al Hansford (The Imperial Butt Wizards, The Omlits, Fur on Rubber, Bathsalt Zombie$) on Guitar/Vox, Ingrid Baumgart (Razebrae, Malicious Grind, Ingrate Souls )Guitar/Vox, Jason Greenwood (PUI, TVTV$, Punk Rock Vatos) Drums/Vox, Dez Cadena (Black Flag, DC3, Flag,The Misfits) Guitar/Vox, Travis Johnson (Final Conflict, HR Band, Dick Dale, The Dickies) Drums/Vox, Steve (Dro’) Drojensky (Angry Samoans, Aggression, Moral Decay, RF7, Bobsled, Fifi) Guitar/BG Vox, and Mia Ferraro (Hole, Bobsled, Spoon, Sapphic Musk)Guitar/Vox. Earlier drummers for the band included Greg Cameron (Marc Spitz Freestyle, Swa, October Faction, The Chemical People, The Jeff Dahl Band, The Punk Rock Vatos) Drums, Nick Passiglia (Nip Drivers) on drums, and Jennifer Finch (L7, The Shocker, Other Star People) on guitar and B.G. Vox.

Bulimia Banquet put out two albums with Flipside Records. The first album, Eat Fats Die Young was produced by John Girdler, Al Hansford, Pat Smear (The Germs, Nirvana), and Don Bolles (The Germs and Celebrity Skin) at Pacifica Studios and West Beach Recorders. Party My Colon was produced by Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Black Flag, All) and Stephan Egerton (Descendents, All) at Westbeach Recorders. They also put out a split single with Piece of Mind (Curse me/Replete), as well as a multitude of comps including Flipside Vinyl Fanzine #3, a cover of Alice Cooper’s Under My Wheels for Welcome to Our Nightmare by TripleX Records (w/background vox by Dee Detroit of UXA), A cover of Hot Rod Lincoln for a comp (w/vocals by Marc Heathfield of Short Dogs Grow, and a cover of The Ramone’s Endless Vacation for Gabba Gabba Hey (Triple X).

Bulimia Banquet made a few videos for Curse me and Dine or Die, and are featured in Lisa Apramian’s and Courtney Love’s Not Bad for a Girl (the quintessential Riot Grrrl movie).

Bulimia Banquet’s first show was with Firehose at Bebop Records 8/14/86 in Reseda California and their last show was 9/19/92 at Als Bar. They had two reunion shows since 1992. They played with the original lineup at the Anarchy Library in 2005. Their second round of reunions were 7/8/11 at The Redwood Bar and Grill in Downtown Los Angeles and 7/9/11 at Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park.

Tragically, Jason Greenwood, the original drummer for Bulimia Banquet passed away in June of 2018 at 46 years old. The other members have all gone on to play with a plethora of amazing bands.