pure hell

Q&A with Pure Hell on Innovation, Evolution and the ’70s Punk Scene

August 11, 2014

Pure Hell are known for three things: 1) being the first all African-American punk band; 2) having a wickedly cool band name; and 3) being the focus of a very popular online photo from 1978, depicting the quartet with dyed, glow-in-the-dark, chemically-straightened hair and ill-advised face paint. Formed in Philadelphia in 1974, they were inspired by…