Romeo Void was started at the San Francisco Art Institute by Debora Iyall and Frank Zincavage.
The band primarily consisted of saxophonist Benjamin Bossi, vocalist Debora Iyall, guitarist Peter Woods, and bassist Frank Zincavage. The band went through four drummers, starting with Jay Derrah and ending with Aaron Smith.
They released three albums, It's a Condition, Benefactor, and Instincts, along with one EP and singles.
Benefactor is the second studio album released in 1982.
It was released on CD in 2006 by Wounded Bird Records, with their Never Say Never EP as four bonus tracks. The first version of the song "Never Say Never" is a shorter, "clean" edit suitable for general radio broadcast.
Saxophonist Benjamin Bossi was added to the lineup as an "accident" when Debora Iyall met him while he worked in a deli.
The band's music was generally associated with the New Wave and post-punk movements of the early 1980s, but also experimented with danceable song structures and a saxophonist. Iyall garnered acclaim as a skilled lyricist who explored themes like sexuality and alienation from a female perspective with "dark intelligence" and "searing imagery".
The unforgettable chorus of their best-known song, 1981's "Never Say Never," the phrase on its own makes the song sound like some kind of shock-value novelty, and indeed, that's probably how many people remember it.
Yet a careful listen to the verses, with their intimations of incest, murder, homelessness, and other dark subjects, makes plain that singer/lyricist Debora Iyall has more on her mind than simple salaciousness.
NEVER SAY NEVER
If time itself was his demeanor
There’d be no sunlight or a glimmer
Of sunlight landin on the street
Sunsuit girls must be discreet
Sunsuit girls must be discreet
Nursing their fathers locked inside
They masqueraded as his bride
I might like you better
If we slept together
But there’s somethin
In your eyes that says
Maybe that’s never
Never say never
The slump by the courthouse
With windburn skin
That man could give a fuck
About the grin on your face
As you walk by, randy as a goat
He's sleepin on papers
When he'd be warm in your coat
I might like you better
If we slept together
But there’s somethin
In your eyes that says
Maybe that’s never
Never say never
There’s no easy way to lose your sight
On the street, on the stairs
Who's on your flight
Old couple walks by, as ugly as sin
But he’s got her and she’s got him
Never say never
Tracks
01. Never Say Never : 3:27
02.Wrap It Up (Isaac Hayes, David Porter) : 3:15
03. Flashflood : 4:55
04, Undercover Kept : 6:05
05. Ventilation : 3:55
06. Chinatown : 3:18
07. Orange : 4:15
08. Shake the Hands of Time : 3:19
09. S.O.S. : 5:30
Bonus tracks :
10. Never Say Never ( 12" Single Version ) : 6:06
11, In the Dark ( 12" Single Version ) : 4:33
12. Present Tense ( 12" Single Version ) : 5:47
13. Not Safe ( 12" Single Version ) : 3:57
The Band
Debora Iyall – vocals
Peter Woods – guitar
Benjamin Bossi – saxophone
Frank Zincavage – bass
Larry Carter – drums, percussion
And
Walter Turbitt – guitar on 9
Marybeth O'Hara – backing vocals on 7
Norman Salant – saxophone on 7
TAKE IT FLAC HERE
