The Welders

In 1975, a group of teenage friends in Florissant started The Welders—one of St. Louis’ earliest punk bands, and definitely its first all-girl punk band. They have been compared to The Runaways, who released their debut album the following year. But where The Runaways sang about being sexy mamas in their tight blue jeans, The Welders wrote snarky, hilarious songs making fun of the icky guys harassing them on the street, or about being a prude, or the cultural backwardness of the Veiled Prophet. In 1979, after playing around the St. Louis metro area for a few years, they went into the studio and recorded an EP. After the label went bankrupt, the master tapes went down the memory hole, and The Welders—whose ranks over the years included sisters Jane and Caroline Fujimoto, Stephanie von Drasek, Julie Benz, Kelly Draper, Colleen O’Sullivan, and Lyla Turner—called it quits in 1981.