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Tragic Mulatto was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, United States. Performing under pseudonyms, the band's nucleus consisted of vocalist Flatula Lee Roth (Gail Coulson) and bass guitarist Reverend Elvister Shanksley aka Lance Boyle (Alistair Shanks). The band released their albums on Jello Biafra's label Alternative Tentacles, with Dead Kennedys bassist Klaus Flouride acting as producing several of their early albums.
Tragic Mulatto's music has been called "Butthole Surfers-esque", their label describing them as "the dark and seedy underbelly of the average big city underbelly. A twilight zone for the already poorly adjusted."Malott, Curry, Peña, Milagros. Punk Rockers' Revolution. 2004. Pg 106. Retrieved August 2, 2012. Coulson has also received praise for her vocal contributions, with her powerful delivery earning comparisons to Janis Joplin and Grace Slick.
Coulson and Boyle became the core creative force behind the group and took the stage names Flatula Lee Roth and Reverend Elvister Shanksley respectively. The duo recruited guitarist Tim Carroll of The Dicks (Richard Skidmark) and recorded the album Locos por el Sexo in 1986. Representing a change in musical direction for the band, the album emphasized melody and "enough structural backbone to give the songs non-satirical legitimacy". Spin described them as sounding "like a throbbing punkoid cross between Frightwig, real early Jefferson Airplane, and a fertile war pig from Planet 9".
With new guitarist Jehu Goder the band expanded their line-up to include dual percussionists Bambi Nonymous and Humpty Doody (Marc Galipeau) for their second album titled Hot Man Pussy. The album included a cover of "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin and exhibited further musical maturity by the band. Their final release, Chartreuse Toulouse, incorporated Psychedelic rock and Middle Eastern influences. Tragic Mulatto disbanded in 1990 after they had released their third album, with its members pursuing separate projects.
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