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0007 : Dopepics Archive : The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black

0007 : Dopepics Archive : The Voluptuous Horror Of Karen Black

Sep 04, 2026

For a few weeks during the summer of 1989 I worked at a "copy shop", on the corner of Broadway and East 8th St., in New York City. During my brief tenure, one of my coworkers turned me on to the local band The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. In retrospect, that introduction turned out to be the best thing about that job.

By the time I left New York, in the summer of 1990, I had seen TVHOKB a few times. One of the shows I went to was at the Pyramid Club. I do not recall the other venues. A couple of years later I saw the band again while visiting New York and then once more in 1994 at a venue called The Mason Jar in Phoenix, Arizona. For that show, I reached out to the band in advance and they were nice enough to put me on a list that got me backstage. On that occasion I took photos of the band in their dressing room, while they were getting ready to perform, as well as during the show. That was a particularly cool night.

Because they are so unique and original, TVHOKB aren't easy to categorize. In simple terms, they are a theatrical art-rock band. The band's vocalist Kembra Pfahler and guitarist Samoa Moriki are the TVHOKB's founding members. Over the years they have had numerous different bass players and drummers.

In addition to the band's musicians TVHOKB's live performances also feature dancers. Covered in body and face paint, wearing wigs, with their teeth painted black, and dressed in outfits the band designs and fabricates TVHOKB's dancers are a big part of the band's visual identity. Throughout the show the dancers also function as stagehands - setting up and interacting with various props that are unique to each song.

I have not seen the band perform since the mid-90's but I see they are still active and occasionally play shows in NYC. All these years later they are still one of my favorite live bands. If you are interested in learning more about the band I included some links below. I particularly recommend the documentary about Kembra, "Butterfly Witch", on YouTube. 

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