The legendary KF will be joining us for a new interview this month at FEAR&LOATHING LB MAGAZINE Different than any other interview in the last 4 years. Such topics as Sex, Death, Dope, & Violence, Toxic Cougars, Kim Fowley NU Albums, Plus new music releases by Versailles, The Fabulous Miss Wendy, Burning Bones, Elmyra, Brianna Garcia, & Snow Mercy. KF's movies, "BRD/GRTN" are also being discussed. Cancer Issues/Insanity/Innocence & Madness will be on full display.
Kim Fowley, IS The “Master Of Disaster”. A Ugly/Horrible/Disturbing Performance Art Video, Filmed & Edited by Ericka Clevenger, Taylor Locke & Ian Asbjørnsen! Kim Fowley Produced the music. Kim Fowley is a Hunger Strike Frankenstein for The 21st Century. KF is the Oldest/Boldest/Magical/ Monster Product in The World. Check out the album, “Now” on iTunes. Stay tuned for more Recession Era Creative Surprises by Kim Fowley. This issue will also feature Rick Hostage's CRASH AND BURN, MIKE LOHRMAN/THE STITCHES, JEFF SMITH/THE HICKOIDS, UBERGROUND CINEMA WITH CHUCK FOSTER, WRONG BEACH, THE DOLLYROTS, THE PEGS, SUSAN SURFTONE, RALPH CARNEY, SPIT RECORDS, DIME RUNNER, and MORE MODEL MAYHEM TO TWIST YOUR EYEBALLS!!!!
"forget about good taste..." plus did I mention PETER of the infamous KBD RECORDS online site!!!
A KBD CLASSIC!!
In Absentia by: Kevin McGovern
I watched a movie the other night about a girl returning to her family in L.A after years of travelling from town to tow, state to state, in search of something, something different. With this territory comes a copious amount of alcohol and drug consumption because it is hard to be human at times. Upon arriving, people from the old neighborhood have disappeared, young and old without a trace. The portal to these disappearance is a park with a walk through tunnel that is decades old.
Her sister, the only remaining family member, IS an unhappy marriage (from making everlasting decisions based on a high school crush),the rest of those who have disappeared were obsessed and traumatized to a point their lives just went in a circle from day to day. A calendar did not really apply anymore to the static regimen of structure of those intertwined in the vanishings. Eventually more go missing and so does the sister who is providing the “bad sister” with a place to live. Before she disappears, she proclaims she was always envious, because the “bad sister” always kept going no matter what and she never looked back, always without apology.
The walls of the tunnel are where everyone vanished, stuck in time, frozen and screaming to get out but wanting to come back without personal meaning and in a zombie form, so it appears. The point is those who disappeared were already in zombie form to begin with. The “bad sister” eventually disappears into the wall when she ruminates over her sister’s disappearance and drops her plans to leave town even though she is spun out of her mind again.
As long as we keep moving and continuing our sordid affairs and embrace destruction, insanity, and madness, we expand into the chaotic structure of the world as it was meant to be. Chaos should not be structured and when we try to, we may end up living our lives, permanently in absentia.
Susan and Seana of “Susan Surftone stopped by for a few words about their upcoming California shows and current surf and go-go happenings. “Shore” is a great surf album you need to check out. Cheers
Hello Susan and welcome to Fear and Loathing in Long Beach, I have to start by saying your surf-rock masterpiece, “Shore,” is nothing short of incredible! People who think of women in rock will mention surf influenced bands such as The Bangles, Go-Go’s, and even The Muffs. Even though these bands are not surf purists and more pop in their approach, why become a surf-rock guitar starlet instead of chasing down the bubble gum dreams of the ever-elusive Hot 100?
Susan: To be honest I'm not a vocalist. I've got about a three note range and that's it. I really never, even as a kid, viewed myself as a singer. George Harrison was my favorite Beatle because he was the lead guitarist. I always wanted to be the lead guitar player in a band and surf-rock offered the opportunity. Thanks for the kind words about "Shore".
You were actually an FBI agent at one point in time, are you able to profile your audience? Who digs the exotic surf sounds in the year 2012, where auto tuners and synthetic production reign supreme?
Susan: I have a fairly good read on my audience. For the most part the audience is male. For some reason men just seem more drawn to instrumental surf-rock than women. Although I do have to say women are fast becoming a larger part of my audience. It's mainly younger women because I think they are more involved as guitarists, bassists and drummers themselves. It is not at all a novelty any more to see a woman as an instrumentalist in a band in many genres.
Was the punk scene an influence growing up in New York? What elements connected with you emotionally? Is the music form still relevant today?
Susan: The Ramones were a huge influence on me. I think they were the catalyst that really caused me to form a band. I saw them live four times and decided if they could do it I could do it. Besides it was so much fun to go to one of their shows that I really did want to be in a band too. I like the "attack" of The Ramones' music. It almost hit you in the face up close at a live show. I think that music form will always be relevant. It's honest, raw, angry and fun all at the same time.
Surf music is sexy and promotes an atmosphere of just letting loose. The CD includes a Doors cover as well. How are sexuality, surf music, and Jim Morrison connected from your point of view?
Susan: Well....I always wanted to be Elvis. I've tried to bring a little bit of his rockablilly style into my live shows. Lately I've even gone back to wearing my hair like his during the Sun Records days. Jim Morrison studied Elvis. I believe I've read he used to make everybody shut up when an Elvis song came on the radio. My rock and roll role models have always been male so I guess that fits with surf music. I've recently started working with a go-go dancer, Seana Steele. She brings a sexuality to our live show that is subtle and seductive. Seana can probably give you another take on sexuality and surf music.
Seana: Having a go-go dancer included in surf rock music brings in elements of passion, of letting go, thus the term go-go dancing. Jim Morrison, although somewhat unwillingly, was seen as a sex symbol, as are many rock 'n roll musicians. With surf music, you do not have the vocals, so having a dancer makes the performance package more dynamic, more interesting, and yes, more sexual; personally I prefer the term sensual though, as this word evokes getting in touch with more than one of the five (or six, if you wish) senses.
For young women that want to explore their sexuality and rock out, are the only options Los Angeles and New York? What type of restrictions do you feel small towns place on individual ambition and expression?
Susan: I've always liked large cities. I found the ten years I spent in New York City to be most educational and exciting years of my life (so far). Smaller towns limit your options and having options is what makes life exciting and interesting.
Seana: Ultimately, I feel that if you are ambitious and smart enough, you can make things happen no matter where you are; however, larger cities do provide more options and provide a faster pace wherethings get done. My experience with smaller towns is that often people may not be as serious about what they do and thus projects are delayed or dropped altogether.
What is the most wild tour story you have? Feel free to be explicit; what is the touring world of a surf-rock band like? How do you like California crowds and people?
Susan: After much thought I have to say the wildest tour stories involve driving. You spend a lot of time in that van. Driving around northern Europe in a wreck of a van that used to be a produce truck with a suicide knob on the steering wheel made for some dicey times.
There was the time the driver fell asleep and we veered off the road headed for a bunch of trees, the blinding snowstorm in Switzerland, hell ride up to the northern reaches of Denmark after an all-night romp on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, driving through the tunnel in Paris where Princess Di got it just about as fast as that van would go. We did that twice. The touring world of a surf-rock band is best summed up in The Ramones song, "Danny Says". I like the California crowds. The people get instrumental surf music. It truly is part of the California culture like nowhere else in the world.
What are the plans for Susan Surftone in the future? With national recognition and songs receiving nationwide exposure, it looks like you are just getting ready to take over the world! We would love to know about some of your highlights with your current release and upcoming plans.
Susan: The band, including Seana, will be coming to California for a short tour at the end of September 2012. Our website, www.susansurftone.com has all the details. I'll be recording the follow-up to "Shore" with producer Steve Kravac in February 2013 up here in Portland at Larry Crane's Jackpot Studio. I'm really looking forward to that.
Seana: As Susan mentioned, we have an upcoming tour in September and a new album is in the works. The album artwork is something I was really pleased to be a part of and I can't wait for everyone to see it! We're working on creating an image that fuses the worlds of fashion and music. It's a new and exciting direction that we're looking forward to exploring more.
Your personal thought for the day and anything else you would like to add for our viewers about the Susan Surftone experience.
Susan: Just thanks for listening to my music and supporting me and the band. Come out and see a show. We really try to deliver a good time. Let's see..my personal thought for the day...there's always something new waiting up ahead and you'll never find it if you stop.
In the middle of a global economic depression, what inspired you to begin White Zoo records and its new off shoot, Killed by Disco records?
I could not do anything else, I was one of those child turning over in his hands his favourite records dreaming of a day he would give the catalog number to the records of his own label.
Besides, you're right, it is a period of economic crisis and I’m selling just a few, I still have to cover the costs of those just made.
I also think it was the right thing to do, that someone has to publish those records, I guess they are great records.
With Killed by disco the idea was to remix some songs from the White Zoo bands and to publish stuff that makes me move my ass, which inevitably I’m going to do.
How did growing up in the South of Italy inspire you with its art and culture, does aggressive rock n roll and dance music deserve the same attention as legendary paintings and sculpture?
Growing up in southern Italy can be a source of inspiration in many ways, hahah! Certainly the art and culture of my places inspired me.
More generally, to answer your question, perhaps Mozart counts less than Bernini? Or The Velvet Underground less than Andy Warhol? So I would say that rock and roll and dance music are as important as the works of painters and sculptors, including those most legendary.
When we spoke earlier, you described yourself as a baroque punk. Could you explain to our American audience what that means and how does it differ from the commercial style of U.S top 40 punk, such as Green Day, Bad Religion, etc.
I grew up in a city, Lecce, in Puglia, where Baroque architecture and art plays an important part of aesthetics and culture, and this inevitably ends up influencing you, you begin to consider the meaning of art starting with the one which is nearest to you visually. The Baroque is extreme, in addition to being an explosion of different styles (Greek influence, Latin, Eastern…) meeting under the same style. To me “Punk” was always a matter of attitude as well, so when they ask me about punk rock, and sometimes you know how they can become pedantic or believe to be the custodians of absolute truth, dear Kevin, often I answer that to me it doesn’t matter that much because I am a baroque-punk, lol.
To understand and reflect about the Baroque influence, abouth how it could give you headaches and can be sexy I advice to these young Americans to watch Carmelo Bene movies, he was one of the greatest geniuses of the twentieth century, and he obviously came from my land. It’s time he should be discovered and appreciated in America, why I always have to take care of everything? Lol.
There is worldwide underground of electro and punk fusion, how is this altering the landscape of the traditional band? Is there more music happening on-line or in the bars, where bands are basically selling drinks for the venues?
I think that “underground” always enjoy good health, people just need a bit of interest in good music and to be open minded.
However there has always been a hybrid genre. Blending punk and electro is not new at all. “Punk” has defined the “Post” of rock & roll and pop music so much, speaking of music and attitude, and it was inevitable and natural that many of these musicians felt some interest for weird electronic sounds. Just think of Suicide or Chrome, bands that fuse the most essential and acid rock with electronic sounds.
Just a few days ago I bought a record of Lou Champagne System on Medical Records, a label from Seattle devoted to the synth-punk of the late '70s and early '80s, which publishes excellent reprints. They also reprinted Chrisma, an italian band, for example.
How intense are Italian women? What role do women play in the male-dominated music industry? I always think if I band isn’t attracting female attention, it may need to revise its song process! Do you find this to be true?
Italian women can be as intense as any other. Sure there are differences, but also many common features. I’m Italian so I’m gonna talk about my mother! For example she’s a very intense woman: a strong mix of Arabic and Italian blood, and she has also a unique Afro hair. I always tried to make her angry the less than possible.
About the role that women play in the music industry I can tell you that it seems to me that things are changing, I happen to see more and more women play positions of power at the booking agencies or management agencies, but I don’t find a great difference between their behavior and the men behaviour. This is music business and it could be extremely boring.
Regarding the musical aspect I think you're right. Personally I am one of those that when hear or compose a song would privilege his feminine side. Of course it would be sad to put music or playing in a club and not see the girls having fun with the guys.
Do you feel that a band or individual that defines their existence by genre, are actually limiting their own expressions and exposure to the world? How much of an influence should real life experience be in the creative process?
It depends. Sometimes we use the definitions for convenience. Taxi for example used to say they play punk rock, but in my opinion they were the first to know that they were doing something different. The music, just as with real life, evolves no matter what the artists say or play or they say they are playing.
About myself as an individual you better go back to the concept of baroque-punk, hahaha.
With the breakthrough exposure of Guida in legendary rock journals such as Rolling Stone and Mojo, White Zoo is gaining momentum. What changes does the exposure have on your other releases?
I'm still waiting, hahaha! I think Giuda is a great band. But I also believe that all the other bands on White Zoo records are very great bands.
The Silver Cocks for example have created one of the greatest “Punk” record of the last decade, Livitnenko is a hymn. It is up to me as to them to achieve the deserved notoriety.
Where do you see White Zoo and Killed by Disco in the future? Will there be an Italian Invasion of music in the U.S?
There has always been this supposed Italian invasion on the American soil! What about punk or disco music of the 70s? What about Dave Mancuso, Francis Grasso, Johnny Genzale? Now make your way to the originals! Hahaha!
For the future I hope there will be enough place and money to keep producing the music I like with my two little creatures. I hope people have fun, laugh and have sex while listening to the music I produced. I hope to become as rich as Dino de Laurentiis and visit you in Los Angeles.
Is there anything you would like to say to our readers? Feel free to say whatever is on your mind….
Dear readers, this is my first American interview, so if you cross Kevin in a bar pay him a beer! Eternal love and respect for him! Ciao America!
cheers, We eagerly await the next move of Sergio and White Zoo!
Kelly and Luis from the Dollyrots hang out with F&LLB to discuss the process of taking a DIY approach to doing their brand new album. Other chapters from this very cool interview coming soon...
Summer Issue is going strong and Fall is coming together with
Posh Boy, Jeff Smith(Hickoids), Kim Fowley, Dollyrots, Susan Surftone, WRONG BEACH
Hello Rick, you have quite a history in the Southern California Punk Rock scene. When did you first get involved with the scene and what inspired you to do so? How do you feel about the terms “punk” and “scene,” do they do justice to the individuals involved in creating and supporting independent music?
You know Kevin, that’s not something I’ve really ever thought about but it probably goes like this-I’ve always been a huge music fan forever, all music. I was always a sucker for 60’s-70’s pop and louder stuff like Bad Company, Sweet and the Stones. Mind you this was before the Pistols. Punk was a perfect combo of both. I clearly remember going to see the Plimsouls and 20/20 at some wacky Knott’s Berry Farm back to school thing in like ’79. I had just turned 15. Both of those bands were amazing that night, 20/20 was damn tight playing that Yellow Pills stuff…so this buddy of mine says you think that’s something, you need to come with me to the Whiskey one night. One month later, we saw the Cramps (in their prime) and I was blown away, then a few
months later the Dead Kennedys, I went to Zeds records on 7th Street in LONG BEACH and bought Black Flag’s Nervous Breakdown 7 inch…it was over after that.
That was the deal and attraction for me, with punk you could see tons of amazing bands any night of the week, it was exciting to not know what the hell was gonna go down. It was all for the taking and so unlike the waiting around for bands to come to town every few years. The Punk Scene stood for something, it was a way to say, we don’t need your hippie ass major label to make a band and a record, we’re gonna do it on our own. That was the best part, to say to the people who controlled music, you don’t control this.
In the year 2012, is underground aggressive rock n roll still relevant and why? Have you noticed an increase or decrease over the past decade in the music you promote and release?
Here’s my take on that Kevin, as long as it’s underground, it’s relevant. Underground almost always means to me that the only reward is doing it, no money coming anybody’s way. As for Hostage Records, things just kinda dried up in the local OC scene after 2004. When Club Mesa died, the end of new bands started. Things will perk up here and there, but the onslaught of new bands seems to be played out right now. I hope it comes back.
A cool thing that caught might attention was the introduction of your Podcast, “SURF AND DESTROY RADIO”. A free podcast appears to really attract many listeners to the culture and soundtrack of “Hostage Records”. Is there a new audience discovering the music? What kinds of interactions with new fans have you had that really stick out in your mind?
Here’s the deal on Surf and Destroy Radio. Paul Hostage and I wanted to re-start the label, so we figured let’s make this Podcast thing and play all the stuff we like from OC and see if anybody cares or listens. Maybe we’ll find some new bands. So we put it out there and the show got picked up by ITUNES, and then things just took off. The internet is an amazing thing, we’ve got people all over the world that listen to that show pretty faithfully. It’s really humbling because we are terrible at it, but we have a great time.
What is your take on female involvement in the “punk” scene over the last 15 years? Do girls still dig punkers? Would you say its male dominated or not?
Ahhh the lady question, I actually got in a huge fight over this one…here’s the deal, punk bands with female singers are pretty great when done right, what I don’t like and actually can’t stand is chick singers who scream their vocals like they
are yelling at me because I left the toilet seat up or something. The Avengers were great, Neighborhood Brats are great, the Go Go’s at the Starwood in 1980 were great, X is great…Joan Jett..amazing. That’s about all…BUT as far as girls in the punk scene, my crazy best friend, Dave Colvin and I loved to take fine girls non punk girls to shows. We start with the Dickies, then try TSOL or Social D back in like 81-82…that’s usually all they could take. But we tried. There was always fine looking girls at those TSOL and Social D shows, beat the hell outta a bunch of jocks at the DK’s show.
What kinds of crazy stories surround Hostage Records and Surf and Destroy Radio? The public would love to know!
I’ll take the 5th on that. But I do remember trying to get Joan Jett to call the Surf and Destroy Radio and give us an intro for the show. Her snarky publicist that I had to go through said, “Joan will be unable to call you”, but we’d be glad to give you free merchandise for the show. So I played it up, as I always do, like our show was some big deal, and she never bought it. Finally I tell the publicist, I want her (the publicist) to call the show and say, “this is Joan Jett’s publicist and she wants me to tell you that your listening to Surf and Destroy Radio”…she didn’t find the humor in that, althought I thought it was hilarious. The greatest part of Surf and Destroy Radio is listening in and seeing who we tricked into calling the show this session….Greg Ginn, Billy Zoom, Billy Joe, Johnny Knoxville, Joey Shithead, Keith Morris…they’ve all called. As far as Hostage, many things have gone down but I always get a laugh outta bands wanting to know about our tour package, like we’re Epitaph JR. or something Our tour package is a handful of 2 for 1 taco bell coupons, hit the road jack. I think an amazing fact about Hostage is that everybody on the label (50 records!!!) comes from a 20 mile radius except for the Bodies.
In terms of the Long Beach music scene, I feel it’s kind of the bastard child of OC and LA county. What is the OC take on the LA scene in general and is Long Beach included in your experiences with it?
I’m from Long Beach, so I know the pain. But seriously it has it’s advantages. I remember going to Hollywood shows where they hated the OC’s/HB’s, and they’d say “you assholes aren’t from OC are ya”, and we’d be like no way, those guys are dicks, we’re from Long Beach and they’d say oh hey that’s cool, here’s a beer. Then in OC, they say “you ain’t one of those LA new wave homos are ya?”...and we’ d say no way man, those dudes are posers, look at us we’re from Long Beach man, like TSOL, and they’d go, right on, here’s a beer….I always thought and will never be convinced otherwise that OC was a way better scene with WAY better bands that LA…hell when BYO did that big wigga wigga punk show in 1982 in LA at the Hollywood Palladium, all the bands were from OC…the Blades, SD, Adolescents, TSOL…seriously, post 1980 LA produced one great band-Bad Religion. OC produced…well you name it there are tons. The best thing about being from OC and going into LA was bumming them out, we’d swarm in, take over and leave. They couldn’t do anything to stop the invasion, it was too big.
What new releases and projects are you involved with currently? What is your favorite release that you have done?
Right now we are in a retro punk slam dance on Hostage. We figured why put out a bunch of bands trying to rip off the originals, when we can just get the originals to record some great lost stuff…we just finshed the amazing Love Canal and the Crowd, we’re going to do CH3 and Shattered Faith next….All the Hostage records are great in my book, people forget what the Hostage trip is though…we never put this stuff out to say here’s the greatest hand picked bands from OC, we approached the label like the Decline of Western Civilization,- a documentary thru vinyl instead of film. These are the bands in the scene, we put them out and you decide what you dig….Hostage is very different that way, we’ve taken big risks, we’ve lost money and we don’t care, its what had to be done to get the whole picture.
I admire your dedication to preservation of vinyl releases! How hard is it to release a vinyl record in 2012 and what is your biggest pet peeve in terms of bands asking you to “put out their record”?
Actually vinyl is easier to make and release now than when we started, the internet makes it go. Plus vinyl is making a huge comeback, really people want something tangible. That’s what vinyl gives them. The bands on Hostage have been really REALLY great to us. Look at Smogtown, those guys gave us the greatest songs from the late 90’s and just let us run with it, they never re-released them, hey just made more and respected what they had done.
Any last words or topics that you would like to rant or rave about? Thanks Rick and long live Hostage Records and Search and Destroy Radio!
My message is buy vinyl, it’s the most un-corporate music out there.
TRACKS BY ERICA CASE, THE HAVE NOT$, GIUDA, AND THE PAPER BAGS!! LISTEN HERE!
FALL ISSUE NOW IN PROGRESS! IT WILL BE A MONSTER! if we don't die first...
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