Tijuana Panthers: Semi Sweet

A heat wave comes crashing into Long Beach. The over-priced studio apartment you’re in has zero ventilation and the local hardware store is out of fans. That cute girl, who said she would call today, still hasn’t, as you check your cell over and over in excruciating hotness. Then out of nowhere, the sun starts to set, the air cools, and the speakers start to crackle with an oncoming rumble of serious rock n roll that fastens itself to your cerebellum called Tijuana Panthers. She ultimately calls, comes over, and this fine wine of an album plunges you into all of its surf-gutter garage pop grandeur.

Equal parts Troggs, Modern Lovers, Buddy Holly and Ventures, this album plays with airtight pop/garage rock ferocity that showcases the band’s incredible grasp of creating melodic psychedelic damaged anthems with addictive melodies soaked in cool intensity. The single Tony’s Song is an obvious head turner with its insidious delivery of perfect verse to chorus combination that reeks of Phil Spector perfection with a punk snarl. The tracks One Way Ticket, Baby I’m Bored, and Boardwalk display the full range of the band’s musical prowess in a fashion that mimics scanning your radio for the right station and every excellent song from all subculture rock genres is playing simultaneously. These 12 tracks play like a greatest hits album, zero filler, and nothing but pure candy for the rock n roll libido.

After the two of you annihilate the evening with good conversation and smoldering body language, I think your night might have an extended stay added on to it, courtesy of Tijuana Panther’s “Semi Sweet” magnum opus. The music certainly carries all of the conversation on this one. Long Beach has thee band that will be taking over the antiestablishment airwaves in no time, and it’s about time! Kick out the jams kids and get this album before your luck runs out.





Tijuana Panthers


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-Kevin McGovern 2013 (F&L,LB)

This review originally ran in the Long Beach Independent! Support the Long Beach music scene, it's cool.


I'll be presenting some of the best music coming out of Long Beach, CA in 2013 and we have some things that will blow your mind from all over the U.S. and the world in the upcoming October issue. Until next time.

Under A Broken Street Lamp: Watch for what you wish for

In the midst of the new American depression/recession, whatever you want to call it, I think many of us have “turned on” the focus to our interpersonal relationships and “turned off” the cable news, a destructive temporary brain pacifier that runs short quickly. Instead, we’re left looking at ourselves and relationships, are they strategic marriages? Financial convenience? The impending fear of loneliness? Do I need a new girl to answer my problems; am I a relic living in the past? These heavy themes are present in an insanely quick read that is rich in detail. The type of phone conversation you disconnect on, when your significant other comes in the room because you don’t want them to know what you’re talking about and who you’re talking about it with.

Regardless of politics and new taxes, we still have our everyday survival and human needs bullshit to contend with usually in a not so tidy format. Strangers scream and acquaintances bleed their emotions. We don’t feel like talking, we don’t want to chit chat, and we seek solitude because the noises of anxiety in these unreliable times are so goddamn deafening. Essington’s character study of the older man with the younger woman is poetic, haunting, and sub textual vampire tale. Older women will say as their “man” grows older they will inevitably seek a younger woman, but I always wondered if the catch was that the woman making this statement was at one time herself the 24 year old seeking the older man as a pacifier for the lack of wisdom found in her peer group at that time. I guess that doesn’t apply to all, but I was pretty damn clueless at 24 and had nothing to offer except napalm, venom, and a one night stand.

Authors Michael Essington and David Gurz examine this spectrum of complexities in relationships with a study of failure, lack of satisfaction with life in their unique chapbook. “Street Lamp” is a split endeavor by both authors (limited edition in its printing run for you collectors out there). Essington is an L.A. staple is his signature writing style of adding warmth to sometimes cold and difficult topics, while emotionally connecting with his readers. David Gurz, from Pennsylvania, paints a scenario and dilemma within relationships of obsessions both mental and chemical. Those of us who grew up immersed in punk culture can relate to the “like-minded” girlfriend, who has the same reliance on “old” music and perceived “life changing” punk events of the past only available anymore through mind altering substances.

Those old punk zines and records seem to be replaced by deadlier vices in the future as we we slowly forget what types of freedom we were seeking in the first place. Having grown up in Harrisburg, PA myself, I remember these types of girlfriend conversations and realized the only way to avoid the certain “local” death (by knowing the same people for way too long) of that state was to get the fuck out, anyway I could. Which would become a 5 year process of me apartment hopping, going homeless, and eventually landing on the shores of California, due to blindfolded risk taking.

Maybe the past is better for some, when the future is uncertain, but it also makes for a pretty boring existence in my opinion. Both authors offer an array of erratic sparks to ignite introspection of what makes us tick anymore, if anything at all. Instead of burning it all down, without including ourselves in the fire, we just live in a loop that will eventually drive us insane. I get annoyed too, with the solutions out there consisting of rehab, therapy, spirituality, and blah blah blah. A healthy ego and sense of self give us an exit but there’s only room for one. A conundrum? Not if you have the fearlessness to not care what others think, moving forward without looking back. Trust me, you don’t have to turn around, because those unpleasant tasting memories will cling to your subconscious like Krazy glue. I’ll leave you with a reading by Michael Essignton and link to this compelling book, while it lasts.

-Kevin McGovern, Fear & Loathing LB (new issue online)

Under a Broken Street Lamp

Michael's Reading

“Girls Play Games” BBTV: Adderall included, Scream Teen!

I remember being around the age of 16 and running to the local drug store on the weekend to pick up cheap horror film rentals at the great price of $3 for four movies, catalog only. Such greats as Basket Case, Dead Ringers, Phantasm, and Sleepaway Camp awaited my viewing and would shape my perspective of the world as “Girls Play Games” will for teens and séance connoisseurs around the globe in this increasingly popular weekly horror collection.

“Girls Play Games” is a new 6-minute feature in the Black Box TV horror serials corrupting the YouTube airwaves. Christian Ackerman directs a slick and sinister account straight out of Tales from the Darkside and Friday the 13th: The Series with blood splattered scalpel exactitude. The pacing, organic scares, and eerie color scheme create a new outline for the use of chilling brevity in the digital horror age. Eli Roth needs to keep an eye on the serious competition of writers Ackerman and Chuck Foster in this delivery of exquisite camp-horror with minimalist yet perfectly chosen production (the special effects are actually very cool in the episode).

So what’s the breakdown? Teenage empowerment meets a grisly backlash in modern/retro 1970’s unhappy tale fashion. Three teenage girls led by the talented Wendy McColm (reminiscent of a young Margot Kidder in Black Christmas) enter a séance by use of a rock to conjure and endure possession by sicko deceased neighborhood pedophile, William Stoddord. Multiple jolts and shocks ensue while the three actresses tear apart the stage in over the top dramatics that actually work. Stoddord’s evil spirit symbolizes the oppression teen girls endure every day in objectification and abuse by neighborhood creeps that slip through the cracks in everyone’s safe-community. A captivating brawl between sheer terror and gutsy retaliation fills the storyline. Bravo! Watch the short at the end here.

My personal video cemetery, aka drugstore, was about a 20 minute drive I made in my Dad’s ’86 Tercel hatchback, complete with FM radio and crisp trebly speakers. My brand new license enabled the excursion to fresh flesh and gruesome gore on the other side of town. On another note, on my first night of being a “certified” driver, I was pulled over with some strange dinner wine in small discreet bottles all over the car after playing a gig with my cover band at the time. The cop let me go; I was somewhat intoxicated but had no idea where the lights were to turn on in the car. He switched them on for this daydreamer and said, “go home and learn where the lights are when driving at night.”

SEPTEMBER ISSUE IS ONLINE NOW WITH A SHORT STORY BY CHUCK FOSTER IN THE VEIN OF PERENNIAL FAVORITE EDGAR ALLEN POE! JUST CLICK ON THIS TO GET YOU THERE AND WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW!



Do girls play games? Yeah...they do...and quite well...

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The It*Men: Cleveland Rocks Down and Dirty

Cleveland, Ohio, the home of blistering garage rock history with such great alumni as The Pagans, The Outsiders, The Choir, and 90’s live-fast-die legends the TKO’s. Now joining the illustrious cast of the perpetual dirt grinding music machine of that famous area is The It*Men. I’m talking about a band that rips the roof off with a destructive brew of Dead Boys aggression and Deep Purple “Machine Head” era hard hitting anthems, saturated in lewdness and underhanded catchiness. Prerequisites for hard garage rock that makes no excuses in its sucker punch delivery. The double vinyl is available now and will eat you and your whimpering White Stripes collection for breakfast. At the end of my ranting here I’ll leave you with the choice cut, “Come and Get Some”, to make my point. Listen to the whole album while you’re at it and get on the insanity train to Cleveland.

The stripped down and sonically caustic production comes courtesy of the band’s rehearsal space. This garage bombshell could’ve been a long, lost reissue and I would not have known the difference. We have their 2004 release of the same name combined with six new time bombs. “Greatest Its” is a worthy addition to your secret vinyl hideaway and will give the current trend of psychedelic power pop garage rockers a run for their inheritance money. Spin this angel dusted double play like there is no tomorrow, you probably won’t care about it after listening to the It*Men.

I remember my first show and visit to Cleveland with my band The Prostitutes at The Euclid Tavern. Actually, the greatest show I ever played and the night just cruised with such rock n roll ease to make for one of those memories you embellish over and over again. Packed house, broken air conditioning, fans that knew the lyrics, and we actually received a nice payout at the end of the night while smoking a joint on a festive rooftop with the vibrant locals receptive to outlandish misdeeds. I almost vomited that night from singing my guts out while throwing myself around on stage in an alcohol induced state of mania. My last visit consisted of a 2-day stay in a prepaid hotel with my wife at the time (early to mid-2000’s I think) on a low budget bender courtesy of our last $40 bucks. The strange trip ended in a claustrophobic car ride home with a family of three while I had non-stop anxiety attacks and insidious claustrophobia for the 90-minute duration back to Columbus, OH where we lived from place to place at the time. I’m not sure where that interlude came from but I’ll keep it in here as this collection lays down the framework for distortion laced memories.

I began writing back in that time period for Now Wave magazine and if recall correctly from my first essay/piece, don’t’ answer the phone, don’t answer the door, forget the world and lose yourself in the negative feedback loop that is known as rock n roll. See you around…


-Kevin McGovern, Fear & Loathing in Long Beach

SLUTMACHINE: Serious attitude.

In our ongoing coverage of trashy art and music outside of the California and U.S. spectrum, I am encouraging you to check out the lethal sounds and poisonous attitude of this all female trash unit from Italy known as Slutmachine! Interview time…Let’s Go!

It’s about time! An all-female thrash/hardcore/ punk band from Italy! How did the band begin and why did you start a thrash/hardcore project?

Slutmachine came alive with the drum player’s (Xina) original idea to form a girls-only band, with musicians like herself, ready to kick everybody’s ass, enjoy the shit out of rock & roll and prove that hard music is not only for hairy men! We began the project in the summer of 2011 when I (drum player) met the guitarist J and decided to get together to play the best cover songs by Ramones, Misfits, G.B.H Metallica in my garage, (where we still practice!). However, playing cover songs was definitely not enough for us: we needed to find a way to express ourselves through our very own songs. So, after a couple of days we asked Spring to join us with her bass, as well as a singer, which was soon replaced with Camishka (singer in the demo Hang On). The choice of the genre simply came from a mix of our musical tastes. Punk/hardcore/thrash is the ideal genre to express the messages we intend to convey through our lyrics. The new singer Whitey replaced Camishka in May, after her decision to leave the band for personal matters.

What CDs or records can our hyper-active viewers check out to hear the aggressive sounds of Slutmachine! I love it!

Last Summer Slutmachine recorded a demo called Hang On (in a very underground way), which contains only 5 of our songs, including Blackout (the most appreciated out of them)! Listeners can find this demo on the Web, on Facebook, YouTube, Reverb nation, where they can also watch some videos of our live performances, even though the quality isn’t too good! We have many wild projects for the future: we are writing songs for our next album and we plan on uploading some new recordings with our new singer. A music video should also come out in August!.

The music is angry and so are the vocals, what pisses you off in daily life?

Yeah, the music is pissed off and so are we! Most of our songs talk about social issues: especially our more recent lyrics express our disgust towards certain situations in our society, hypocrisy, insanity, violence, insincerity and falsity. We prefer not to directly talk about Italian politics, but we try to do so in a more subtle way. We also really like explaining our opinions and feelings through the use of metaphors: most of our titles are metaphors. In the first demo Hang On, the thread that ties all the songs together is the will to get up and fight, to hang on and keep on going.

Who are your favorite artists in 2013?

Our favorite artists in 2013?? Oh, we looove Britney Spears and Justin Bieber. Hahaha, just kidding! It’s hard to find such modern references, but we do enjoy Hatebreed and Municipal Waste. Our musical roots lie in the ‘80’s punk/hardcore, like Discharge, G.B.H or rock and roll bands such as Motorhead, Girlschool, L7. We are still searching for our sound, but it is definitely metal since both the guitar player and I, which compose the songs, started by listening to groups such as Anthrax, Slayer, Exodus, Pantera, which definitely had a great influence. However, our new singer is bringing more melody to our music!

Any dating advice for guys and girls in the audience that would want to hang out with Slut Machine?

If they wanna date us, they have to be interested in our genre and acknowledge the importance of music. Not just cos we’re hot!

Is Italian music better than American? It seems like all of the best hardcore/punk bands are coming from Italy!

We have some great minds over here, in Italy, and a lot of kids with a great desire to play which, however, don’t find fertile land for this genre and, most of the time, aren’t able to follow their dream to play hardcore music. So I believe that Italians really enjoy hardcore but have barely any opportunity to listen to it or express themselves through this kind of music, whereas in the US, there is a lot more freedom of expression and a different cultural background.

What types of movies do you like?

I personally love action films, like ''The Expendables'', ''Rambo'', ''Death Race'', but my favorite film ever is ''Machete''! The bass player loves splatter and horror films, such as ''Braindead'', ''Blackship'', the other two girls probably have more normal tastes!

What do you do when you are not playing in the band? Do you have hobbies that might surprise our readers?

We are four very busy girls, Spring works like a slave all day, J, Whitey and I study. I also play basketball in a team and I love painting.. I’m not sure whether it’s fortunate or not, we’re all pretty good daughters, helping around the house all the time!

Where do you want the band to be a year from now?

Within the next year or so, we would like to record our new album, and get the world to know us, perhaps through a tour, hoping to survive by living off music. We hope to come all the way to America soon, to release a live interview to you!

The readers can listen to our songs and check out our pictures and videos on Facebook, by looking up our public page Slut Machine or by friending Primavera Rossi. You could also come and hear us play in Italy, and take advantage of your trip to visit our beautiful country!

CHECK OUT SLUTMACHINE on Facebook, now.

August issue has been bumped to September due to its action filled and plentiful content, which is a good "thing", as this will be a nice return to form with the twisted sophistication and scattered state of affairs you’ve come to expect!

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The Canyons: Cinema twisted inside out for a new generation

I’ll start by saying that the production of this movie managed to avoid typical corporate routes in its release, allowing for a lower budget and unrestricted creative chaos. Those who knock this movie down as less than modern cinematic art, really have no idea what they are talking about, especially from the bad reviews I’ve read, conspicuously coming from misogynistic and sexually depraved or deprived reviewers. So that being said, this is an erotic journey into the darker side of film-making/success or as I prefer, a realistic portrayal of every day occurrences in this area of the world, Southern California.

Lindsay Lohan (in new bombshell form), keeps the flow moving at a feverish pace with a delicate balance of seductive apathy, provocative demeanor, and understated cynicism allowing for the character of Tara to be portrayed with incredible accuracy. Tara is Christian’s girlfriend, who is enjoying the spoils of a life provided by a trust funder with access to all things, which are inevitably the privileges that are used to control her. Control is a recurring theme. What does it actually mean, and who is at the helm? Is the illusion of letting another control you, control in itself? The portrayal of Christian, the surreal narcissist, is an eerie conjuring of an all too familiar personality we have all encountered. James Deen easily overshadows Christian Bale’s “Patrick Bateman”(from “American Psycho” another film adaptation of an Easton Ellis work) with his use of aloofness and staggered ominous gesturing that crawls under your skin.

Gina is Christian’s assistant and manages to land her struggling boyfriend, willing to do anything it takes, a part in a low budget film Christian is producing because he’s bored and his father wants him to have a “real job”, whatever that means in 2013. It turns out the boyfriend had a “thing” with Tara in the past that neither current partner knows about. Needless to say, this sets the groundwork for an otherworldly journey into modern voyeurism and lack of personal privacy that we so willingly give up to secure some type of acknowledgment or escape from past decisions that led into a mundane life of desperate, painful predictability. “I want someone to take care of me”, “We can have a house and live happily ever after”, yeah that’s nice but I have yet to see anything in the “real” world evolve into such a simple solution to the tragedy of life.

The Big Break, is it a low brow commercial for some household product? An internship for a studio or recording company that ultimately turns into running a concession stand for events. Not to mention, without a reciprocal payment for ability or creative services, what comes next? This is where the delusion and fairytale end and we are left with a pipe dream, not an attainable goal, but a vast emptiness that is filled with obsessive behavior and an unforgiving self-destructive existence. With this in mind, the nightmarish twist of events come to a very reasonable and gruesome ending.

Paul Schrader, of legendary directorial fame (“Hardcore” is a personal favorite of this reviewer), commands the lens using an open ended focus that envelops the suspect behavior with retro 1980s finesse, a deliberate superficiality. Those who have access and money in the world of Los Angeles either hustle for it, fuck for it, or they're born with it. Plain, simple, and very transparent under the flickering signs of promised fame. If you'd like to visit, this is the warning. An exceptional film that occupies its own territory. Indulge your dark fantasies and check this one out.


Kevin McGovern-Fear & Loathing in Long Beach

Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders Re-Tap the Source with “14th & Nowhere…”

Working retail, many years ago in a Mid-Atlantic mall, a 1980s super-sized holdover with the glass escalators, strange-item kiosks, and newly employed 19 year olds, like me, consisted of mingling and entangling with other sleepwalking retail slackers. We lived to party every night in preparation of the acceptable 3-hour nap before the morning shift. Actually, it was 3 hours of doze before the afternoon shift as well. Driving my 1983 Chevette that I paid $400 for while living in my $330 a month apartment was good enough. I never slept in my bedroom, with its fake-wood panel walls and free illumination courtesy of the traffic light right outside my cracked windows.

I was convinced the bedroom was haunted. Instead, I entertained, fucked up, fucked off, and slept on the living room’s futon next to the kitchen I never paid much attention to. As I think about it, I can taste the discounted female fragrance, loud swill, low-grade drugs, and residue of even cheaper relationships. I had a scattered ritual of playing the Lazy Cowgirls on my boom box in the backseat of the Chevette because the car tape player never worked. “Tapping the Source” was on side A and its classic anthem “Goddamn Bottle” propelled body and mind to retail life-wasteland on most days. “Dancin’ To a Pack of Lies” on “14th & Nowhere…” shocked these memories to life as I blasted Pat Todd’s newest CD.

Pat Todd of Lazy Cowgirls fame has re-emerged with his backing band, the Rankoutsiders, to provide 2013 with a cool push and pull between punk n roll aggression and Exile on Main Street introspection (consider “Rocks Off” and “Sweet Virginia”). The renowned songwriter and his never-ending one-two punches of rock n roll song always offer something new while keeping the Cowgirls tradition alive. Todd continuously impresses in the live experience with his distinct throaty delivery that actually hits all the high and low notes. The latest album really takes the melodies into Punk Rockin’ Honky Tonk territory with dynamic choruses, flowing verses and liquored up guitars for moral support.

The warm-analog sounding production provides the perfect canvas for a seasoned band that delivers the rock n roll in timeless and well-versed styles. 15 songs are on this collection, so cruise around or drink to the Los Angelian scorched grooves while basking in the glow of past defeats and future dilemmas. I should’ve included “triumphs” in the last sentence, but triumphing wouldn’t be too rock n roll now would it? In the case of Pat Todd and his Rankoutsiders and Lazy Cowgirls, this is as close as you get to triumphing in the world of rock n roll without going insane or writing bullshit that no one wants to hear. This deserves repeated listens and Pat’s discography is well worth looking into. While you’re at it, support your local independent record store and buy some Cowgirls vinyl while picking up this CD. Until next time…

-Kevin McGovern, Fear & Loathing in Long Beach


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