“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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Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders on Facebook

(Into the Deep End) with Idol Lips Interview

July continues to hum in a somewhat slow ending here in the city of Long Beach after I had the excellent eye-opening experience of a precision stingray bite (2 to be exact) in the ocean I love so much. I was going out further than normal, the addictive undertow and cool flow distracted me while I was trailing off into deep thought. I had an image in my mind that if were to end my stay in this dimension I would just swim until I couldn’t anymore and let the unpredictable sultry sea consume me in all of its violent glory. At that moment, I felt this piercing sensation in my body and felt a shock that was oddly tantalizing and terrifying at the same time. I floated for a few moments and adrenaline sent me back beachside, unsure of how much blood was escaping from my body. Fortunately, it was just extremely painful; I was able to crawl to a nearby urgent care for the prerequisite morphine double shot and life reflection. How cliché is that? Anyway, I always thought life was a series of chapters in progress and now my senses hint it’s a blank page ready to be written on in a beautiful and violent universe of circumstance and fateful DNA that reside in random creations and destructions.

After I arrived back home, I enjoyed the brain numbness and threw this awesome vinyl LP on the turntable. Italy’s Idol Lips have been a mainstay on my listening rotation since I was introduced to these reckless rock n rollers about a year ago. I highly suggest checking out their punk trash-rock magnum opus entitled "Scene Repulisti". The punchy production highlights the hot-blooded 70’s NYC art damaged rock n roll these loose cannons use as a catalyst to shred current alternative rock in 2013. I had a cool virtual barstool conversation with the band a few months back and decided to run the interview here, so let’s get the eviction party started!

With the release of the punk mayhem masterpiece “Scene Repulisti”, what has the reaction of the international punk rock community been?

Wow Kevin!!!! First of all thanx for “punk masterpiece” but the truth is that we only play loser rock n roll. You must have been in the studio when we recorded Scene Repulisti. Every session is more like a party with all our friends who came and go with all their talks, bullshit, drinks, dance, and curses. We can call it a low budget suicide instead of a well-studied plan to conquer the world. So now, having all the good reviews and feedback has us going out of our heads.

This smoking vinyl kicks ass with the classic anthems such as “Soul Power”, “Down by LUV”, and “Desperate”! What influenced these songs in your personal experiences?

We’re a band who live, breathe, eat and play r’n’r and we put our heart and soul in our songs. We don’t know other ways to do it.
Anybody ever fallen in love with the wrong woman? Ever been in a fight? Ever go out and party like there is no tomorrow? Ever had a good or bad day? Our songs have to do with all that kind of stuff. We only play r’n’r for kids to dance.

Is punk rock dead and who are your favorite artists in 2013??

Mmhh… if punk is dead we’re still celebrating the longest funeral party ever…2013? The world doesn’t end?? We are raising money to fix up our time machine and go back to 1977.

Is there a new record in the works?

Well, there’s something new we’re workin’ on and we confess it’s sounds pretty good but at the moment we gotta wait for more songs to put out a new work.

The guitar riffing and sleazy grooves are incredible, how big of an influence was L.A.M.F and the New York 70’s punk scene?

Ok, we got it!! That’s just the kind of words we love hear. Our riffs and sounds maybe remind a little bit of LAMF? That’s all for us… we don’t wanna do anything new or improved. We only wanna play the old loud out of fashion PUNK ROCK and you can write it in capital letters.

Will there be an international tour and how do you feel about coming to the United States?

Nothing is planned for the next future but sure we’d love to play everywhere and anywhere.
We’d be fools to not come to the States so if someone could help us don’t be shy and write us. We’ll come running!!!

Do you prefer Italian women or California girls? (standard superficial question)

All the girls we like have a common thing, they breathe.

What motivates you to do music and play live?

It’s really hard to try to explain. We can tell you it’s a primitive urge, it’s emergency, it’s danger, it’s next to the end. It’s like “ok I gotta go now”.

Is the Italian punk rock scene a cool one? Would I have good time in Italy with the punk rockers?

Lots of cool people and lots of cool bands make a cool scene. Don’t worry, take a break and spend a cheap holiday in other people’s misery you’ll have a lot of fun!!!

CHECH OUT THE IDOL LIPS ON FACEBOOK

We're getting ready for the August issue around here, lots of new stylings coming your way with some very cool interviews and features

BOOKMARK us at F&L LB, and thanks to the Idols Lips and Sergio at White Zoo Records

Versailles: Bittersweet new wave vengeance

Imagine the Breakfast Club, without Ally Sheedy receiving her superficial makeover, which is done to expose her true “self”. But instead, her survival skills of compulsive lying and darker than black exterior are the true meaning of self-expression, which we should all abide by in order to endure generalizations and stereotypes given to us by the jealous and misinformed masses. The masses that use a collective brain known as cable television will not win this round. The new release “Targets” by Versailles of Los Angeles makes the reality of a darker sinister Breakfast Club soundtrack come to life in its street-educated Hollywood blood soaked sincerity.

Versailles, also known as Dianna St. Hilaire, is a street-smart young woman with the sultry sophistication of a tortured musician in her prime. While the source of torment or anger appears in these tracks as an introspective reflection on relationships and the bizarreness that accompanies them. We move from one-step to the next on the escalator of time and romantic destruction. I’ve had a few conversations with Versailles and she’s just as sincere, complex, and sharp as this collection of songs, which are hook-laden with melodic synth pop simplicity and the concise new wave edge of such legendary bands as ‘Til Tuesday and Missing Persons. The vocals definitely contain echoes of Grimes and early Aimee Mann, dreamscapes in a way, which the gothic dance pop almost demands in order to reel the listener into the underlying poetry of songs like “Disappointed”, “I’m Excited”, and “Happy Tear Drops”.

Kim Fowley, who first introduced me to Versailles, in an interview I did about a year ago, produces on these tracks with a keen subtlety that brings hooks to the forefront and a delicate arrangement of background layers to enhance an atmosphere of L.A. hotel rooftop parties with a D.J. in the know. In the midst of unpredictable breezes, cool retro synth and tambourine thrust the songs to a new genre of sophisticated dance rock that drenches itself in classic power pop. The opening track “Toxic Cougar” rocks the lid off this can of designer-drug serum, containing a combination of dreamy dance rock, aggressive ballads, and sporadic dives into new wave power pop bliss. So girls, paint your nails black, it’s sexy, leave your hair unwashed for a few days and come out and play with the outcast boys and reverse the misery of high school misfortune with the sweet sting of Versailles and her latest offering of “Targets”.

Visit Versailles here

Videos of Versailles from Targets and her appearance in an interview I did, she’s quite good in person



Kevin McGovern- Fear & Loathing in Long Beach Online (Click here to visit us) new issue in the works