Category: FEATURES

Buzz Bait: Bonnie of Death Valley Girls On Music, Magic and Metaphysics

Brent Smith February 16, 2016

High noon. Under the stark, blue February sky I encounter Bonnie Bloomgarden standing at the entrance of the Red Lion Tavern in Echo Park. The singer/guitarist of the doom rock outfit Death Valley Girls greets me in green sparkly eye makeup with a big smile and gifts in the form of a limited edition 7” and a live singles cassette wrapped in caution tape. I rejoice and accept like it’s the Holy Communion. After slipping into the dark of the ancient Germanic pub, we head to the upstairs bar. Death Valley Girls have popped up on the indie map like a baffling string of UFO sightings, ever since their Street Venom debut. Some may remember Bloomgarden’s exploits in the NY band The Witnesses, or maybe her cameo in King Tuff’s third album Black Moon Spell. Though perhaps nothing was as enthralling as DVG’s performance last October at the Natural History Museum’s mummy exhibit, which served more as a necromantic rock séance to communicate in peace with the Egyptian dead. The new Death Valley Girls LP Glow in the Dark is due June 10th via Burger Records, just in time for Burger Boogaloo. It’s unlike anything we’ve heard from them before. Though the

Small Talk With JS Aurelius of Destruction Unit

Danny Baraz December 17, 2015

JS Aurelius, highly experimental guitarist of Destruction Unit has brought a rageful and introspective creativity to the psychedelic hardcore punk outfit, Destruction Unit. Since the addition of himself and Nick Nappa to the Destruction Unit, unit, the band has blossomed into their highly unique sound like a parasitic plant. I was able to find out more about the Destruction Unit creative process and what motivates Aurelius in our next installment of Small Talk. Danny Baraz: In September, you played your record release party for Negative Feedback Resistor at the Teragram in Los Angeles. The Critical Resistance organization was present to help spread the word about their movement which seeks to dismantle the “prison industrial complex”. It made me very happy to see a contemporary band taking part in political activism. Rock bands have always pushed the political conversation forward to new generations of fans/kids. Why do you think that such a few amount of up and coming and established bands are interested in getting political and why is it important to you and Destruction Unit? JS Aurelius: I think being political is unappealing because politics as a whole are so unappealing. It’s all so far beyond broken that even

Buzz Bait: An Interview with The Gooch Palms

Paige Vreede December 5, 2015

It was an ordinary Wednesday night at the Cambridge hotel in Newcastle, Australia when vivacious musician Leroy McQueen first met mega babe, Kat Friend. Four years after meeting, the power couple decided they wanted to make music together. What started with just a bucket, a tambourine, and a guitar soon evolved into The Gooch Palms- multiple Australian tours, two American tours (with slots at places such at SxSW) and a forthcoming tape with Burger Records. The small-town duo blew up quickly and their infectious tunes certainly deserve to be well known. If you haven’t had the chance to catch them on their tour, do not fret, you can still catch one of their action packed shows (which usually results in nudity) TONIGHT, Dec 5th at The Echo for The Gooch Palms Burger tape release, alongside The Memories and The High Curbs. The Gooch Palms play their buoyant tunes with great enthusiasm and they are definitely a band not to miss. I had the pleasure of sitting at Echo Park Lake with them and a pack of Coopers and Tim Tams (if you haven’t experienced the pleasures of these Australian delicacies then I feel bad for you, son) to discuss their US tour, their upcoming

How YouTube Pays Artists by East Bay Ray

East Bay Ray December 3, 2015

YouTube (owned by Google Inc.) is a remarkable platform for the sharing of videos and music by both fans and creators. Many artists have used it to start careers and achieve a form of stardom, which is great. But what’s behind the curtain? How is the “monetization” income shared with content creators, filmmakers and musicians, by the businessmen who operate YouTube? I am the guitarist, co-founder and one of the songwriters for the band Dead Kennedys. We’ve been called “one of the most popular and important American hardcore punk bands” by the Rough Guide to Rock and “the undoubted kings of U.S. punk” by the Encyclopedia of Popular Music. We are proud of our Do It Yourself independent ethic and have negotiated our own recording, song publishing and other licensing deals. As an independent artist, we attained the extraordinary achievement of Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death earning a Gold Record in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Back in the day, Dead Kennedys did a publishing deal in the U.K. with Virgin Publishing where they received 30 percent of gross songwriting income, with the DKs receiving 70 percent. Virgin also paid the band an advance which

Video Premiere: The Slippery Lips- Someone You Love

Danny Baraz November 11, 2015

Janky Smooth would like to present to you, the worldwide premiere of the “Someone You Love” music video by The Slippery Lips. It’s rare that a virtually unknown band from the mid west gets on the Janky Smooth radar but The Slippery Lips from Cincinnati are hard to miss. With their new video for Someone You Love, The Slippery Lips join the “party band” circuit. In a sea of melodic discontent, they are a wave that washes away the mundane and repetitive flood of music emanating from countless American garages. Having opened for the likes of White Reaper and Twin Peaks and also FIDLAR and Dune Rats on their latest tour, Janky Smooth are not the first to discover this mid western gem but we hope to expose our readers to the raw power of this band. Their motto is “Punch Life in the Dick”. With lead singer, Jesse Fox, The Slippery Lips have an ambassador that is deeply entrenched in the American garage rock music scene. As an editorial and concert photographer, artist and musician, she gives to the scene just as much as she takes but leaves all of it on stage, including her liver and her pride.

Small Talk with Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes

Danny Baraz November 9, 2015

Teresa Suarez aka Teri Gender Bender has the potential to become a world wide, iconic figure in music and in the fight for women’s rights. If you’ve seen Le Butcherettes live, then you know that her magnetic presence is impossible to ignore. This past September, Le Butcherettes released their third, full length album, “A Raw Youth”. In her continued collaboration with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, the Teri Gender Bender/Le Butcherettes genesis continues to evolve into a musical mission statement. Simple arrangements with complex topics fit into the punk rock modality but with what most would describe as a maturation. As more artists like Rodriguez-Lopez and the likes of Iggy Pop seem eager to collaborate with Teri Gender Bender, the respect of her peers demands the respect of the proletariat. In an attempt to help reveal more about the artists and musicians that we love, Danny Baraz had a few questions for Teri Gender Bender for the inaugural installment of Small Talk. Danny Baraz: When you collaborated with Iggy Pop on La Uva, who reached out to whom to work together? What came first, the song or the agreement to collaborate? Teri Gender Bender: Iggy, Omar and I were in his green room

The People, Bands and Fashion of Beach Goth 4

Paige Vreede October 30, 2015

With an incredibly diverse lineup including Juicy J, Mac Demarco, The Adicts, Grimes, and Parliament Funkadelic, it is no surprise that the crowd Beach Goth 4 attracted was nothing but a circus of ghouls, goblins and fashion. In this environment anything goes. During FIDLAR’s set on day two, the heterogeneity of this eclectic crowd was seemingly apparent. Mia Wallace’s and Wednesday Adams encircled a pit in which every character imaginable was welcome to. Two grown men in sunhats and summer dresses shamelessly cavorted about tossing trash cans at one another. A gal adorned in full raver gear stomped around the pits edge, right next to a 20-something year old in 90’s attire who was helping a painfully obvious drunk brosef who had fallen down amongst the madness. As the name suggests, beach kids and angsty goths were both welcomed. Walking amongst the Beach Goth 4 crowd was like being on a drug trip in some far away land that doesn’t actually exist. One could easily spot Hunter S. Thompson exchanging words with a petite girl sporting a penis costume on her head, and the quintessential good-looking woman dressed as “a mouse duh” could be caught hanging with that one weird

It’s Not Dead Fest: The State of the Union

Danny Baraz October 13, 2015

After my visit to San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernardino yesterday and bearing witness to the 1000’s of punks kicking up huge clouds of dust In 100 degree weather at It’s Not Dead Fest, I can, without a doubt, attest to the fact that It’s NOT Dead. Not dead at all. Well, at least the part of IT that generates millions of dollars of revenue, world-wide. When people talk about “It” being “dead”, are they referring to “it’s” spirit? “It” is punk rock and I’ve written about this topic so many times now that this might be my swan song. Then again, if a 52 year old Milo Aukerman can stand in front of thousands of sweaty friends and play “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” then I can write about “it”- again. After attending HiFi Rockfest a couple weeks back, I must admit, I WAS a bit worried about the future of hardcore punk but after the invasion and take over this weekend and thinking back to the last Punk Rock Bowling it became clear that the issue with HiFi Rockfest was 100% promotional. I hadn’t attended a Warped Tour in at least 15 years and this show reminded me

Dick Dale at Casa Escobar shot by Daniel Garcia

Dick Dale: The Last Stand of The First Guitar Hero

Danny Baraz October 1, 2015

“Don’t get me TOO excited”. That was the warning from 78 year old Dick Dale as he scanned the highly vocal, sold out audience with a surprised and maybe a bit of a worried look on his face. I was just as shocked as he was. For once, I wasn’t the “old guy in the club” and almost 45 minutes passed until I remembered to suck my gut in. On Saturday, September 19th 2015, Dick Dale played a gig in Malibu just steps away from Surfrider beach at Casa Escobar, formerly The Malibu Inn. The King of Surf Guitar (I was informed by his wife Lana that he doesn’t dig that title) is failing in health but not in the exceptional gift that was bestowed upon him at birth. That gift is the only thing standing between himself and death. Literally. After the show, I realized that simply writing a show review would be trivial in light of the fact that almost all the pages have been turned in the book of his life. If you’ve always wanted to see Dick Dale then don’t delay too much longer. He is still very active in playing shows. With the heavy responsibility

Theo, David and Ben shot by Julien Kelly

Meet The Cinematic Wizards Taking Music Videos By Storm

Jai Chebaia September 30, 2015

I met Theo Cohn, David Gantz and Ben Mullen, at their house in West Adams, Los Angeles, a few days before the release of their most recent music video. Before the interview even began, I caught the boys discussing the release party for their new video, ‘Norma and Jessica’, for LA surf-punk aficionados, SadGirl. They had been in the office for all of five minutes, and already they’d slipped into work mode, discussing technicalities with sound and video projection, as well as how much beer would be needed to placate the crowd. It was a testament to the trio’s work ethic, which throughout the interview, grew to a daunting point where you could begin to understand the difference between crafting a good music video and crafting a great music video. To first understand the boys though, and where there magic comes from, you have to understand what they commonly refer to as “The Nest”. The Nest, located right down the road from USC, is the house where the trio work, party, eat, and sleep. Out the back, there are three garages. Two of them have been converted into a DIY performance/rehearsal/storage space for Theo and David’s band, Wild Wing, while

Video Recap: Janky Smooth at Riot Fest Chicago 2015

Danny Baraz September 24, 2015

Janky Smooth was reppin hard at Riot Fest Chicago 2015. With a team of people stumbling around Douglas Park, it might’ve been the first time belligerence and gratitude were able to co-exist within a group of salty, jaded individuals. We caught up with a number of bands and artists and asked them some stupid questions which made it clear how unprepared and mildly intoxicated we were. Check out our full review and photo gallery of Riot Fest Chicago 2015 Riot Fest Chicago 2015 also reminded us how much fun festivals can be when you aren’t incarcerated in beer prisons called beer gardens. It seems the state of Illinois isn’t as concerned as California and specifically, the city of Los Angeles with underage drinking. Therefore, it was refreshing for the adults to be treated like adults. I almost forgot what it was like not to have to schedule time to drink a beer in a designated drinking area, just so they can MAYBE avoid some teenager getting drunk at the festival. After all, it’s MUCH better for those kids who are going to party, one way or another, to buy illicit drugs off a complete stranger, rather than getting their grubby

Burger-a-go-go 2015: Feminism in Rock reviewed by “Some Guy”

Danny Baraz September 8, 2015

Rock music has been a catalyst for social and political change since it’s inception. It’s not just three chords and a back beat. It’s poetry. It’s a manifesto and it not only serves as an individual expression but has also served as commentary for entire generations, as only great art can. The revered blues and country origins of rock music broke race barriers in popular music but it was largely a boys club until Janis Joplin completely upended not only the gender roles in rock but rock and roll itself. In the decades that followed, women have been responsible for some of the biggest leaps in rock and roll and it’s continuing evolution. Joplin, Grace Slick, Heart, Patti Smith, Suzi Quatro, Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde and Debbie Harry. Those women traveled a road which at the time was bumpy, rocky, sexist and fueled by testosterone. I was careful not to wear my G.G. Allin shirt to this event and I am going to attempt to stay away from too much “Commentary on Feminism, written by ‘some dumb guy’” in this review. Let’s just say that, for all intents and purposes, this tumultuous road for women in rock has led us