ANIMALS MAGAZINE ISSUE 1

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04 MINISTRY OF FEAR CALIFORNIA OUTLAW CULTURE
08 TAZ ARNOLD
16 JEN HERREMA EDITORS:
20 CALI DEWITT
28 OLIVIA JAFFE Ward Robinson / In Chief, Founder
34 JUDE ANGELINI JC Gabel / Managing
44 KIM FOWLEY Jess Hundley / At Large
52 20MISSION / THE Mark Grotjahn / Arts
Chris Ziegler / Music
BIRTH OF BITCOIN Todd Krieger / Future/Tech
60 ANDREW KUYKENDALL Darren Craig / We Aren’t Sure
68 THE CHOSEN FEW
82 SURVIVAL RESEARCH CONTRIBUTORS:

LABORATORIES Isabelle Kohn
94 MARK GROTJAHN Dave Reeves
118 DANCING WITH THE Todd Krieger
Scott Leon
DEVIL / MALIBU AND Andrew Kuykendall
LOCALISM ORAL HISTORY Olivia Jaffe
144 MAKE ‘EM MISS MAKE ‘EM Barak Hardley
PAY / ZACHARY WOHLMAN Todd Weaver
152 BEN VENOM Brook Power
Steven Perilloux
KILL. FUCK. PLAY. Matt Nosbusch
Trace Marshall

DESIGN & LAYOUT

Simon McLoughlin, Douglas Gledhill,
Patrick Morales and Ryan McCann
for The Uprising Creative

EDITOR’S NOTE One night I was woken up by the need to go number two-the only other time
I was woken up with a need to shit was after I ate a street vendor snow cone in
This story is a good analogy for giving birth to this magazine: Mulege in the 80s. Anyway, I was sitting on the toilet with nothing happening
when I started having severe pain in my colon. I was seeing spots and feeling
A few years ago I was being an idiot and doing crossfit. I got infected with the like I was going to puke. After a while the pain got so bad that I passed out.
paleo diet virus and because I don’t think much I did a poor job of balancing After who knows how long, I woke up laying on the bathroom floor with a tiny,
the huge uptick in protein intake with any increase in fiber. After a few weeks super-hard pebble of a turd on the ground next to my bare ass. I felt fine
of that my system got all backed up and I crapped a baseball bat, ripped the after that.
ass out of myself and got a few anal fissures. Basically for the next couple
months my whole lower intestine was real sensitive and it was pretty painful to Love, Ward
take a shit.

4

Artwork by: Brook Power
KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

MINISTRY OF FEAR 5

Inside the Infancy of our 21st
Century Surveillance State

Written by: Todd Krieger

The natural flow of technology
tends to move in the direction of
making surveillance easier, and the
abitlity of computers to track us

doubles every eighteen months.

- Zimmermann’s Law

T o say Phil Zimmermann is an interesting guy is a bit of an under-
statement. He’s a passionate (and humble) man who not only under-
stood the privacy ramifications of our digital communications age
early on but sought to provide the everyman with a bulwark against
the burgeoning surveillance state by creating and making available
PGP or “Pretty Good Privacy.”

For those too young to remember, Zimmermann’s name and PGP made him
internationally famous when the personal encryption program he wrote became a
hot-button issue after he made it publicly available in 1991.

Customs officials came to Zimmermann’s house in 1993 in what would be the
beginning of a Kafkaesque three-year-battle with the government regarding the
crimes Zimmermann was defending himself against. One facet of the charges was
that digital exportation of PGP was defined as a felony, whereas printing out and
mailing the same information was not. Additionally, the international export of PGP
was deemed as “the illegal export of munitions without a license” even though
cryptography of a similar ilk had been in the public domain for many years.

Phil’s earliest tangles with the US Government were defended by the EFF (Electron-
ic Frontier Foundation) and the ACLU, and together they made an alliance. With
the dawn of the commercial Internet in the mid-’90s Phil presciently understood
the potentially deleterious effect of the digitization of communication; as this digital
world was being shaped, Phil and his cohorts played a leading role in defense of
privacy, and we are still reaping the benefits of their efforts today.

For this inaugural issue of Animals I had the opportunity to chat with Phil while he
was visiting Washington, DC. He currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland, where he
runs his encrypted telephony business Silent Circle.

Interestingly, some of Silent Circle’s earliest customers have been the US Defense
Department, who have purchased Silent Circle’s highly configurable “blackphones”
for their employees. Silent Circle’s Android-based offering has none of the black
doors the FBI has asked communications providers to have to allow for spying,
ostensibly to counter terrorism and other criminal activities. It is the breadth of the
state powers that led to a degree to Phil’s moving more quickly firing up his vision of
a secure phone company.

What follows is a portion of our conversation touching on where we’ve been, where
we’ve gone, and where we’re headed, and the delicate balance between privacy,
security, freedom, and the social contract between a citizen and their government.

As a side note, I had written a piece about Phil when the PGP imbroglio first came
to the fore back in the early 1990s. At the time the Internet was much younger, and
while the acts of the United States. Zimmermann in the 90’s might at the time have
felt like overreach, they pale in comparison to our post 9/11 world and the invasive
tactics of both the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act and NSA surveillance.

It was in today’s climate wherein companies like Verizon and Yahoo! are collaborat-
ing with governments around the world to spy on their own citizens that I began the
conversation. And spoiler alert: throughout the call the phone would crackle a little
(partly due to my location to be sure) and at the end of it I asked if we were on an
encrypted line, to which Phil said, ‘”Yes. My end of the call is encrypted.”

As you look at the world we live in, even for a person I started Silent Circle along with (former Navy Seal) secure voice communication over the Internet, or
with as long and as intimate understanding of global Mike Janke. I had been working for some years on “VoIP,” using the ZRTP protocol.)
surveillance, what do you think about where we’ve secure telephony. I’ve really been at that side of
arrived? the business even longer than PGP. I wanted to do What do you make of the world of social media since
secure telephony before secure email.  people are giving up so much of their personal infor-
I talked about a lot of this stuff but I never imagined mation and signing away privacy rights?
it would be so breathtaking in its scope. What we’ve But back then nobody had broadband. There were
seen in certain revelations. Those of us who try to no standards for Internet telephony. And why would People willingly give up their privacy without
talk about the future of surveillance and access to anybody buy that product? I worked on secure realizing it. Facebook’s business model is to get as
surveillance, we would never have been to be able email first. Secure calls are much more interesting. much information as they can, then they pretend
to warn against this because we would have been when they change their default settings they didn’t
seen as lunatics.  I even had a PGP phone back in 1995. The first mean to.
version used a modem. It was modem-to-modem
Every aspect one could control is controlled. There communication. I knew it wasn’t going to sell.  There Having felt the wrath of the government with them
are thousands of mathematicians looking at every would be no way to get a network effect. showing up on your doorstep, what do you think of
opportunity they can find and exploiting them. They The phone became possible when the infrastruc- those days when you were under such scrutiny by
own the routers, they clone the routers. ture was in place. I worked on it after 9/11, the G-men?
technology was there, but I felt that the government
Do some of the US’s actions have to do with why you had their hands full so I figured I would wait a while Well I’m older now, and gained weight. I was a peace
live in Geneva? longer. activist in jail with Martin Sheen and Carl Sagan for
Civil Disobedience. During the crypto wars we were
I split my time [between Europe and the US]. I’m I got involved in the Roundtable and Commission successful. It’s hard to raise consciousness or have
in the US (as of right now). Also: Switzerland has a on Scientific Communication and National Security, any kind of political movement these days.
constitution that guarantees a right to privacy - so it it was a joint project to make policy recommen-
seemed like a good place to put a company. dations. At the time scientific conferences and What of Edward Snowden, has he helped to raise
scientific papers were being stifled. It was difficult consciousness?
Tell us a bit about your company and how it came to get visas—papers were being censored. We were
to be. supposed to review policy and make recommen- Snowden was very effective in making everyone
dations. Members of the committee included then aware. And to that extent it makes it easier to try
and bring about public policy change. At the same 7
time Snowden released too much, with respect to
If we accept this - we are the NSA’s legitimate mission.
enabling surveillance.
I think one of the reasons so many have come for-
Secretary of Defense Harold Brown, Director of ward in the last 6 to 7 years is their work is troubling
Central Intelligence Bobby Ray Inman, and there to their moral sensibilities. They kind of serve as
was another guy from the US Justice Department, “canaries in the coal mine.”
Viet Dinh.
What advice, tactically or philosophically would you
Viet D. Dinh was the chief architect of the give to people today with respect to their privacy and
P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. He worked under W. and I asked digital communications?
him why, in 2003, did the Justice department teach
seminars to prosecute all manner of crime? The Tactically: they should be using encryption, like
P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act was passed to fight terrorism. you do when you’re doing your online betting. Use
Dinh’s answer was, “Crime is crime.”  encryption. You should encrypt your laptop. The
whole disk drive should be encrypted. You should
I felt the P.A.T.R.I.O.T Act was a social contract use encrypted phones.
between society and congress. You give up some of
your freedoms in exchange for feeling safe. I’ve tried to get people to resist the natural
In his answer Dinh was very clear. He said the tendency to gradual change. As the rising tide of
P.A.T.R.I.O.T act was something we wanted to pass surveillance washes over us don’t let us acquiesce
for a long time, but we never had the political will due to gradualism. I’ve done a lot of travel in Eastern
to do it until 9/11. When it was said directly to my Europe where there is rampant corruption. The cit-
face, that confirmed some of my worst fears about izens become cynical and corruption thrives where
privacy invasion. everyone is cynical by default, [almost like the
Soviet-era under Communism]. This cynicism works
Furthermore, it was at that moment I decided to as a fertile soil for corruption to thrive and pervasive
no longer sit around and get moving on secure surveillance lowers the expectation of privacy. As a
telephony and that became the Zfone (software for result, it lowers overall expectations. 

We should expect not to have our faces on cameras
in cities.

We should expect to not have our conversations
tracked.

If we accept this - we are enabling surveillance.

Written by: Jess Hundley
Photos by: Todd Weaver
Illustrations by: Ryan McCann

8 bility. Taz is the classic court jester; goofing around in his floppy hat and tights
flipping the bird at the Royal Court cause he knows he’s the smartest dude in
If you were to ask me what Taz Arnold does on a daily basis, I am not sure if the room. Satire doesn’t work because Taz has already gone there himself and
I could answer you. Yes, he is a producer, musician, and fashion dude of the far, far beyond. Taz has an innate sense of humor, a way of carrying off the most
cutting edge/ trendsetting sort- but when I think of him navigating the ordinary insane outfit or song - with a dandy’s sly self-deference. His music, his clothing,
day to day - like the rest of us - I go blank. What exactly is Taz doing right this and his world - all of it contains a kind of joyful exuberance matched with punk
moment, as I type on my woefully ancient Powerbook in my cluttered, tiny kitch- rock subversion, like a candy-colored ‘fuck you’ to the uptight and the un-funky.
en? I close my eyes and I immediately envision him levitating just a few inches
off the gleaming floor of his cavernous downtown loft, all nine chakras in full and To me, Taz is cosmically individual in a way that is truly Californian, more spe-
glorious bloom - color shooting through him like morning sun hitting a diamond cifically, Angeleno. His family is four generations deep, his great grand aunts
cut prism. and uncles who arrived in Hollywood to act in 1920s silent films; it is a family
truly colored by the city itself. That loft I told you about is filled with images of
Taz (who is also known as TI$A, a hip hop alter ego which I am sure contains his relatives posed on movie sets, in music studios, at love-ins at Elysian Park or
some deeper meaning, but I’ve yet to find out what it is) must have to show up strolling down the Strip. Taz carries that history inside, an ancestral quilt woven
for jury duty or head to the DMV once in awhile to register his vintage Porsche through with good times, good style, good music and endless sunshine.
or his all white/white rims/white leather interior BMW - but I really just can’t pic-
ture it. He is the kind of person who seems to exist in that glittering dimension That loft is also filled with a strange and awesome assortment of knick-knacks,
on the other side of the mirror, a place where you produce tracks for Kendrick totems, found objects, crystals, divination-cards, recording equipment, thou-
Lamar, have beautiful babies with beautiful women, and repurpose the massive sands of vintage sneakers, flickering Santeria candles - all arranged in geomet-
stock of classic early 1990s Ralph Lauren Polo sweaters you shoplifted as a kid, ric formations that Taz regularly revolves. It is the lair of a mad scientist or a
into priceless, limited edition, patchwork jackets that you then gift to your close New Age cult leader, or Prince at his “shakin that ass” sexual peak - depending
circle of very famous friends. on what day you visit.

Google Taz and what comes up is a gleefully surreal barrage of images – Taz in Today, the centerpiece of the main floor contains a massive meditation pyra-
a sky blue MCM Paris leather jacket and matching “detachable” hoodie/base- mid - the kind you sit under crossed-legged for the aforementioned levitations.
ball cap (of his own design), grinning maniacally next to the always detached There is also a recording studio with multicolored soundproofing panels, placed
and stoic and sunglass-wearing Karl Lagerfeld. Oh and there’s Taz in bedazzled specifically to create a kind of sacred math sound space. There is a rooftop
cap and multi-hued/multi-patterned ensemble sitting next to Kayne West in the overlooking the constant construction of downtown Los Angeles, there are
front row at the Paris couture shows. And there he is with Erykah Badu, Wiz darkened bedrooms and stairs to nowhere and glass sunroofs and one part of
Khalifa, Dr. Dre and oh there he is again, his hair bleached to the color of cloud, the loft is filled entirely with clothes, most of which Taz stole from South Coast
wearing vintage Versace on some random red carpet somewhere fabulous and Plaza or Rodeo Drive boutiques back when he was a kid. There are records and
full of the flashbulb blast. And look - there’s Taz in neon and glitter face paint posters and rugs and nag champa incense burning eternal.
dancing around with a bunch of hot babes in bikinis (also sporting neon and glit-
ter face paint) in his kaleidoscopic, Funkadelic-ish video for the track “Freaky It is - in short - a very rad pad for a one very rad dude.
Bitch” off his 2012 album, Rad America. Oh yeah and did you see that episode of
South Park - the one entitled; “Kanye’s Gay Fish Sticks”? No? Well, see it and be I am here because I want to talk to Taz. I want to know who he is, I want to know
razzle-dazzled by a cartoon version of Taz, looking actually pretty cool in a lime what he does on a daily basis, I want to find out what the hell he is all about. The
green waistcoat and cheetah print leggings, even though the animators were answer? A riddle wrapped inside an enigma, as they say. Or maybe the other
trying really hard to make fun of him. way around??

Here’s the thing about Taz - he’s so out there - that satire becomes an impossi-

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

9

Tell me about growing up in L.A.
L.A. in the 1980s was kind of like growing up in Disneyland, but you never leave. It was always
summertime. We were in Inglewood, which is near the beach but also near the inner city. There
were airplanes flying into and out of Los Angeles over our heads all the time. The whole vibe was
very 80s - skateboards, gangbangers, but also space, aeronautics, Howard Hughes had his hangar
here back in the day, so the neighborhood has a very scientific vibe to it. Brian Wilson of the Beach
Boys grew up two blocks from me. It’s a trip, the whole history of the place. In the 1970s it was
predominately a white neighborhood, but I was there at a very dynamic time, in the 1980s. It was
an invaluable experience to grow up here. My mom would take me all around, to the J Paul Getty
museum, to Catalina Island, to Hollywood, she would take me all around the city. It was a really
magical experience for me growing up here. As I got older, I would travel around and compare oth-
er places to L.A. And really, there isn’t anywhere like it. What do they say, ‘life is an experiment. Life
is what you make it.’ I definitely feel like this city is the perfect background for experimentation.

10

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

What was your first artistic experience?

Being around my parents. My parents are really
into making clothes, embroidering clothes, having
gardens, growing marijuana and fruits, collecting
antiques, old stuff from the thrift shops, older
things from th 30s, 40s, 60s and 70s. It all created
an interesting backdrop. My dad’s a Leo and my
mom’s a Gemini, so he would collect stuff and she
would display it. That’s why my place looks like
this, I get it from them. In the right order it looks
cool - if it’s not displayed right it looks like you’re
a pack rat. Ha! But yeah, being around them and
playing drums and dancing around with my parents,
drawing and video games, skateboarding, boogie-
boarding and probably being exposed to music
by my parents. They would listen to anything, Led
Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Funkadelic, John Coltrane,
Thelonius Monk, Ornette Coleman, Crosby Stills
and Nash - just all the good shit. My parents have
great taste. One of my godfathers played keyboard
for Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. An Ikette is
in the family - my dad’s ex-wife - she’s been living
in London since the late 60s. Mick Jagger used to
babysit my brother. Having those people around
was a very musical thing, it was in the house, I
couldn’t escape it if I wanted to - it was everywhere.

11

When did you first get interested in fashion?

For me, it was the fusion, the necessity of having music and fashion
together. When I was a skateboarder, it wasn’t good enough to be a
skater that was good on a skateboard. You had to know the Circle Jerks,
and Suicidal Tendencies, you had to be able to play the guitar. It was
about the look, too, it was about embracing everything that went along
with that culture when it was first developing. I would fuse things, like
break dancing and skateboarding - to make it my own. I got into fashion,
I caught that bug, but the flipside was always music. One inspiring the
other. Drum machines and Ralph Lauren Polo. I’ve been either collecting
clothes, making beats, producing for people, or designing clothes - ever
since. But whether you work with Kanye or produce for Kendrick Lamar,
you just consistently experiment and try out different things and weigh
the results from a music and a fashion perspective, creatively. I’m still
having a great time, putting new combinations together and trying
new things.

How would you describe yourself?
A free spirit, an intellectual, intuitive, but also detached too. I like to look at the bigger picture. I’m always in for
being honest and open and available and then standing back and putting things in a particular order. I don’t
know what to call that - alchemy, scientific? It’s kind of a philosophical approach, looking for meaning and
putting ideas together and dissecting things. I try to be IN the world, but not OF the world. Like, I’ll go fly to my
planet after this, then maybe go somewhere else too!

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

What haven’t you done that you’d like to do?

Right now, I’m still hustling, still making my fortune. But chasing bread and accolades isn’t something that
excites me as much as it did when I had no bread and no accolades. Now that desire doesn’t really get me up
in the morning. Now, it’s more about sharing ideas and listening to people, traveling, more touring, more expe-
riencing and sharing joy, really. It’s not about getting more shit and accumulating more things, but being more
involved in moments, and really getting in there to do the work I need to do to make people know where I’m
coming from. Studying, reading, I love reading history, other people’s stories. Right now it’s about self explora-
tion. I’m a young man with hopefully many years ahead of me and feel like I’ve done all the preliminary things,
to partake in the platform I’m now entering. I’m in a new kind of space within my own personal development.
The beginning of the next phase, you know what I mean? I’m asking myself, what will this next journey entail?
What do I need to do to be the best I can? And it’s still unfolding, week by week, there’s so much happening.
It’s pretty trippy. It’s moving fast. But you don’t want to control it, because your mind is limited. You just have
to be open to what’s evolving for you and try to be prepared to move ahead.

Would you say you’re a spiritual person?

We’re in California! I mean, we have the largest population of Wiccans in the world here, people who are into
earth magic, nature - I think this state has all types of stuff and I think I’m sort of a mix of all that. I study all
types of different programs; Christianity, Hindu, Islam, Judaism, yoga, meditation, Sufism. But I wouldn’t align
myself with one particular thought process. I’m a spiritual being, but I’m not religious. I smoke weed, I’m having
sex out of marriage, I curse when I want to, I do what I want to. It’s not like I’m trying to create something new
either. But I am definitely trying to have freedom and peace of mind, find a peaceful spot to get to in my life
and in my mind - then get back into shit. I guess I’m just a California person. People sometimes get mad at that
type of thing, but fuck it - I think it’s cool.





Jennifer Herrema grew up in a Southeast DC neighborhood and left home at sixteen to study on scholarship
at the New School. Her boyfriend, Neil Haggerty, came along for the ride in hope of gigging with Pussy Galore;
instead, he and Jennifer would end up making their own music as the avant-rock group Royal Trux. Before the
90s were over, Jennifer would be a rock star signed to a major label (Virgin, which the band eventually left) and
a model for a multinational clothing company (Calvin Klein, though these days she collaborates with Volcom on
her own clothing line). Now living in Costa Mesa, California, Herrema fronts the Drag City three-piece analog-
funk-meets-fuzz-rock outfit Black Bananas, co-runs the fashion and accessories label Feathered Fish, styles for
American Playboy and is mounting a Royal Trux reunion. She met up with ANIMALS to talk about her thoughts

on music, fashion, art, and the relationship between the three. 

Photo by: Steven Perilloux

Interview by: Kristina Benson

So, let’s start from the start. What was the first music that blew your mind? everybody called it the New School. They changed 17
it to the New School University in 1997. I’m not sure
I have one sister. My mom was from a male-dom- When I was in kindergarten I remember my mom why the school was named the New School for So-
inated household - her father was a self-made playing a Seals and Crofts record a lot. The song cial Research. It was a progressive school with very
millionaire from Oklahoma. My mother was not “Summer Breeze” really stuck to me but in a bad small classes that demanded full participation as
allowed to go to college, only “finishing school” way. I really hated that song it. Made me real- opposed to many traditional universities where
but she dropped out and met my father who was ly bummed out. I was actually really moved by lectures and courses were attended, witnessed,
from a farm family of 8 kids that were all supposed things that I disliked and bummed me out: James and heard, as opposed to offering student-initiated
to stay on the farm but my father got a wrestling Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, all very melan- conversation and roundtable discussion. Being a
scholarship to Marshall in West Virginia. He was choly downers that I knew I did not like the way Freshman in such a small school kinda took the
the only kid in the family to leave the farm and go they made me feel. I loved KC and the Sunshine course selection situation out of the equation as
to college. My parents were from opposite worlds. Band and Steve Miller band on the radio when freshmen generally got into the classes that were
They both worked when I was a baby and spon- I was really little and I LOVED the Coasters. My still open and available after the seniors, juniors,
sored a woman and her child from Guatemala to dad had all their records and “Poison Ivy” “Ya- and sophomores took their pick. It was just that
live with us and take care of us while they were at kety Yak” and “Charlie Brown” were my jams. I simple. I started out with Psychology, Shakespeare,
work. My mom spoke Spanish at the time as she was always very interested in music and took Women’s Literature, and the Gaia Hypothesis.
spent her first 8 years living in Costa Rica while Yamaha music school lessons during my Montes-
my grandfather flew airplanes and emeralds and sori school years, then graduated to piano lessons Cherie Currie has said that she had to pretend to
worked for Howard Hughes. My mom can’t speak and later on guitar lessons. I was never as good as be another person in order to have the confidence
Spanish anymore, she forgot how, but anyway my I wanted to be or thought I should be so I inevitably required to front The Runaways. Can you relate to
dad was in politics while we were babies but quit quit but my fascination with music continued. that at all?
to start his own construction company, buying
and restoring to historical standards beautiful old Tell us about graduating at 16 and going to Yeah, I can definitely understand that logic but it’s
dilapidated buildings, churches, and schools in New York. not one that I utilized. I was more concerned with
Washington, DC. My father was the first person to trying to be myself, as opposed to projecting a
re-purpose old buildings in Washington, DC. I grew I didn’t want to go to college at all but I wanted to character. I was mostly very quiet on stage (unless
up in Southeast DC, which was “the ghetto” at the go to New York! I applied to the New School be- “singing”) and I didn’t and don’t engage the audi-
time. My sister and I were the only white kids in cause it was in NYC and I had a good chance. My ence in banter, small talk, or whatever, and I don’t
the hood for years but we didn’t really notice that high school “the Field School” in DC, was set up have special stage moves or choreography. I kinda
much because we didn’t know anything different. much like the New School, with very small classes - stay to myself but in front of everybody else! I think
under 20 [students per class] - in a group discussion that my way of “being” somehow suggested that
You ever win any shit off the radio? atmosphere. I didn’t move to NYC straight away. It I was aloof or a bitch or someone to fear. I never
was almost a year before enrolling. I did not think understood that and it made me feel bad because
I won a vintage early 70s Bally car race pinball about the future ever and had no big ambitions or I’m not that person. I suppose the simplicity is what
machine off the radio when I was in the 5th grade. thoughts about what or who I wanted to be The allowed or enabled people to project these mean
I think it was off the Q107 radio station, which only things I knew were that I wanted to go to NYC, girl mysterious traits onto me. I still don’t know what
played modern hits. We had the pinball machine in I loved music, I loved photography, I loved painting I’m going to do or feel when I get on stage and I
the house until I was 15. I had a big keg party -my and I loved clothes. have no methodology in place, no particular char-
parents were very permissive - and the glass top acter or style I’m trying to evoke. It’s kinda always
got broken so we donated it to some charity. I won What did you study at The New School? like the first time every time, which I think surprises
tickets to see Molly Hatchet that same year but I people, too, like I’m supposed to have it down pat/
think it was WAVA105, which was rock and classic The New School for Social Research was the name pro style by now. The idea of ever having it like that
rock. And another time I got a monster truck jam of the school at the time. The 4-year undergradu- locked down kinda grosses me out. Putting on a
from the same station. I never tried to win anything ate liberal arts program ended up being called the “show” has never been a goal or appealed to me
off the radio again. Eugene Lang College after a huge donation but and I don’t consider myself an entertainer, just an

artist. I guess the confidence comes from knowing There is a big difference I think. The old joke is I read an article about Black Bananas where you
who I am and what I’m not trying to be. There is a that an homage is when you copy someone else, explained that it took about eight months to get the
freedom, no expectations in being in the moment. it’s a rip-off when someone else copies you! guys speaking the same language as you. Can you
So sometimes homage turns into a rip off. talk a little bit about that process, and what you
Any artist whose stage presence you dig? might have meant by the idea of having everyone
In an interview about Royal Trux, Neil said, “...our only speak the same language? 
Funny enough though I was in awe of Mick Jagger intention for a major deal was getting money. I would
and loved his performances as a kid. I saw them not have worked with a major unless we had a deal It’s more about - I never want to be totally didactic,
the first time when I was 6 and then again when like the one we got, lots of money frontloaded to us.”  “do it like this!” or “listen to this, copy this!” Which
I was about 10, but I never ever tried to emulate Why was that your only intention, instead of, would be very easy to do but it’s more how they
him because he is a short funny British guy and I say, fame? interpret what I’m asking - do this riff, I just make
am a tall quiet American girl. I think I knew that I mouth sounds and they never worked with anyone
could be the best me by accepting and being me Famous people were embarrassing and served as like that before. After a period of time, everybody
as opposed to emulating or aping people that were an indicator of what not to do and how not to act. I gets in sync. And also trying to neutralize what-
not like me but kinda like me in that they were being remember watching MTV videos one time and get- ever baggage they’ve brought with them. And the
themselves. I don’t look up to anyone in particular ting the shivers. Neil and I really stuck to ourselves thing is, with Brian, he knew all types of music but
then or now but I definitely love and appreciate and were really happy that way. We were also very he hadn’t been in any bands, and band dynam-
many other performers. I know what I like and wary of major labels back then because there was ics, and ways of working with other people - and
try and figure out the essence of what makes it a period of time where certain “cool” type bands Kurt has been in other bands but he was brought
something that I like and learn from that decon- that Kurt Cobain liked were getting signed for little in after Brian and I had already gelled, so it was
struction. I’m also very aware of what I don’t like money, long term option deals and were getting easier for Kurt to fall in and figure out how we
and try to figure what it is that makes me dislike it dropped after or before record one. We had no worked. I remember when I met Brian - he’s like
and use that knowledge to my own end as well. The interest in any of that so when Virgin asked what we evolved, just like young people evolve, you know?
best performers, in my book, are unique individuals wanted we put together the deal we wanted with Early on - I turned him on to a lot of stuff he didn’t
who try to be nothing other than themselves. our lawyer and that’s the deal we got. It was pretty know about and he was into a lot of German and
unusual for that time unless you were Paula Abdul. Kraut rock and of course I’m into a lot of it too but
You have talked a lot about the fact that the Royal on the surface. But then he went into this disco
Trux records used signifiers from the 60s, 70s, and In another interview about Royal Trux and Virgin, you route and showed me some stuff, and I was trying
80s to evoke those eras in their songs. If you were explained what happened in the following way: “So to turn him onto new stuff, and it’s still that way.
going to use signifiers from the aughts (2000-2010) after Sweet Sixteen came out, we basically freaked He’s really evolved a lot and it’s pretty awesome.
what would they be? Song length? Instrumentation the fuck out of [Virgin]. We told them that we were
choice? etc? going to make this other record right now, and that When I was chatting with you at a recent music
we were going to do it on eight tracks with no pro- festival, we were listening to one of the artists playing
They would be very similar as that’s what the ducer. Then we’d have the lawyer convince them that at the fest and you said, ‘I think [this artist] is very
Aughts brought; people and bands emulating what it would be easier for them to give us all the money talented and I respect him, but I wonder if he’s truly
they liked from the 80s, 70s, and 60s, and new- for that record and not have to spend anything to inspired.’ Could you talk a little bit about that--
wave electro bands, long guitar driven bluesy jams, promote it. That was our game.”  I’m wondering if at What’s the difference between being talented and
straight forward riff rock, psychedelic fuzz rock, any time during this process you guys had second
garage rock, folk rock, glitter glam anthems, girl thoughts, or doubts? You were going up against a
huge, multinational, multi-million dollar corporation
18 groups, AM Gold, country rock, punk bands, thrash with an unlimited amount of resources - was there a
part of you that was like ‘fuck, this will never work’?
bands, doom bands, surf inspired bands. The list of How did you stay confident in yourselves and in your
types of songs, genres and bands that existed in the strategy during this time? Did you worry that you
oughts are quite similar to the decades that preced- would never get to participate in the music industry
ed them. The oughts didn’t bring a lot of new ideas again if you did this?
to the table but Internet and computer based shar-
ing and recording was still newer than old and there We were not worried at all. Our contract was air
was no need to master for vinyl for many of those tight and despite what people might think we were
10 years. The whole big picture concept of subtle not on bad terms at all with our A&R people at
nods to the sounds, effects, length, and recording Virgin. They were cool and understood that if we
method of past decades was more for us than any- were unhappy nothing good could come of it and
one. It helped define parameters but that was about better to part ways amicably. I think they knew
it as far as actualizing the concept. the score when we presented them with a totally
insane unrealistic plan for the third record. We
One of those signifiers was song length - on the 70s couldn’t walk away or we wouldn’t get paid but if
record you said you tried to make songs 4 minutes they asked us to cut the contract short they would
long, even though at the time, a 3 minute song was still have to pay for that last record. Honestly, we
considered kind of long. How did this impact the were not worried about what people would do and
process of songwriting?  Did you ever find yourself think or about the music industry or any of it, and
repeating or writing material just to fill space and we didn’t really care for what we knew of it anyway.
stretch it out to 4 minutes? How did you make sure
you effectively used all four minutes of the song? It is refreshing to see you and Neil being so honest
about this interest in money given that there’s a huge
It was much easier as we had to edit ourselves tendency to romanticize the connection between
far less. There were always so many decisions poverty and art. What are your thoughts on that?
to be made about what to keep and what to edit Does poverty have anything to do with good art? Is
out and the longer the song the more organic there any connection at all?
the flow as the tunes did not have instrumental
jam style chunks removed from them. There was Being poor and living in poverty is never ideal but for
quite a bit of improv that would go on during a good 10 years of my life that’s how I lived, some-
recording, much like a live show. Keeping that times living in shelters, parks, motels, squats, et cet-
flow was played out more easily on that record. era. It was not a choice. It was just the circumstanc-
es and I hated it. I have lived a very unconventional
How do you balance the use of these signifiers with life. My life has informed my work. I don’t think you
your own instincts? In other words, Black have to be from or live in poverty to make great art
Bananas, RTX, and Royal Trux’ songs successfully but depth of life experience broadens the “palette.”
evoke various eras and genres but are very much
their own thing. Can you talk a little bit about the line
between copying and paying homage?

KILL. FUCK. PLAY. Photo by: Ward Robinson

something out that’s very specific, but sitting and Yup, “You pick the song, and do your thing. This
living with music, listening to actual records when I is your creation, go for it.” And of course we
was growing up, there was no Internet. You had to have final edit approval but that’s about it.
spend your babysitting money to go get the fucking
record, you couldn’t go on the Internet. I couldn’t You’re not only known for being a talented performer
just like call someone in London, I didn’t know and musician, you’re known for your iconic sense of
someone in London. I hadn’t ever been there. style. Is it possible to teach someone to have a good
You’re on your own. Finding records you’ve never sense of style? Or is that something you just have or
heard of is like taking a chance. don’t have and nothing can change that? If you were
going to try to teach someone to have good style,
It’s interesting you say that. I’ve worked with college where would you start? 
kids at UCLA and other local colleges and it’s
so shocking to me that they don’t know fucking You can teach people some stuff, but I don’t know
anything. Like anything! I had a class full of thirty stu- how I know or why I choose or do the things I do.
dents once, and only one person knew James Brown. It’s totally inherent, I didn’t go to school, you know -
And only like three knew Rick James, and maybe like you just know what you want to do. Dressing these
five or six knew Morrissey. The Internet promises this girls is really easy: I know the context, I know what
notion of every piece of information you could ever the story is about, and it’s very second nature to
want about any subject you could ever want. And yet me. Some people just naturally have style. I think
no one knows anything.  the idea, the word style, has been completely
misused. You see “Oh, Kate Moss, style icon! Katy
Yeah, exactly! And even if they were to look it up, Perry, style icon!” I don’t know, dude, they just
they wouldn’t learn it in the big picture, in context. have a lot of money, and can buy cool shit off the
They would just go, “Rick James: did a song called rack. But that doesn’t equate to good style to me.
Mary Jane and had corn rows, and was a drug Having good style is having nothing, no money,
addict.” The whole context, what came before him, and just figuring out what you’re comfortable in,
what came after him, like my generation is the last and what you like. Any celebrity that they say has
generation that did not grow up with Internet. By the style, I can’t disagree with it entirely cause I don’t
time you’re in your twenties, which is when I had the know if they do or not, but I’ve never seen any
Internet, you’re a fully-formed person. It’s important evidence that any celebrity at all has any style.
that there are still people who [grew up without the
Internet] - eventually, within the next fifty years, Cause they look one way, and then when they get a
there won’t be anybody. There won’t be anybody. certain level of famous, suddenly everything about
them changes. 
I’m interested in the song “My House.” Can you tell
inspired? Is it possible to have one without the other? me a little bit about what that song is about and how They look great all of a sudden, they have a stylist. 19
What indicates to you that an artist is not inspired?  it relates to the video?  It’s all that stuff, all that combined. If you saw them
without any of it, no stylist, no tons of money, I
Well, [this particular artist] is inspired by all the With videos, I essentially hand it off. My friend Jess don’t know if they would have any kind of style
things that he loves and the music that he listens from Arizona did that video - and I’ve been into and I’d venture to guess that a good percentage
to. It inspires him to make music that is very similar. Indian culture since forever, since I was a little kid I of them wouldn’t have style at all. If you see before
But like, and don’t get me wrong, I haven’t listened would collect stuff. The authenticity of their culture, and after pictures, definitely some of them did not
to all of his records, but at the same time, I’ve and like, so she wanted to use a lot of that, and a lot have style! But you can, the only thing you can
heard what I’ve heard and I don’t feel like I know of people with authenticity. She just happened upon teach somebody is that being comfortable in your
that dude. I feel like he’s inspired by these unique the guys with the low rider and they were totally clothes is the most important thing. I think there
artists and he brings it to a lot of people that have into her. Just capturing people with strong identities are probably videos like, “If you wear a low cut shirt,
never heard that stuff, especially kids. But I don’t that they owned. The song - that was her take on it. wear a high-waisted pant” or whatever. I’m making
know who he is, in terms of bringing something The song was based on a reality show, like people this up, but like... you can’t teach style, I don’t think. 
his own and fresh to the table. Maybe in time he’ll bitching at each other, people get really bitchy. So
create his own identity but right now it’s easy to it’s kind of based on a reality show back and forth Back when I had a job that paid well, and could af-
be prolific when you’re just choosing songs that kind of thing, “I own this, this is my shit, stop fucking ford to buy cool clothes off the rack—well, now I think
you love and you’re like ‘damn let me grab that!’ jacking it, just find your own stuff,” kind of thing. I I have a better sense of style because I’m forced to
So he’s doing homage, but when kids are trying to think it’s interesting that she did bring in people that go to the swap meet with like fifty bucks, and just
copy him, then it’s kind of a rip off. I feel like talking were authentic within their lives. And she put the make that work for an outfit, accessories, shoes,
about his inspiration and being really vocal about kids in the video. I didn’t try to make total sense of the whole thing. I just have to. I can’t go to the mall
his inspiration—maybe he is, but what I’ve read, it - I let her do her thing. It’s a really good video. anymore. I feel like it’s made me so much
I haven’t heard him do that—but that would be a more creative.
huge thing for him to bring and to talk about it. I also like the one with the guy pop-locking.  
And sometimes that creates something much
So the thing you’re talking about-finding the things Yeah, “Physical Emotion” - I love that one! That was better! I’m really bad with money. I’ll go koo-koo,
that you love, and assembling them and recreating Wartella’s idea, but we knew the guy [dancing.] We I see objects and things I’m in love with and I’ll
them-a lot of bands could fit that description were like, “we’ve known this guy for a long time and never ever wear, but when I didn’t have any money
these days.  we’d like to use him in a video.” That’s all we put out at all—there was a lot more creativity. You had to
there. And then Wartella came up with his own idea. really, I don’t know. I would take old thrift store
A whole lot! It’s not like they’re bad people, I just So basically that’s the deal with videos. We’re not jeans for men and cut them down to size and sew
don’t think they even know or understand that on a major label, we don’t have big video budgets. them up, and they were always best because they
there’s an option to take it to the next level. It’s We’re on a true independent label, where there’s had long inseams cause they were dude pants,
like when you’re a kid and you’re like ‘oh man, that no - if we’re going to spend ten grand on a video, it’s and chick’s pants always had short inseams. So
person looks so cool,’ and you just dress up like coming out of our pockets. We don’t do advertising, I’d take a bunch of different stuff that didn’t fit me,
them. And you’re like ‘I’m cool too!’ and people look we don’t do stuff a lot of people do. So we’re fortu- but I liked the color of the denim and a tee-shirt
at you and are like, ‘you’re cool too!’ But I think it nate that people come to us and want to do a video.  where I liked what it said, and sew the T-shirt. Kind
comes with maturity, and really comes from having of make it fit. Having money absolutely does not
a depth of musical knowledge which I feel like a lot It sounds like you give them a lot of creative control create style. It would be great if we could walk
of people don’t. With the Internet it’s so easy to find and just let them do their thing, which people in and off the rack have someone fit us, make
appreciate.  everything fit perfectly, that would be amazing.

20

By J.C. Gabel

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

Over the years, Cali Thornhill DeWitt has engaged in a number of different disciplines, including a short- 21
lived gig as a record A&R rep, photographer, blogger, record label honcho, music video director, and most
recently fine artist. He was born in Sidney, British Columbia on Vancouver Island and moved to LA at age 3.

It’s difficult to even remember in what context I first heard his name mentioned in conversation.

His Wikipedia page, not surprisingly, is flagged with one of those exclamatory warnings, telling readers
“please help improve” the entry. Whenever it’s time to fact check a career biography that stretches more
than 25 years and covers so much cultural ground, it’s never easy, regardless of the source. Such is the
case with Cali.

Nevertheless, after speaking with a number of his friends - and then Cali himself - I was able to get a work-
ing time line down.

Cali grew up in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, but left town at 19 to tour with the band Hole
(this was in the early Nineties). He ended up in New York City for a while, then Seattle.

I think I first heard about Cali because he was taking care of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s child at the
time of Kurt’s death in 1994. Kurt dying was the music story tragedy of our generation, and 20 years on, it
still hangs like a cloud over that mid-90s, pre-Internet period.

It is an unwanted distinction that Cali has spent the better part of his adult life putting behind him.

Photo by Ward Robinson

22

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

His work embodies 23
real ‘heart’ and that’s
so amazing to me.

Since getting sober in 2001, Cali has worked on a
steady stream of fruitful projects, first with Teenage
Teardrops, the label he co-founded with Bryan
Rae Turcotte of Beta Patrol. He is obsessive about
his photo blog WitchHat.biz, which his wife Jenna
co-edits with him. The couple also collaborate on a
myriad of projects - zines and otherwise - under the
moniker Zen Mafia.

Cali also founded the Hope Gallery in Echo Park
(which he ran from 2008-2010) and is now focused
on his more recent career as video director for King
Tuff, Antwon, Hoax, Iceage, Omar Souleyman, and
Lust for Youth, among others.

Finally, there are his fine art efforts of the last few
years, exhibiting around the world, and creating
record art for the likes of John Wies, The Repos and
Faith No More.

“We became friends after first meeting in 2004,”
says Bryan Rae Turcotte, the former head of Slash
Records, and owner of Beta Patrol, a music licensing
and production company where Cali worked up until
recently. “Cali and I started doing projects together
soon after that music, art shows, making stuff - stuff
we enjoyed doing for love more than money or
notoriety.

“It’s so rare these days for any artist to have the
ability to focus 100 percent of their energy on their
own art and creative projects, but he was able to
break away from the day-to-day grind of working
for others in early 2014, and focus on his own work
exclusively. He’s earned that for himself, in my opin-
ion, by being so dedicated to his own vision without
wavering or compromising. His work embodies real
‘heart’ and that’s so amazing to me.”

24

Cali’s entrée into the art world - with recent solo are juxtaposed with two images of handguns. work] is because life is vulgar. My life is vulgar. Being
shows in Hong Kong, Berlin and Copenhagen - has A print with a car on fire is emblazoned with the a human is unavoidably vulgar, and my pics are
shown that his improvisational, DIY operating style words “INTIMATE HISTORY.” A full wall of block im- not glammed up at all. I don’t really think about any
can also be applied to art in a more traditional ages of nuclear explosion, repeated like a Wheel of juxtaposition, I just want to see it all in its natural
sense: photographs, screen prints - sure, but also Fortune game board, reads “I BELIEVE IN MAGIC.” state.”
embroidered American flags and reproductions of You can almost imagine Vanna White turning the
LA swap meet gang clothing from the 80s, some letters to spell it out. Cali’s creative impulse, “Grew out of going to punk
using a gang-inspired font that is unmistakably and hardcore shows,” an experience that applies to
Southern Californian. Each one of these pieces speaks to our modern a whole generation of punks from the 1990s, myself
tabloid culture; a world of fake reality TV, celebrity included. “That’s probably where I learned the
“I am a product of this city [Los Angeles],” he told hero-worship, infidelity, and betrayal, not to mention most,” he tells me. “It was these core-beliefs that
me the first time we met to talk about his work. “I the death and carnage that have become common- shaped my personal and creative life, and helped me
am a part of it, and it’s a part of me.” place in our gun-obsessed culture. learn to deal with the world.” In other words, punk
rock is more than just a music scene or subculture;
His screen prints - many of which are wall poster Cali is very much a product of the pop-culture he it is a system of beliefs.
sized - are anchored by one full or several colored grew up with, and that surrounds him still. But it
images that set the tone for the piece, followed was a seminal stint as one of the youngest people in Cali is also a cycle enthusiast, which can be rare in a
by a phrase that denotes something ironic or the room at Jabberjaw, the premiere outsider punk town like Los Angeles. It comes from years of riding
attention-grabbing, like an Internet meme meant to venue of the late 80s through the mid 90s, that first a skateboard around town when he was young.
shock: A bouquet of flowers in a vase displayed on a set him on the course he’s followed for the last 20 “You take in Los Angeles completely differently
perfectly white countertop has the word “ADUL- years. when you’re riding a board or a bike versus driving a
TERY” embellished across the middle of the picture, car,” he says.
in fat-block letters, stylized by a sans serif font. In Earlier this year, he told the website Highsnobiety
another print, the words “Quick,” “Pain” and “Relief” that, “... any vulgarity that seeps through [into my

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

25

26

It’s not hard to see a pattern of progression in Cali’s out, like I do, over fashion.” how it felt. ‘Let’s see how long we can keep it open.’”
work. His friends - and past and present collabora- The result was the duo co-founding the Hope
tors - have all witnessed a swatch of it. “Honestly,” Romanelli goes on, “who’s more LA than Gallery. “That was the plan,” explains Kramer, “and it
Cali? The t-shirts, the zines, the photos, the screen worked for almost two years.”
“Cali has his own language,” says Darren Romanelli, prints, the record label - he’s always been trying to
an art collector, old friend of Cali’s and owner of capture the spirit of this town, and having grown up “It was a really tiny space, but we put together some
Street Virus, a digital marketing agency on the here, I can appreciate that.” great shows in the first few months,” says Kramer.
Miracle Mile. “I’ve followed Cali’s progression from “We did four shows, and sold almost everything. We
behind-the-scenes player to artist-out-in-front.” “One day I get a call from Cali,” says David Kramer, were quite comfortable, and then the financial crisis
“Admittedly,” Romanelli says, “The artists I tend to the founder of Family Bookstore, and current hit, and we thought to ourselves: Is this the right
follow and collect live in their own world. Cali is Creative Director for creative agency Imprint time to be doing this? We didn’t lose any money, and
definitely one of those people. We first bonded over Projects, “and he says, ‘Hey, there’s this space that’s it was time to pack it in.”
trading work. I would give him some of my clothing opening up off Echo Park Avenue. Maybe we should
wares (in this case, I made him a jacket); and in get it and set up this gallery and just see what “With everything Cali does,” Kramer says about
exchange, he shot portraits of my family. Cali nerds happens.’ It was month-to-month, at least that is Cali’s creative process, “there’s almost a religious

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

27

sensibility to what he’s doing. He really makes his Roettinger continues, “Cali does what he does out “Cali’s been a great inspiration,” Turcotte says. “Our
life almost religiously about his art, and I think it’s of a general curiosity. He purposely makes things friendship is my favorite collaboration with him.”
why a lot of people treat him like a guru. Anyhow, to make people slightly uncomfortable. Something
he’s the kind of guy where everything he does is by is off—it’s offensive, or it’s not visually pleasing. But “To me, he’s relevant now more than ever,” says Ro-
intention and informed by a daily practice—that’s that’s the point.” manelli, “because he has a consistent dialogue with
probably the best way to put it.” the public, his friends, his family—and you can’t say
“As to the point where Cali became an artist,” Ro- that about most people no matter what discipline
“I remember Cali more as a photographer,” says ettinger says, “I remember his 30th birthday party. they practice.”
art director and graphic designer Brian Roettinger, When he was 29 he took a Polaroid of someone
a long-time friend and frequent collaborator. “He every day and then at this 30th birthday party, he So what is Cali Thornhill DeWitt working on next?
was never interested in it as a career—he just kind had an exhibition with 365 Polaroid photos of peo-
of went with it, and obsessively documented his ple he had encountered that previous year. I made I sent him this one last question.
life. But it’s not just that, it’s like starting a hardcore the poster for it, actually. That was the first time
band—you don’t think you’re going to sign a record I remember him exhibiting something one could He replied, matter-of-factly, via email later that
label deal and make a million dollars. You just do it, consider his own work.” night; “Focus/Efficiency/Navigation.”
because that’s what you do.”

SHOT AND STYLED BY OLIVIA JAFFE

MODELS:
Jax
Rick







KILL. FUCK. PLAY.



THE RE-EDUCATION OF
“RUDE” JUDE ANGELINI

Written by: J.C. Gabel
Photos by: Jason MacDonald

34 “Growing up, at least once a year, I’d just snap,” writes radio host
and former TV talk show provocateur Jude Angelini in his first
short story collection called Hyena. “I’d hold my shit together all
year long, then something would set me off, and I’d get arrested or
fight the police, or fight my principal, or get expelled, or have some
nervous breakdown. And as I was losing it, I’d know in my head
I was doing something extremely dumb. But I’d just keep going,
because I had to. I couldn’t help myself. I had to see it through.”

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

35

ike this story, much of Angelini’s presence - were admitting to never having read than he’s ever been.
life reads like Confessions of a books for pleasure before,” she says. “But Hyena
Hot Head. In spare prose, Hyena made them want to read more.  He was striking a “I guess he calms down a little with each year,” his
documents years of debauchery, nerve in a whole subset of his audience, but they sister Rachel tells me matter-of-factly through email
were forced to go online. We made a deal with Jude, earlier this year. “I remember when he first moved to
Lshitty day-jobs, dreams, and earlier published a trade paperback of his book, and it has New York City in 2004, he started drinking, which
aborted attempts of getting “ his since gone on to sell beautifully in all sorts of was a great shock to me. I thought ‘Oh no! What’s
ass outta Michigan.” Angelini’s characters are the retail channels.” wrong with Jude? He’s turned to alcohol!’ He always
desperate people one might encounter in the “vast drank water with lemon at the bar. But I guess he
everythingness” of Middle America - the heartland You may remember Rude Jude’s early days as a did it in attempt to ease social anxiety in a new city.”
- barely scraping by in the way that Denis Johnson’s regular on The Jenny Jones Show, which taped
characters do in his early short story collection throughout the 1990s and early aughts, at the NBC As to the beginnings of his radio career and how he
Jesus’ Son. While Johnson’s stories are fiction Tower, opposite floor to “The Jerry Springer Show,” got on Eminem’s radio network?
worked and re-worked into near-perfect prose, in Chicago.
Angelini’s stories are rawer and “100 percent true,” “Marshall [Eminem] remembered me from ‘The
and read more like Bukowski-inspired essays, or Angelini first appeared on “The Jenny Jones Show” Jenny Jones Show,’” Angelini says, “and that I was
rants from an unbridled and self-professed Ket- as a guest in 1997-1998. The ratings for his first from Michigan, outside Detroit, and that led to me
amine-head. appearance, where he fended off a panel attesting auditioning for this gig 10 years ago.” Jude even
to him being a bully, they were so promising (by ends up in some of Em’s lyrics from “The Drug Bal-
Angelini is not shy about his “accidental” radio trash talk show standards) that they made him a lad.” Angelini maintains that he’s always had a loose
career on Sirius Satellite Radio’s “The All Out Show,” regular fixture on the show, usually as a disruptive connection to the white rapper who grew up not too
which he co-hosts with rapper Lord Sear on the force to be unleashed as a brash, no-bullshit, older far from where Jude was living and hanging out, as a
Eminem-owned Shade 45 channel. brother figure who walks out on stage, disarms any young person in Pontiac, outside Detroit. “Marshall
hand - wavers or back talkers, and verbally smacks lived through that same bit in Michigan coming up.”
“The book is inspired by good records - records that the shit out of you.
were made to be albums, not whatever it is we’re “The truth is,” he says matter-of-factly, “I was
supposed to give a shit about today, each story There is a Rude Jude Clip Reel, a “Best of Jenny washing dishes at a raw food restaurant in West
is like a song, building on one another,” Angelini Jones” You Tube video that is essential viewing for Hollywood before I got this gig on the radio. My
told me over coffee. Jude was sharply dressed and truly understand the pre-internet Jude from the Jude humor may be extreme, but being on the air and
seemed supremely lucid compared to his on-air and of today. getting paid well to do my show four hours a day
in-print personality. “What connected them, for me, is a wonderful outlet for my twisted psyche.”
was the music that was playing in the background, This much was clear after Hyena was re-published
as I was trying to write these pieces, high as fuck by Simon & Shuster: Angelini is over all his previous Angelini hates the word “shock jock,” but he’s
on ketamine or vicodin. The next morning I would vices and, at least in person, it shows. On the page, aware that his 10-year-old radio show is rooted in
sometimes look at what I wrote the night before you’d think otherwise. He tells me he’s more relaxed that genre of entertainment, and it flows smoothly
and think to myself, ‘What the fuck is all this about?’ into his short story collection. He’s using the same
It was like tapping into my subconscious thoughts. fodder from the show, but he’s trying to put it into
They weren’t clear, but I could finally make sense of digestible prose.
them.”
An early piece in the book introduces us to a porn
36 After self-publishing Hyena through Amazon.com

author services, he turned to his tens of thousands
of social media followers and the millions of listen-
ers, who tune in to his weekly “All Out Show.” The
first five print runs totaled 7,000 copies, and sold
out in less than three months, an astonishing feat
for any first-time author without the literati publicity
machine in Manhattan behind your book. Ultimately,
Angelini managed to get the attention of the main-
stream publishing world.

”Remember,” he tells me, “I’m marketing this book
to an audience that doesn’t fucking read.” That was
when Simon & Schuster’s imprint Gallery Books
decided to pick up the book and run with it.

“An author that I edited named Karyn Bosnak
worked with Jude years ago when he was on The
Jenny Jones Show, suggested that I take a look at
his essays, which I happily did,’ Allison Callahan,
an editor at Simon & Shuster told me via email. “I
knew that the book had such larger potential, and
that in order for him to reach a wider audience he
was going to need distribution outside of the online
retailing realm. That’s where we came in. 
 
“I was drawn to the raw honesty Jude presents in his
essays,” she says. “Though they are by turns hilari-
ous, filthy, scary, and crude - each one hits you like
a bullet - his voice reminded me of early Bukowski
stories: disaffected, edgy, honest.”

So who is buying Angelini’s book if he himself tells
me that his “audience doesn’t read?” Are Rude
Jude readers the husbands of suburban housewives
buying 50 Shades books at Target?

Callahan, who oversaw the S&S reproduction of
Hyena, thinks she has a better idea. “The listeners
to Jude’s radio show - at least the ones with online

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

star. She quickly moves into the topic of pissing. could be “an accountant.” time tradition, Angelini and Sear take calls from
“Pissing in cups, pissing on dudes, dudes pissing perplexed Latin, Asian and African American callers
on her. The whole nine,” Angelini writes. After a A few days later, I visit Angelini on the set of his (among other ethnic minorities in the States), all
music break, live on the air, she straddles his leg, show at the West Coast studios of Sirius Satellite of whom have questions or commentary about the
lifts her skirt, and pushes her panties to the side. Radio off Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The odd-duck things white people do: “Why do lots of
“A long, hot, steady stream of piss hits my leg,” he small radio production room is tucked away in a white people have herpes?”; “Why do white bitches
writes, “runs down my ankle, down on my foot, to non-descript office building you’d never look at pretend that they’re drunk?”; “Why do white people
my toes and onto a [garbage] bag.” Angelini, who twice. It has room for two or three live guests, marry their own relatives?”; “Why do white people
gets turned on by the situation, takes the girl home, as evidenced by the closely placed microphones smell musty?”; “Why do broke-ass white people
they take “E” and “fuck”. “These porn chicks and that were hovering over a few empty chairs when always vote Republican?”
their hard fucking,” he writes. “They come into the I walked in. I sit in one of the chairs, hoping not to
studio and we gotta give ’em vibrators that hit like disturb the show, which is live and in progress. Angelini reacts, off-the-cuff, in a rapid-fire response
jackhammers cuz their clits are so blown out.” of slapstick silliness, poking fun at all things Cau-
The day I stopped by, Whoo Kid, a hip hop dj, is in casian.
The biggest controversy in The All Out Show’s the New York City studios, and most of the second
history came in 2009 when Angelini called out hour revolves around how much “pussy” Whoo Here’s another little taste from earlier that hour:
Floyd Mayweather for pussy-footing around fighting Kid has been getting. Angelini, meanwhile, largely
Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather lost his shit once he creates his part of the show alone in a small studio On-air producer in NYC: “Apparently, there’s a new
realized that his feet were being held to the fire by room in LA, and he likes it this way. prank, where you wipe your ass with a dollar bill,
a white dude. He couldn’t handle it and he snapped. and then you place it on the street until someone
His reverse racist screed is worth a listen. “The All Out Show” also has regular guests, like picks it up, and then they get shit all over their
most on-air talk shows that run for several hours. hand.”
More recently, Angelini made a much-talked-about The AOS runs for four hours daily.
appearance on Howard Stern’s show. Stern, like Angelini: “Have we turned into monkeys, have we
many folks, had listened to Rude Jude for years It’s “White People Wednesday” on the show. A long- devolved back into orangutans with feces jokes? Is
without realizing he was, in fact, Caucasian. After that it? Is there more?”
he found this fact out, he decided to have Angelini
on the show to meet him on the air - and they got On-air producer in NYC: “Yes, apparently this one
on great. Howard Stern’s takeaway line (which is 17-year-old kid took it to the next level. He was at
so true these days) is that Rude Jude looks like he a bar and grill with three Ball State football players

37

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

THEY COME INTO
THE STUDIO AND
WE GOTTA GIVE ’EM
VIBRATORS THAT HIT
LIKE JACKHAMMERS
CUZ THEIR CLITS ARE
SO BLOWN OUT.

and when the waitress left the check, he went to On-air producer in NYC: “The suspect was still
the bathroom, returned to the table, and put the there when the police arrived at the scene. He was
money right back in the black folder - which was taken to...”
all recorded. The waitress told police she saw the
suspect laughing when she picked up the check and Angelini: “And this idiot wasn’t bright enough to
smelled a ‘foul odor.’ She said two of the [dollar] bills leave? That’s penalty, dawg. We don’t need anymore
were covered in a brown substance that she later dumb motherfuckers like you, dude. We good
realized was fecal matter.” on that.”

Lord Sear: “Oh, god.” This tiny, temperature-controlled room serves as
Angelini’s home base, Monday through Friday, from
Angelini: “Really. You fucking date-rapist-ass, foot- 1-5 pm PST, as he records his live show with co-
ball-playing, frat boy, fuck boy. Trying to show off for host, Lord Sear. They’ve been on the air together
one another. Here’s some lady who is just trying to for over 10 years. Their version of Robin Quivers is a
do their job, and you’re going to shit on the money 20-something, sassy Asian girl named Sam Ingalli-
and then give it to her? It’s not a meter maid, where nesi (referenced earlier as an on-air producer), who,
you’re shitting on money, and sending it to the gov- like everyone else sans Angelini, is based in New
ernment. This is a woman that’s probably just trying York. She helps steer the conversation onto new
to take care of her two kids cause her old man left topics while Sear and Angelini verbally undress and
her, and now she’s working at a fucking Denny’s assault one another, all the while taking live calls
waiting on your bitch ass at 2 in the morning. You’re from national listeners. Angelini’s show is the third
going to shit on a dollar bill you no-class-having largest call-in satellite radio show; Howard Stern, of
motherfucker. You motherless fuck.” course, being number one.

The most telling parts of Hyena relate back to and super sweet, but always working three jobs just The whole time we’re at the party, I watch everyone
Angelini’s family, his mother and father in particular. to make ends meet. It was a sad fucking childhood, file in and out of the house. I am never quite sure
Jude is visibly emotional as he relates a version of a but we made do and had some laughs along the who’s sniffing or popping what, but it’s clear that
story in the book over cups of coffee when I see him way. There was never any thought that I’d go to everyone is high as hell, having fun with their vice
again, a few months later. college.” of choice.

Like most of us, he doesn’t want to perpetuate the This first book was, in a way, therapy for Jude to get Jude seems to be one of the only single men at the
character flaws he might have inherited from his over a girl - a hair stylist named Julie - and to make party, which may be why he paces in and out of the
parents. Yet hearing him talk about his father, in par- amends with his troubled past by coming clean house, talking people up, “defending my honor,” he
ticular, leaves the impression that his memories of in unvarnished (and largely uneven) prose style. says, “about something.”
him are more cautionary tale than nostalgia for his If you can look past the blatant sexism and racial
childhood. “Don’t end up like this dude,” he tells me (or ethnic) stereotyping (which he says he is doing At least 30 minutes of the evening is spent defend-
at one point. “I’ll leave it there.” The hairiest parts on purpose), Angelini, like Howard Stern before ing the Eagles as a great rock ‘n’ roll band. Angelini
him, can be irreverent and funny when he wants to isn’t just in the minority. He is the minority. “At least
40 are in the book, and most relate back to his “pops.” be, playing up stereotypes that many Americans they were good musicians,” he says. “The next time
pig-headedly adhere to. Jude just exploits it. And any of you sell several million records, then you can
Here’s Angelini’s father on the birds and the bees: Angelini and Sear at least address it, head on, with come and talk shit about them Eagles.” This kind
callers, on the air, every day of the week. (There’s of remark wouldn’t normally sting so hard, but we
“Jude, listen to me,” my father says. “The ladies love even talk of a scripted HBO show, like Entourage, are surrounded by professional musicians - some of
it when you go down on them. You lick their clitoris but through the eyes and daily life of Rude Jude). whom I knew from Chicago - and one of which just
till they go crazy and cum.” finished touring with Kanye West.
Because he talks a good game in his book and on
I tell him, “I don’t care what the fuck they do, I ain’t the air, I had to see for myself what a night on the Several large pizzas are devoured without me
eating no pussy.” town with Jude was like, more specifically, a party, seeing one person actually take a bite, and time has
with other people, some of whom I already knew. flown by - several hours, in fact - without us realizing
He says, “You will.” How do they react to the off-air Jude Angelini? It it. Isn’t this the sign of a good time? Pretty soon, it’s
turns out Angelini is far more conciliatory off the air; 2 am, and Angelini and I duck out so we can walk
I say, “I won’t.” in fact, he’s quite the gracious host. and talk for a bit more. We take an Uber to Sunset
and walk for a couple of miles back to his place.
He says, “Oh, you’re gonna eat pussy. You’re going I roll up to his modest but spacious place off Hill-
to lick it clean.” hurst in Los Feliz around 8pm one Saturday night For the next couple of hours, we listen to classic
and am floored by the amount of classic records records like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors, Rod Stewart’s
“Look, Pop, I’m not eating no motherfuckin’ pussy - he has leaned up against almost every wall in his first solo record, and Surf’s Up by the Beach Boys,
chill out with that shit!” house. “I’m sick of hip-hop, yo,” he tells me. “When many of which, he tells me, “inspired me to write
Later in the book: “My pop’s a big-ass Italian from I get home, I want to listen to some motherfucking these stories in Hyena.”
Leominster, Massachusetts. He says ‘cah’ instead classic rock records. They put me in the mood to
of ‘car’ and ‘bah’ instead of ‘bar,’ and he claims he have a good time.” I take the mini tour of his apartment as 5 am nears.
knows people in the Mob. He was always telling sto- Angelini pulls me aside in his bedroom and points to
ries about Porky Valeri getting his hand smashed to After slugging a few glasses of red wine, I watch a painting of a hyena on the wall. “That is where the
bits with a ball-peen hammer, and how his buddies Jude drink several cups of iced coffee from a mason book title comes from,” he says. “One night I was
took some Puerto Rican into the mountains, shoved jar laced with GHB (known primarily as a date-rape tripping balls and just stared at that painting, and
a funnel in his ass, poured battery acid in it, and then drug but also used for partying). He likes to mix it boom, out of nowhere, it hit me that Hyena needed
threw him down the hill.” with caffeine, a cocktail he moved onto after “quit- to be the title of the story collection. Hyenas are
ting vikes and K,” his usual go-to drugs. misunderstood animals - they’re thought to be cow-
This is just a peek into Angelini’s family’s folk ardly scavengers, and in all actuality, they’re quite
tales. There are meet-ups with hookers, strip club As we hurry out into the cool LA night, Jude hails an bright and skilled hunters. Hyena - as a title for my
serenades, down-and-out dive bars - some of which Uber, and we head into the hills of Silver Lake to a first book - became almost a metaphor, and it also
he patronized and some of which he worked at - as mutual friend of a friends’ house. serves as a mantra of sorts.”
he was coming up, in and around “the shitty town of
Pontiac, Michigan.” On that note, as I walked toward the door, he signed
off with his signature tagline “Hyena, go hard!”
“My pop used to work on the GM line, but lost most
of the other jobs he held. He was constantly getting
fired. My mother, on the other hand, was a hippie,

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

41





KIM / FOWLEY ON 45 Three years after I am found dead, I won’t be
around anymore to be obnoxious or confuse
By Chris Ziegler people. Then people will say, ‘You mean he did
that? Oh my God—listen to that stuff!’

Kim Fowley, November 2009

Here lies Kim Fowley, died January 15, 2015. Was he buried in a glass casket with a telephone so own and then a hint of moral at the end. Like NPR:
his enemies could call and make sure he was really “His outsized character dwarves his legacy. It could
Known aliases include King of the Creeps, Lord dead, as he so often requested? Ideally. have been so much greater.”
of Garbage, Sexual Frankenstein, Animal Man,
Animal God of the Streets, Lance Romance, Kim And will he be remembered? Well, yes, but only in That Kim made records by himself, and now obvi-
Vincent Fowley, Kim Fowley Jr., Baby Bulldog and pieces: to paraphrase Mickey Spillane, who per- ously for himself, is a blur in these fast-forward obit-
who knows how many more, undiscovered in the formed with similarly repugnant Neanderthal gusto uaries. Put diplomatically by MOJO magazine, who
tiny type below song titles or copyright dates on on the bestseller lists of his day, Fowley was dead as had a Fowley feature in the works when he died:
never-hit B-sides by easily hundreds of musicians hell and the papers were full of it. “His own recording career was regarded by many as
and freaks and loners and maniacs and dreamers a joke footnote.” But put more correctly by Kim in
and people who would try anything once and So they’d explain how he Svengali’d the Runaways 1977 in one of those characteristically unstoppable
maybe only once. first, explain that he was a “producer” without much declamation sessions that were less interviews than
qualification past lists of famous bands he’d worked contests of psychic endurance: “Nobody knew what
He legendarily started work in music on the day with before or after they were famous, and then I was doing except me. I just felt that I had to do it,
Buddy Holly’s plane crashed, and he slid into the space permitting run through the important dates, and I did it.”
dead wax himself at age 75. Was he mourned? the (ferociously, if the stories are true) troubled
Oh yes, by more and more surprising people than childhood, maybe accidentally something about So we gather here today to examine what he did,
anyone imagined. how Fowley made some mysterious records all his and paw through a discography a bit more personal

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

“Midnight Movies” by Frankenstein
And The All Star Monster Band

than The Runaways or Kiss or Helen Reddy records
that kept publishing checks bristling in the mailbox
at his little apartments.
This is Kim Fowley appearing as himself, on records
attached to condescendingly transparent pseud-
onyms or semi-stolen backing tracks or lost and
desperate rock ‘n’ rollers who needed something
new, and got something different. “What kind of
mind is easiest to control?” I asked Fowley once,
dead center in an unrelenting seven-hour interview.
“An empty one,” he said, and signaled for the next
question.
Kim in control was a strange and powerful thing, at
its best a lattice of put-on and parody and hostility
and intellect and vision like nothing else.
Not truth in the trash, as Philip K. Dick used to
pursue, but truth as trash, or really trash as truth,
splattered to tape for cheap laughs and quick cash
and left behind soon as something barely better
sparked up.
Fowley wasn’t technically an orphan, but he grew
up like one, child to amibitous and uncaring parents,

Illustration by: Barak Hardley

46

“Sunset Boulevard” by Kim Fowley

and his best records were orphans just the same which meant songs about himself or whatever junk Fowley a genius? Absolutely - at being Kim Fowley.
way. As Julian Cope said about Fowley’s best work, must’ve been laying around in view of the studio
the 1968 full-length Outrageous: “It sounds like vocal booth. (“Magazines, oh, magazines...”) No wonder he liked movie monsters so much be-
nothing else. It came out of nowhere. There wasn’t cause that’s who he was when he made music: the
even an attempt at a follow-up. Fowley just did it, But stripped of the resources a singer is supposed vampire, the werewolf, the alien, the shapechanging
then walked away.” to have - like that honest humanity that supposedly Twilight Zone abomination who looks and acts
makes people put on an album by candlelight and human but is really hitting the limits of pain and
Rarely has there ever been so much something to nod humbly in communion - they still do everything purpose from faking it so well for so long.
so much nothing. Maybe it’s just a rock fan version a song needs to do. Look: there are too many musi-
of the human evolutionary predilection for pattern cians that can’t make something last because they He was called a hustler, a shuck, a liar, a con artist,
recognition: mistaking silhouettes and movement just can’t commit to their bit. a prick, a thief - those last three he called himself,
in what’s really a void? I mean... it’s not art, or not in actually - but in his clearest and realest moments,
the way a record is supposed to be art. They think they’re smart or beautiful or important he was unique, unpredictable, irreproducible and
or special or something other than what they really now irreplaceable.
So many of Kim’s songs seem like instant improv to are, and they deplete themselves trying to prove it.
tape, clustered around a few topics he must’ve felt Fowley, however, knew exactly what he was, and As Cherie Currie of The Runaways wrote in an obit-
were the most marketable - boys, girls, rabidly insin- that made his songs pure - pure Fowley, and toxic uary: “There was nothing like him.” That, for once,
cere revolutionary pretension - or the most natural, for it, yes, but pure. Is that enough to make Kim was something true about Kim Fowley.

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.

FOWLEY ON 45 /
FROM THE SILVER SIXTIES TO
THE HATEFUL 80S

“SECRET POLICE” “Living In The Streets” by Kim Fowley
BY THE BELFAST GIPSIES (LOMA, 1966)
47
Kim had a soft spot for movie monsters, and as we’ll
discuss later, he specifically seemed to think of
himself as Frankenstein - sometimes even a sexual
Frankenstein, depending on which interview you’re
reading. As a producer, though, he had a knack
for the necromantic, swooping in with a plan for
reanimation once the blood had drained from a just-
past-famous band. Which brings us to the Belfast
Gipsies, recently split from Van Morrison over some
sort of financial disagreement: this was another
version of Them under a new name and under KF’s
influence-slash-tutelage, turning in a tough and
desperate two-sider.

Both songs here are “Gloria,” really, with a single riff
and rhythm and all the action in the way the song
breathes out and in, and while “Gloria’s Dream”
is an admirably candid rework, “Secret Police” is
the beast. It’s panicky garage drone in service of a
favorite Fowley topic - The Man, and how he keeps
the Teenage Rebels down - that splits open into
heavy breathing and paranoid-psychedelic imagery
of rats and refugees dying in the dungeons. A Kaf-
ka-esque classic.

“SUPER FOX”
BY THE HOUND DOG CLOWNS (UNI, 1968)

More obscure than the usual Fowley solo pieces are
the Fowley solo pieces that fall outside the various
sub-genres of rock, like folk, girl group, hi-NRG
dance, and funk and soul, too.

But he’d try anything if it had some character and he
could get a credit on it—check the Fowley-connect-
ed “Moonlight In Vermont,” a go-for-broke 1962
rocker by doo-wop crew the Crenshaws—and so
“Super Fox” is a heavy Fowley soul-funk song, lifting
the same “I’m Blue” riff the Monks used for “We Do,
Wie Du” and deploying a relentless series of James
Brown-style screaaaaaaaaaaaams.

It really revs up in the middle with a “BAT! MAN!”-
style horn hook—not often has Fowley sounded this
exhausted on tape.

Originally released on Fowley’s own Living Legend
label, home to many an item of interest, but listed
here with the easier-to-find UNI reissue. (Which also
made Kim labelmates with Neil Diamond.)

“BUBBLE GUM” B/W “ANIMAL MAN” cultiest of the cult releases, on which Kim effortless- horrible! I’m gonna KILL YOU! Are you straight?
BY KIM FOWLEY (MISPRESS) (IMPERIAL, 1969) ly out-Iggys Iggy before Iggy was even doing Iggy. Well... I’m ANIMAL MAN!” (“It’s too dirty, it’ll be
banned...” he’ll shrug later, after simulating orgasm.)
The definitive Kim Fowley artifact? Two of his very “Bubble Gum” is the hit, a street-mystic id-dump You’ll never get to know the man unless you meet
best songs, the A-side made about as famous as he about a teenage bad girl over slow-burn bass and the animal first.
could hope via Sonic Youth cover, and the B-side the-vampire-approacheth organ.
released on 45 only by record company mistake— A vital release, with no convenient way to find one
those are the poles of planet Fowley, where fortune B-side was supposed to be “Wildfire” but due to without playing both sides for yourself.
and fuck-up were in constant imbalance. error is the mighty “Animal Man,” possibly the most
potent example of Kim’s talent for autobiography
This is the single from the 1968 album Outrageous, as poison vomit: “I’m ugly! Ha ha! Dirty filthy sneaky

“WILD BLOOD” BY SKY SAXON AND THE “Control” by Kim Fowley
SEEDS (GNP CRESCENDO, 1969)

The Seeds had a screwy history anyway, so no
surprise that KF swoops in at this late stage. This is
their last single on the GNP label, home of all their
early hits, as well as the precursor to an unexpected
(and brief) detour to MGM and then a flat spin into
seriously mysterious semi-solo 7”s.

Writing team here is Kim and Marty Cerf, same as
“Animal Man” and “Bubble Gum,” which means the
“Pushing Too Hard” riff is gone for good. Instead:
fuzz for random reasons, oddly mannered piano,
and Seeds singer Sky apparently fully possessed
by Kim, while Kim lurks / shouts directions in the
background. Technical note: was shouting on a re-
cording enough of a performance to earn royalties?
If anyone would know...

“SOMETHING NEW” B/W “BORN DANCER”
BY KIM FOWLEY (CAPITOL, 1973)

International Heroes is up there with Outrageous as
one of the strongest Fowley full-lengths, and this is
the elusive stock single with the two best songs.

Heroes was Fowley in Ziggy Stardust glam-rock
mode - he’s in heavy space-oddity drag on the front
and back - with a Dylan-esque man-of-the-people
angle, tempered throughout with an unexpected
Gatsby-ian where-have-all-the-good-times-gone?
sense of melancholy.

As he’d say in multiple interviews later: “I’ll die soon,
but I had more fun than you.” Heroes is that emotion
manifest, captured best on “Something New,” half

48 call-to-arms stormer and half last-call curtain-drop-

per: “They shut off the heat of the beat / ... / they
shut off the search for more minds...” B-side “Born
Dancer” is another strangely sad one - with an
accordion lead? - that sounds like Dennis Wilson
taking a crack at a downer Bolan song. It breaks on
the says-it-all-lyric “Born mellow ... now crazy!” and
then dials up a Stones-y gospel-girl chorus to close.
If anyone remembers Elliot Murphy, this would’ve
been the perfect spiritual B-side to “Last Of The
Rock Stars.”  

“CALIFORNIA SUNSHINE”
BY LANCE ROMANCE (NOW, 1974)

Another crucial glob of Fowleyiana, mostly thanks “Outrageous” by Kim Fowley
to absolutely venereal vocal delivery. Kim - camou-
flaged as Lance Romance - sounds truly diseased
as he trips through a happily hollow ode to some
quasi-extant form of California youth.

Call it a Pink Flamingos take on an early Beach “TEENAGE DEATH GIRL” A.K.A. IRON CROSS Originally, it’s a serviceable but not super memora-
Boys song - is it possible to hear a shit-eating grin “EVERYBODY ROCK ON” (PALETTE /SPARK, 1974) ble Euro glam-rock single, but the Fowley reanima-
through a microphone? - or maybe the definition of tion - sadly never issued on 45 - switches the topic
pretty vacant, with Fowley sarcastically chop- It’s a long-lasting legend that Kim would sometimes from rocking and who should do it to a universally
ping through a list of maybe-once-hip California raid studios for tapes seized from bands who didn’t relevant exploration of death, shit, sex and insanity.
locations with drippy come-ons like “Hey there, you pay their bills, wiping the vocals and releasing the
tough little fox! Are you ready for some good hard hijacked version as his own song. It starts with “I confess that I am the devil” - the
rock? I like your vibes, and you’ll sure like mine!” definition of an effective first sentence - and rockets
into a triumphantly Roky Ericksonian middle-break
For production, Kim went with sucking-chest- And something like that must’ve happened at least of “Zombie dog, I want to hate you!” (Which comes
wound synthesizer and field recordings of roosters once - or twice, as we’ll see in a second - because just after a joyful “Right on, bitch!” and serves as
and a barking seal - criminally underused, historical- the Kim classic “Teenage Death Girl” (from 1978’s preface to a relentless outro chant of “Sick ... sick
ly speaking - and then put in 1-4-5 acoustic guitar Sunset Boulevard LP) began life as Iron Cross’ un- ... sick ...”) The genre of gutter-glam - and no-name
to make sure this legally qualified as a song. One of fortunately inferior “Everybody Rock On.” (Turns out glam bands could get pretty gutter on their own -
his most obviously hateful releases, and therefore those are the three other non-Fowley songwriters in reached its peak here.
mathematically one of his best. the credits.)

KILL. FUCK. PLAY.