Newly-minted Altamont contributor Brian Hansen swiftly follows up his TransWorld cover with the June 2008 issue of Slap! Way to go, Slash, and congrats. Cigars all around!

Noise. Do you consider it music? If not, can it at least be part of music? No? Then does noise have your permission to even exist? Stop shaking your head. Just kidding. Noise doesn't give a hoot what you think anyway. It's been around a lot longer than you, flirting with music for nearly a century now. Among the first to tap its unruly characteristics were two Italian gents named Luigi Russolo and Antonio Russolo, who had close ties to the Italian Futurist movement. Around 1916, they built custom sound boxes called intonarumori that blatted out a ruckus of myriad sounds during concerts that greatly upset the general public. A decade later, Edgar Varese composed very dissonant symphonic works employing an unusually large battery of percussion, sirens and even a lion's roar (a big rope pulled through a metal tub) that proved far too much for the gentile classical audiences of the day.

In 1937, experimental composer John Cage, who was responsible for a few cacophonous pieces of his own, authored an amazingly precise prediction: "I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard." Sure enough, by the time the tape recorder rolled around at the beginning of the 1950s, Cage's dream came true as composers began to record everyday noises and manipulate them. The sped up, slowed down, spliced, re-arranged and layered sounds were thus transformed into startling new abstract sound realms. By the late '60s, psychedelic and krautrock bands combined these same techniques with their own increasingly distorted guitars, setting the stage for another great upheaval.

Throbbing Gristle, 1980. Photo enlarges.

In 1975, noise reared its beautifully ugly head once again as a new British group called Throbbing Gristle unleashed an outright attack upon the world of music. Beginning in the late '60s as controversial performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle startled a complacent mid '70s arena rock scene with distorted, grinding noise music made with synthesizers, tapes, guitars (but no drum kit) and vocals spouting lyrics about burn victims, murderers, rapists, serial killers and numerous other aspects of humanity's dark side. And the fact that the shock tactics came all wrapped up with fascist imagery on their debut album only added insult to injury. No wonder British politician Nicholas Fairbain was moved to call Throbbing Gristle the "wreckers of civilization."

Over a six-year period, the band released several official albums (some of which unpredictably explored less harsh territory) and a case of 24 cassettes that documented their confrontational live shows. For example, in a live setting, in addition to their abrasive sound, Throbbing Gristle was known to blind the crowd with ultra-bright lights, scare them with the taped admissions of serial killers, and assemble a wall of tall mirrors at the front of the stage, forcing audience members to engage in non-idolization and self-reflection. (One of the main ideas Throbbing Gristle tried to convey was to resist authority and think for yourself.) In 1981, right as the band almost became (gasp!) semi-popular, they broke up, mailing out a postcard to fans with the terse message: Throbbing Gristle: Mission Terminated.

Timeframe: Post-Altamont.

Public Impact: In 1976, Throbbing Gristle started a record label called Industrial Records to self-release all of their material. This simple act inspired a worldwide movement in the late '70s and '80s called industrial music. (Confusingly, this term was later applied to a quite dissimilar form of abrasive, rapid-fire rock--exemplified by bands like Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, etc.--which bears little resemblance to the more improvised approach of Throbbing Gristle.) Even if the band hadn't reformed in 2004, their legacy would still live on today through the myriad outfits who call an aural tsunami home. And, coupled with the performance art of COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle will always be remembered for pushing out the boundaries of art and music quite a bit further. As one critic put it, they "elevated civilization more than they wrecked it."

Learn more about Throbbing Gristle at:

Amazon
MySpace
Official
Wikipedia

Congratulations to Mike Vassari of Hopewell Junction, New York for winning Pharmacy's Win a Day at Altamont! contest. Mike got a free round-trip flight to Cali, breakfast, lunch and din-din with the Altamont staff,

a grip of Altamont apparel, a tour of our offices, a skate sesh with Figgy and even a lil' bowling to cap off the day. Thanks to everyone at Pharmacy and Altamont for making it all happen!

Robert Smithson was an American artist who lived from 1938 to 1973. Although he initially worked in traditional mediums like drawing, painting and photography, he's best-known for the massive sculptural earthworks that he created later in his career. Starting out producing pop art-inspired collages in the early '60s, the minimalism movement in the middle of that decade abruptly aimed Smithson in a new direction, as he began to fashion sheets of glass and neon tubes into quasi-industrial sculptures.

Next, drawing upon the influence of 18th and 19th century landscape architecture and the impressive sight of giant earthmoving equipment in action, Smithson began to assemble rock and dirt installations in art galleries in 1967, eventually moving on to full-scale on-site earthworks. In 1970 and '71, he produced his most famous pieces in this category, Spiral Jetty, Broken Circle and Spiral Hill. To counter criticisms that he was wrecking the landscape, Smithson claimed, “The best sites for Earth art are those that have been disrupted by industry, reckless urbanization, or nature’s own devastation.” Ironically and tragically, Smithson died in a plane crash on July 20, 1973 while surveying sites for his last great earthwork, Amarillo Ramp.

Timeframe: Pre and post-Altamont.

Public Impact: Although pre-dated by a hot minute by ancient geoglyphs, Robert Smithson's earthworks were among the first--and certainly the most majestic--of the modern era's official land art movement, which began in 1968 and continues today with artists like Andrew Rogers. And, although Smithson's works will be enjoyed for years to come by those few who seek them out in their remote locations, they will, as intended, slowly transform with the landscape over time--only to eventually and utterly erode into their surroundings.

To learn more, visit Robert Smithson's site.

It's Reynolds time here on the Altamont site! Just enter your contact info on the contest page for a chance to win one free pair of A. Reynolds Cord Shorts, one Tourist woven shirt and one Infantry cap! Better get busy, cuz this contest walks away on June 2, 2008.

Hot off the presses! Altamont contributors take the July 2008 Am Issue of TransWorld Skateboarding by storm! First up, Kenny Hoyle teaches you how to pop a pop shove-it crooked grind in the How To section. Not to be outdone, Sir Theotis Beasley hardflips down a big set in the Sightings photo gallery. Third and certainly not least, Brian Hansen scores max covey as a Guest Reviewer of the Month in the Volume section and busts a big ol' front board in Sightings. As if all that weren't enough, be sure to peep the brand-new Altamont 2008 team photo in our ad. Pick up a copy today!

Sonny recorded numerous albums throughout his life. The best early example is Black Woman, which contains such disparate elements as country blues, freeform atmospherics, avant-garde vocals and the aforementioned dissonant outbursts. The free music landmark Monkey-Pockie-Boo from 1970 is another high point. After taking a break from music for most of the '70s, Sonny was coaxed back into action in the early '80s by bassist / producer Bill Laswell, joining bands like Material and Last Exit, which was a raw-dog, hybrid rock / free jazz outfit featuring gnarly German sax player Peter Brotzmann, among others. The free improv madness continued with another band called Machine Gun at the end of the '80s

In 1991, Sonny got together with a quartet including two '60s free jazz veterans, Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones, on Ask the Ages, which is considered by some to be his high-flying, freewheeling masterpiece. Oddly enough, just before his premature death from a heart attack in 1994, Sonny and drummer Lance Carter recorded the theme song for the cartoon show Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Timeframe: Pre and post-Altamont.

Public Impact: Although Sonny Sharrock is not well-known to the general populace, his pioneering guitar work will forever loom as a large influence within the realms of free music.

Learn more about Sonny Sharrock at:

Forced Exposure
MySpace
YouTube

Parson Sound was an obscure Swedish rock band that existed for barely an eyeblink back in the late 1960s, creating a beautiful ruckus for a brief two-year period during the peak moments of the psychedelic era in 1967-1968. They blended elements of krautrock, psych, Terry Riley-influenced minimalism and the Velvet Underground into some of the most hazy, mesmerizing, pleasurable and extended jams ever to grace the cosmos. We're talking jams that could and would gently and effortlessy coalesce into the most hypnotizing drones or blurry clouds of cacophony imaginable. Members of Parson Sound went on to form other outfits called International Harvester in 1968 (later shortened to Harvester) and Trad, Gras och Stenar (Trees, Grass and Stones) in 1969. Some of their albums are well worth delving into, as well.

Timeframe: Pre-Altamont.

Public Impact: Amazingly, Parson Sound never released any records during their heyday, so their public impact could only be felt in a live setting in Sweden. (They once played at an Andy Warhol art show in Stockholm, and opened for the Doors.) But, miraculously, their archival material--consisting of studio and live recordings in various stages of corroded lo-fidelity--was finally issued for the first time ever as a 2-CD set in 2001. This ultra-amazing document quickly became a staple of bedroom psych heads everywhere. Today, you can easily buy single tracks or the whole shebang on mp3 over at Anthology Recordings, or acquire the discs at Aquarius or Amazon. For a taste, I so highly urge you to visit this MySpace page and listen to the track "India Slight Return." You'll be glad ya did!

Check out these pics taken by Foxxyz of the Altamont signing that went down during the grand opening of the brand-new Active store in Irvine, California on Saturday, April 26, 2008.

Attention all of you SoCal Altamont fanatics! Come get autographs from the Altamont team on Saturday, April 26, 2008 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm at Active Irvine, Irvine Spectrum Center, 71 Fortune Drive, SP 69, Irvine, California. Map.

Also, enjoy 25% off all Altamont products at Active Irvine only on April 26, 2008 only. Text "Active" to 81595 for a chance to win an Altamont package! Standard text message rates apply.

Head on over to TransWorld Business to read an interview with newly-minted Altamont contributor Brian Hansen regarding sponsor-hopping, nicknames,upcoming video footage and the gap-to-grind hammer he recently threw down in the pages of Thrasher!

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iPod-friendly

Altamont proudly welcomes Justin "Figgy" Figueroa and Brian "Slash" Hansen to the team. Cut from a different cloth.

Check out these snaps from Altamont contributor Patrick O'Dell's To All My Friends photo show that opened at Anti-Social up in Vancouver last Friday, April 18, 2008. The night before, Altamont also presented a DJ set by Leo Fitzpatrick (Kids, Bully, The Wire) at a bar. Thanks to Color and the Blast Ramp crew. Anti-Social photos (11-32) by Jennilee Marigomen.

For this contest, just draw or paint* a scene of death and destruction. Although Neck Face is the inspiration, that doesn't mean you should copy his style. Be creative and original!
One winner will be chosen, who will win one Baker Andrew Reynolds deck with graphics by Neck Face, one Altamont Child Logo t-shirt and one pair of Altamont Reynolds denim or pants of their choice! Snail mail your entries to:

Altamont Draw Death and Destruction! Contest
25422 Trabuco Road, Suite 105 #245
Lake Forest, California 92630.

Note: We will only accept snail mail entries--you can't enter online! *Also, your drawing or painting cannot contain any photography. The contest ends on May 16, 2008. Read the Official Rules.

In German, Neu! means New! And in 1971, Neu! was indeed new, as that was the year this archetypical krautrock band formed. (As its name implies, krautrock is a form of German music that developed in the late 1960s and combined elements of non-blues-based rock, psychedelic, avant-garde and ambient.) It didn't take much time for the members of Neu!--Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother from another pioneering German band called Kraftwerk--to tear their way out of the shrinkwrap that encased them and become one of the very best bands of the genre.

So, what does Neu! music sound like? Some of their tracks feature simple, repetitive, "motorik" bass and drums layered with sheets of minimal, scalding guitar textures; while others are much more mellow and bathed in euphoric deep atmosphere. Neu! was responsible for other innovations, too. For example, due to a lack of funds to complete side two of their second album, the band filled it with re-worked versions of one of their singles and unwittingly invented the re-mix. And their final album, Neu '75, even featured an atypical snarling, fiercely aggressive track that became a huge influence on the subsequent punk rock movement.

Timeframe: Post-Altamont.

Public Impact: Although Neu! wasn't commercially successful in the '70s, their music grew by word of mouth to cast a huge influence upon numerous other musicians over the decades, including Joy Division, Ultravox, PiL, Gary Numan, Negativland, Stereolab and countless electronic artists. In fact, Neu!'s sound was so far ahead of its time that it still sounds totally modern today. And after suffering from inferior bootlegs and languishing out of print for years, all three of their albums finally got a legit re-issue in 2001 and are easily available today. So highly recommended!

Learn more about Neu! at:

Amazon
Forced Exposure
YouTube

Congratulations to Andrew S. of Petaluma, California, who won our Guess Who? contest. For being the first to correctly identify the person in the photo above as Alice Cooper, Andrew won himself a complete Altamont apparel outfit, consisting of one cap, one t-shirt, one hood and one pair of pants of his choice.

Don't forget to enter the Win the Child Logo! contest right now! And look for another fun contest coming sooner than you think!

Attention all of you SoCal Altamont fanatics! Come get autographs from the Altamont team on Saturday, April 26, 2008 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm at Active Irvine, Irvine Spectrum Center, 71 Fortune Drive, SP 69, Irvine, California. Map.

Also, enjoy 25% off all Altamont products at Active Irvine only on April 26, 2008 only. Text "Active" to 81595 for a chance to win an Altamont package! Standard text message rates apply.

Celebrities' love for the 'mont continues unabated! Check this lil' pic of Kourtney Kardashian's boyfriend wearing the Altamont Mixed hood. Everybody loves Altamont!

Slash gets on Altamont then promptly makes the cover of TransWorld Skatebooarding! Coincidence? I think not! Ha-ha. Congrats, and welcome to the team, Slash! Oh yeah, Figgy's fully on Altamont now, too! Oops, this was all supposed to be a big secret. Look for an official announcement coming soon! :0)

Calling all of you Canadian bacons! Come check out Altamont contributor Patrick O'Dell's To All My Friends photo show on Friday, April 18, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. at Anti-Social 2425 Main Street, Vancouver, Canada. Afterparty at Richards on Richards, 1036 Richards Street.

It's Neck Face time here on the Altamont site! Just enter your contact info on the contest page for a chance to win one free Child Logo t-shirt designed by you know who! Plus, we'll throw in a Pinned hood and Velour cap for good measure. Better get busy, cuz this contest dies on May 1, 2008.

Calling all of you French fries! Come get an autograph from the Altamont team--Andrew Reynolds, Bryan Herman, Kenny Hoyle, Sammy Baca, Theotis Beasely, Garrett Hill, Justin Figueroa and Slash--on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 16 H at Street Machine, 12 Rues des Halles, Paris, France; followed by a session at 18:30 H at Skatepark Paris, Centre Sportif des Fillette, 54 Bis BD Ney. Metro porte de la Chapelle.

Altamont and Pharmacy have joined forces once again! Check out the new Altamont + Pharmacy Team t-shirt featuring Altamont on one side and Pharmacy on the other. Pick one up on the Pharmacy site while supplies last!

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Eternal Altamont contributor Fos talks about growing up in England, running his skateboard company Heroin, designing graphics for Altamont and the influence that music and the Boss have on his work.

Once again, there's a big Altamont 20% Off Sale happening right now over on the Pharmacy web site! Enjoy 20% off any Altamont product today, March 15, 2008 only! This will be the last Altamont sale on the Pharmacy site this year, so be sure to take advantage of it!

Check out Spring 2009 Altamont contributors No Age looming large on the cover of the March / April 2008 issue of Death and Taxes magazine, plus a long-ass eight-page article inside. They also scored a one-page interview in the April 2008 issue of Thrasher, so be sure to peep that, too. When you're done reading, go get an earful of some No Age tunes.

There's been a flurry of sightings lately of celebrities donning Altamont Apparel, including Justin Timberlake, Lukas Miller (son of vert style wizard Chris Miller) and Robert Downey Jr. Everybody loves Altamont!

The first five people to place a minimum $100 Altamont order on the Pharmacy web site after 12:00 a.m. on the morning of March 11, 2008 will receive a signed, framed Altamont team poster. So, get ready, get set, click!

No, it's not the Who, the Guess Who or even the Who that Horton heard! But, it is you who has to guess who is in this photo. The first person to do so correctly on the contest page wins a free bottle of Yoo-Hoo and one complete Altamont Apparel outfit of their choice, consisting of one cap, one t-shirt, one hood and one pair of denim or pants. The contest ends on April 1, 2008.

Head on over to the Pharmacy site and enter for a chance to win one full day at Altamont headquarters! Meet the Altamont designers, skate with the Altamont team and shop in the Altamont store! Don't delay, enter today! The contest ends on March 30, 2008. Good luck!

Note: The contest is on the Pharmacy site, not here on the Altamont site!

There's a big Altamont 20% Off Sale happening right now over on the Pharmacy web site! Enjoy 20% off any Altamont product today, March 4, 2008 only!

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time! Proto art punk band Debris formed in 1975 in Chickasha, Oklahoma--of all places--and immediately splattered their dull yee-haw surroundings with buckets of "One Way Spit" and absolutely no apologies. During their blink-of-an-eye existence, which only lasted a year, they played a mere four chaotic gigs and documented their unique, improvised, experimentally-tinged brand of aggressive music on a private press LP in an edition of 1000--complete with a super rad-looking reversed out bondage photo on the cover, the likes of which were not particularly common at the time.

After mailing out copies to rock labels and mags, Debris received a grand total of no signing offers, and, after a smattering of negative reviews, decided to throw in the towel. That's a shame, as the band would have meshed perfectly with the New York punk and no wave scenes that were just beginning to form. Too bad they were stuck in a midwest podunk town and never received proper acclaim as one of the first '70s punk bands! A bit later, after rumors of their wild LP circulated, Debris eventually got an offer to play at CBGB, but by that time it was too late, as they had--true to their name--completely reduced themselves to a pile of smoldering rubbish. A couple of years later, the bass player appropriately wound up in the mix at an early Los Angeles punk club called the Masque.

Timeframe: Post-Altamont.

Public Impact: Described by critics as an odd blend of precursors like Captain Beefheart and the Stooges, as well as contemporaries Chrome, MX-80 Sound and Pere Ubu, the Debris LP became a legendary lost album over the next three decades, highly prized by collectors. It enjoyed an expanded reissue on CD in 1999, complete with 40 minutes of additional music, photos and extensive liner notes. And the original band even played a reunion show in Oklahoma City in 2005, exploding the Debris cloud ever outward!

Learn more about Debris at:

Anopheles
Forced Exposure
MySpace

As if the interview with Altamont contributor Kenny Hoyle in the last issue of Automatic wasn't enough, now they've gone and slapped a poster of him in their lastest, Volume 9 Issue 59(!) Grab a copy today and throw it up on your wall.

Whoa. Check out this mysterious Altamont promo clip that recently appeared on YouTube. It's pretty warm, but too bad we can't figure out who made it or what the narrator is saying. Maybe it's better that way.

If you're in San Francisco anytime in the next month, go check out a skate art show called There is Xerox on the Insides of Your Eyelids at Needles & Pens curated by my friend Rich Jacobs. It's number 15 in a series of art shows that he organizes called Move, and explores the original wave of 1980s skate zines and Xerox art, featuring Garry Davis (Skate Fate), Tod Swank (Swank Zine), Thomas Campbell (Joke), Chris Johanson (Karmaboarder), Andy Jenkins (Bend), Bernie McGinn (Tiki), Kevin Wilkins (7 Zine), John Dettman aka John Lytle (Naughty Nomads), Mark Waters (408), Rich Jacobs (Skate Edge), Jocko Weyland (Elk, Revenge Against Boredom, author of The Answer is Never), Dennis Remsing (REM), Dan Esabrook (Contort), Tim Kerr (Big Boys), Chris Shary (Burly Obsession), Ron Cameron (Dope, Skate Slate), Mofo (Thrasher), Rodger Bridges (Grim Ripper, Powerhouse, Dancing Skeleton) and more.

Needles & Pens
3253 16th Street (between Guerrero and Dolores)
San Francisco, California 94103
Phone (415) 255-1534
Open daily from 12:00 noon - 7:00 pm.

I was hanging out with Fos in a bar the other night when the DJ slapped on a super rad-sounding '60s song that seemed vaguley familiar. No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn't quite dredge up its title or the artist's name to save my life. "Straight out of 1968!" I thought to myself. Fos consulted with the DJ and found out the song is called "Send Me a Postcard" by a Dutch band called Shocking Blue.

The next day, I conducted a Google search, and sure enough, the song was recorded in 1968. I nailed it! Seems the band existed from 1967 to 1974, and, unbeknownst to me, wrote that famous song "Venus" that became a number one hit in the United States in 1970. (Unfortunately, "Venus" also went on to be ruined in the '80s by some lame dance pop group that I really don't care to name.)

And then there are the YouTube videos. Quite a few versions of "Venus" exist, and there's even a completely out-of-sync one for "Send Me a Postcard" that a fan assembled from "Venus" excerpts and photos. I wish they would have filmed a real one for "Postcard" back in the day! With its crystal clear female vocals shot through with raw fuzz guitar, that song absolutely slays! And as if all that weren't enough, the lead singer is a total ultra fox!

Timeframe: Pre-Altamont.

Public Impact: Although, as mentioned above, Shocking Blue produced a #1 hit with "Venus" in the United States, in subsequent decades, their legacy has slipped back into obscurity here, even despite a reunuon or two. Considering the high quality of their music, the fact that Shocking Blue never became well-known in the U.S. is simply, well, shocking. But, through word of mouth, their rock will always roll on.

Learn more about Shocking Blue at:

Discogs
Geocities
Alex Gitlin
Ning
Wikipedia

Mosey on over to Fecal Face and take a gander at the huge stack of photos they just posted of Altamont contributor Neck Face's Death Becomes You art show opening at Don't Come Gallery in Melbourne, Australia on January 24, 2008.

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Check this footage of Altamont contributor Theotis Beasley making his way through the street course at Tampa Am 2008. Filmed by Rob Brink.

Held at the base of Mt. Kilauea on Hawaii's Big Island back in the early 1980s, the Inferno Festival was a precursor to the Monsters of Rock type festivals of today. Despite its obscurity, the little-known yet fiery event was a big inspiration on the Altamont Spring 2008 Collection. Hematoma, Wizard Hill and Child performed and everyone in attendance rocked—until Mt. Kilauea suddenly erupted, killing everyone. In commemoration of the December 6 anniversary of the tragedy, we've re-released an article from the Big Island Chronicle, a now defunct, lightly-circulated Hawaiian periodical, providing a unique perspective of what really happened at Inferno.

Big Island Chronicle

Glenwood, HI — Mt. Kilauea, among the most active of the world's volcanoes, has erupted continuously since 1983. On December 6, the Inferno Festival, a heavy metal concert, was held at Kalapana Gardens at the foot of the tumultuous mountain. The show ended in tragedy when Kilauea erupted violently, sending a landslide of molten lava into the crowd of thousands below. Bedazzled by the music, concertgoers assumed the eruption was part of the festival's renowned pyrotechnics display, as the incident occurred during the crescendo of headlining band Hematoma's encore set. One survivor story has surfaced, along with a few tales of narrow escape.

Kupa'a Pono Describes Brush With Death

Days after officials announced there were no survivors of the Inferno Festival, a local man named Kupa'a Pono has emerged, claiming he was at the festival moments before Mt. Kilauea erupted. Pono, a native of Oahu and self-described rock-nerd-pizza-delivery-guy, reportedly left the event after an altercation with festival security.

"I was climbing a palm tree when I felt someone tug at my ankle. It was a rent-a-cop telling me to get down," said Pono. "I ended up in the parking lot with a black eye and a bloody nose. The bouncer was a total dick, but he saved my life. Free pies for life, brah."

Clay Crud Releases Festival Journal Excerpt

I was Hematoma's original guitarist. Growing up in Detroit, Bobby Blaze (Hematoma frontman) and I were always really close. We shared everything from Kiss records to dirt bikes and sometimes even girlfriends. When I stepped down from guitar duties because I missed practices (and when I did show up, I would get too buzzed and only cover Dokken tunes), I drifted apart from Bobby and the rest of the band.

They left for LA to record Six Ways to Sunday, and I stayed in Michigan, where I live in my sister and brother-in-law's basement and work the door at the Star Bar. Last month, I got a call from Bobby out of the blue. He asked me to come to Hawaii to play an encore set with Hematoma! I borrowed some cash from my brother-in-law and booked a flight to Honolulu.

The night before I left, I got in a fistfight with my manager over tips at the Star Bar, and I ended up in jail. The cops know me and took their sweet time getting me booked. By the time I got out, I missed my flight—and my chance to rock. At home, I turned on the tube and couldn't freakin' believe what I saw. The newsman said the show ended tragically—even Bobby got blazed. Dang. Looks like I'm better off in my sister's basement after all.

Captain Abe McSweeney Recounts Explosion From Sea

Minutes before the eruption, commercial fishing captain Abe McSweeney tended to the Pacific from his vessel, Mary's Dance. He reported the following: "Weather was fair, water was calm. Trawlers had been empty all day because of some Insane-o-Festival up the beach at Kalapana Gardens. The high-pitched squealing that kids call music drove the all fish below our nets.

I saw that old harlot Kilauea start to smoke and bubble something awful. Sure as the smell of a Pacific breeze, I knew she was going to blow her top. I got on the loudspeaker to shout warning, but that God-blasted music was too loud. When bubbling lava started flowing down her sides, the kids, they kept screaming and laughing—waving their arms like they were being electrocuted. They thought it was part of the show! When they realized it wasn't, it was too late. All them people trying to get away—every last one of 'em was consumed by the fire. I had to get out of there before the lava reached the sea and burned the Mary, but it was a sight this old salt won't ever forget."

Relationship Saga Saves Cheetah Pink

Local dancer Cheetah Pink shares her recollection of the event: "My boyfriend, Duane, was totally into Hematoma. I mean, they were, like, the reason we met. One night, I was at the Sign of the Whale playing pool and dancing, crawling all sexy down the bar, and there was Duane, staring at me like he'd just seen his first Trans-Am. He walked up and was all, 'You look like the chick on the cover of Hematoma's Six Ways To Sunday. You even crawl like her!' So, I'm like, 'That is the most sweetest thing I've ever heard.'

We'd been together, like, six whole months before the Inferno Festival. I've had guys love me before, but not for six months in a row. We went to the show, and as we we're getting out of the IROC, I was like, 'Where's my Strawberry Hill?' He's like, 'Babe, don't worry about it, I got a case of Keystone.' And I was all, 'Did you forget my name is Cheetah Pink and I only drink pink drinks?' Duane got all pissed off and said that I sounded just like his ex-girlfriend Tina! Tina's a total skank, and I am nothing like that, so I stomped off.

A couple of minutes later, I ran into Randy from the ABC store. He was always giving me free Red Vines and stuff, so I thought, 'Now here's a guy who appreciates me.' So we left. I heard what happened the next day. It's so sad, but it's the way Duane would have wanted to go—in a blaze of blaring metal and red-hot lava! Besides, if Duane hadn't been so inconsiderate, I wouldn't be alive today. Randy and I are expecting a baby in August and, if it's a boy, we're going to name him Duane Blaze. If it's a girl, we're going to name her Blaze Pink. You can't name a girl Duane. Duh."

And life goes on. Fast forward to the present day and view the infernal inspration that spawned the new Altamont Spring 2008 Collection.

Courtesy of EXPN Words by Jon Hanks, Tim Breault and Piney Kahn

Opening reception: January 19, 2008 from 7:00 to 10:00. Show open from January 19 to February 16.

Fuse Gallery
93 2nd Avenue (between 5th and 6th Streets)
New York, New York 10003
Phone: (212) 777-7988
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 3:00 to 8:00
Subway: F train to 2nd Avenue

It's gonna be epic!

Born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, photographer and distant future Altamont contributor Boogie began photographing rebellion and unrest during the civil war that ravaged his country during the 1990s. Though he never planned to leave his homeland, a green card he won in the national lottery brought him to the United States in 1998. Boogie settled in Brooklyn, where he resumed his photographic pursuit of those living on the fringe, outside the law, in the margins of society. Selected by Photo District News as Best Photography Book of 2006, his first book, It's All Good, documents the gangsters, crackheads and junkies of New York City's most notorious neighborhoods.

Boogie's work continues to reach diverse audiences with his precise blend of incisive investigation and aggressive aestheticism. Digging beneath the surface of everyday life has become this self-taught photographer's mission. To celebrate the release of Boogie, a limited-edition of 500, Colette and Galerie Olivier Robert present two distinct exhibitions featuring some of the photographer's most personal images that have been gathered during his travels through life with camera in hand.

January 7-26, 2008
Colette
213 Rue St. Honore
Paris, France
Phone: +331 55 35 33 90

March 12-April 12, 2008
Galerie Olivier Robert
19 Rue Mazarine
Paris, France
Phone: +33 (0) 1 43 25 31 87

Crack open a copy of Automatic magazine Volume 9 Issue 58(!) for a six-page interview with Altamont contributor Kenny Hoyle. Actually, the interview is with his dad, but at least it's about Kenny, his finger amputation and his steadfast dedication to skateboarding. Can you say inside scoop?

Check out this sick-ass Reynolds commercial Active made for Fuel TV.

Join distant future Altamont contributor Rich Jacobs (The City of Light, Speed and Water) and Tim Kerr (The Big Boys) for an opening reception and musical performance this coming Saturday, December 8, 2007 from 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. at Needles and Pens 3253 16th Street, San Francisco, California, phone (415) 255-1534. The show will be on display through early January 2008.

Peep this ill Altamont window display at Underworld in Vancouver, designed by artiste Danny Vermette!

--logan h.

Logan,

--Altamont Help Desk

Check out future Altamont contributors No Age on the Practice Space show on VBS.TV!

November 15, 2007
The Silent Movie Theater
Los Angeles, California

The Source Family was a Los Angeles-based religious commune formed back in the late 1960s and early ’70s by a charismatic spiritual guru named Father Yod. At its peak, Father and his group, at 140 members strong, decked themselves out in full-length robes, farmed some seriously long hair and beards (on the men, at least), ran a highly profitable health food store called The Source on Sunset Boulevard, lived in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, drove a sparkling Rolls Royce and recorded eight albums of raw, prime psychedelic rock. After being “encouraged” by authorities to leave sunny SoCal--mainly for living in overcrowded (yet clean) conditions and illegally home schooling their kids--the clan relocated to Hawaii, where they were not exactly welcomed with open arms by hostile locals.

An attempt at living in San Francisco came next, where they didn't have much more luck, so some of them returned to Hawaii, where Father Yod crashed and died during his very first untutored attempt to soar the skies in a hang glider. In subsequent years, the Source Family dissolved. Some members ended up in dire circumstances on the streets, while others returned to a more conventional lifestyle and a few continued living under the influence of Father. In recent years, they've held a handful of private reunions, and recently invited the public to join in all the fun during the celebration of a lavishly-illustrated new tell-all book about their life and times called The Source: The Untold Story of the Father Yod, Ya Ho Wha 13 and the Source Family.

At the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles, eight original members of the Family clambered up on stage to reminisce about the good old days while a bunch of their vintage slides, home movies and amusing cable access spots played on a screen behind them. The original members of Ya Ho Wha 13--Djin Aquarian on guitar, Sunflower Aquarian on bass and Octavius Aquarian on drums--then offered up a half-hour of loose, wispy and spontaneous psychedelic rock during their very first gig in 32 years to a packed, very amped and appreciative audience. They played another much longer set the following night at the Echoplex.

The guitar player, Djin, caressed his strings with a feather and other objects while playing through a delay pedal, creating a nice electric wash as the rhythm section pounded away. It was similar to the early Father Yod and the Spirit of '76 albums, but without Father's atonal ranting. I was hoping that Djin would bust out a distortion pedal and offer up some serious Penetration-style wildness, but that was not in the cards. The Source book comes highly recommended, as does Ya Ho Wha 13's raw, primitive and completely unhinged Penetration and I'm Gonna Take You Home albums. Learn more about it all at the following locations:

"Best LA band since the Germs!"--Justin Regan

Check out some of the Altamont crew in issue number 48 of Mass Appeal magazine. Cool write-up, too.

Enjoy a few snaps from an exhibit of paintings called Numerology by Altamont contributor Fos presented by Altamont and Maven on Friday, August 31, 2007 at Jager DiPaola Kemp Design in Burlington, Vermont.

Double-whammy Halloween in New York City! Neck Face art show and Krooked Gnaughty video premiere!

To usher in Halloween 2007, New York-based Dactyl Foundation will host an exhibition called Closed Casket, See You At The Bottom featuring works from the elusive graffiti artist and Altamont Spring 2008 contributor Neck Face. The exhibition will open on Wednesday, October 31 and end on Saturday, November 24 at Dactyl Foundation 64 Grand Street, New York, New York.

After the opening reception on Halloween, be sure to head on over to Epstein's Bar for the premiere of the new Krooked Gnaughty video.

Art for slash dogs, acid casualties, the criminally insane, cyber-punks, rich cult leaders, switchblade chicks, ill visionaries, up-and-comers, has-beens, metal bros and you.

Featuring new paintings by Glen Allen, Sterling Bartlett, Joe Dancer and Chadwick Uptain. Also featuring Benny Jet and sounds by Turbolito (Guns N' Bombs, Ima Robot), William Fucking Reed and Dirty Dave.

Saturday, November 3 at Art Murmur 129 E. 6th Street (between Main and Los Angeles), Los Angeles, California.

Stir up some fire and brimstone with Altamont contributor Sammy Baca and a whole slew of other metalers at the KCDC Halloween Massacre featuring the Gimme Metal art show and party with 60 artists, three bands, skating, free drinks, a real dragon slaying and a whole mess o' other mayhem.

It all goes down on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. at KCDC 90 N. 11th Street, Brooklyn, New York, phone (718) 387-9006. Sorry, 21 and up only with ID.

Altamont contributor Andrew Reynolds got props in the latest issue of UK magazine, Huck.

Altamont contributor Patrick O'Dell's Epicly Later'd TV dived under-the-scenes on Emerica's Wild Ride 2007 and came up for air with a four-part retrospective on Altamont boss Andrew Reynolds. Episodes 7 and 8 are up right now. Make sure to check back really soon for 9 and 10!

Check out this limited-edition deck that Real Skateboards just released featuring the artwork of Altamont contributor Fos. They only made 500 of 'em, so you better grab one before they're all gone!