Destroy LA #5

I’ve always wanted to own a different issue of this thing that has Circle One’s John Macias on the cover, because that guy was my hero. “Let’s Get Rid of Society”: an all-timer, am I right? “Destroy Exxon” is even better. Alas, I’ve only been able to procure this issue of Destroy LA #5, published in 1983 in Van Nuys, CA. 

It’s a wild hardcore punk fanzine that is somewhat undercut by a cover tagline that you see here of “Alternative Beat”. This is explained. Apparently the FBI was after them for their Destroy LA name (say what? Fuckin’ Reagan!) and so they’ll be changing it. But thankfully “…Alternative Beat seems to represent us better”. This dichotomy plays out throughout this issue, as we shall discover. However, I have found no instances of any subsequent fanzine that existed under that name. Perhaps this is for the best?

Alan Brown, Lyn Carvelli and Dan Mazewski were both the editors and entire staff for this one. Not only did they crank it out with a press run of 10,000, they put out an LP compilation of many of the bands featured herein called The Sound of Hollywood. I remember this one, one of the many utterly terrible hardcore comps that came out on Mystic, but man what a cover! It’s selling for $58 and up on Discogs now, likely because of two acoustic Bad Religion tracks.

Yes, about that. This issue catches Bad Religion right as they’re gearing up for the release of their prog rock album with the outer space cover, Into The Unknown, an absolutely legendary record that was so poorly-received the band immediately stuck their tails between their legs, veered right back into punk, and called its follow up Back To The Known.  In this interview, they are clearly already prepared for how hated they’ll be when Into The Unknown comes out. 

Brett Gurewitz: “L.A. is gonna disown us….even if one person buys it we will still have our life together….all I know is if no one does like it and if it bombs we’re still not gonna be dead…”. Greg Graffin: “If we continue playing ‘punk’ because we’re guaranteed to sell 20,000 records, we’d be selling out”. (unneeded note: Bad Religion subsequently released several albums that have sold over 500,000 copies; earned multiple Gold and Platinum album awards, and won a Grammy). Graffin also uses an expression I really haven’t heard since I was in high school in the early 80s when he says “Our first record sold up the butt”. This is a phrase which inexplicably means “a lot”. We should bring that expression back, I’m thinking.

Much of Destroy LA #5 has ultra-tiny type and some sloppy printing that makes it a tough read at times, but I was able to make it through the opening interview with Red Scare and found that this goth punk band had a female singer, which I didn’t know. Bobbi Brat unfortunately died of cancer a mere five years after this interview. There are also interviews with Shattered Faith; F-Beat, some rockabilly thing; and what’s billed as a “newer music” band, Still Life. This band features a guy, Paul Lesperance, who was the blonde singer fella with the bangs in ‘77-’78 Masque punks Shock – yeah – “This Generation’s on Vacation”, baby! His new band really, really wants a record company behind them, to “get a deal”. Alas, it seems that their only appearance on any sort of record at all was, um, Destroy LA/Mystic Records’ aforementioned The Sound of Hollywood compilation. 

Destroy LA #5‘s record reviews are brief, to the point, and I’m afraid are none too helpful. Regarding The Dream Syndicate’s The Days of Wine and Roses, the entire review is “A real promising band with a real good and fun stage show also”. This is followed by a page of MTV video reviews, including much of the new wave/synth pop stuff that I assume would likely have made up the bulk of any future Alternative Beat fanzine. 

Finally, I’ll let you go with some tidbits from the interview with Watty of The Exploited. He has several important opinions worth noting: “Philadelphia was shit, it’s all Crass fans or wankers”; “Black Flag played with us in Britain, they were pure wankers”; “I hate (Jello) Biafra, he is a wanker”; “Chron Gen are wankers, they’re shit”; “Chelsea? Gene October is a faggot, a wanker, a poof”. He also won’t even let the interviewer start asking questions until he takes off his Crass buttons. Worth finding this one for this single page alone.