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Zine Scene Seen

Rock & Roll Is the Devil's Music: The cover of Bug Boy's latest installment of 'Welcome to the Nightmare.' Two local zines are more ghoulish than a shift at the graveyard By Matt Koumaras I'VE WATCHED the movie Psycho 12 times now and have yet to discover any character named Billy. There was the psychotic Norman Bates, of course, but no psycho Billy Bates--although someone by that same name played a rather scrappy free safety for the Dallas Cowboys. Whatever the case, Bug Boy, warrior/editor of Welcome to the Nightmare (No. 8 is just out), has been diligently working the graveyard shift to bring the latest issue to the welcoming laps of every boy and ghoul. This zine remarkably sticks to its musical target, and its bullets never stray toward more mainstream styles like pop punk or '50s rock shtick. Tons of show and record reviews are available here to help keep fans up to date with the psycho scene. The "Rumors for Psycho" article is full of all the dirt about what to expect from bands in the months to come. It is particularly informative since most of the cutting-edge bands are oceans away. Plus there is a well-written piece on Brazilian psychobilly--and here I thought all Brazilians did was salsa on the sand with Michael Caine in G-strings screaming "Goal!!!" The explicitly gruesome photos of real-life mangled corpses downloaded from the Internet were completely in bad taste. The nightmarish sight of a split-open head has had me arming myself with kitchen utensils in a well-lighted storage space. Before I forget, this zine is also seeking out psychobilly bands for an upcoming "Rock & Roll Is Devil's Music" issue. so send 'em a demo, and you too can be the King Crybaby. For info, write WTTN, 1840 41st Ave., #102-350, Capitola, 95010 ([email protected]). Drain Wash No. 5: Masterfully weaving its way through an obstacle course of screwball comics, anime-styled video games (nerd alert!) and, most significantly, the lexicon of plumbing, this bold zine certainly offers the weirdest combinations since the various feathery dishes throbbing at any West Virginia Sizzler. For starters, there is a hilarious comic about a vampire plumber who gets worked over by a pipe full of clogged garlic bread that shall rotor everyone's internal rooters. There is also a rather poignant elegy about a van that was not only a plumber's ticket to many an emergency but also a best friend. The ninja-plumber comic provided refreshing Drano for the dojo, but as it was just one page long, it left me craving more. There is also a Final Fantasy 7 game review that's about as illuminating as seeing a plumber's southern exposure shining from under your sink. I could have used this zine's plumbing wisdom a couple weeks ago when a menacing faucet transformed my apartment into Water World and colored me Costner. This is definitely the most twisted concept for a zine since the one I heard about solely based upon about how Kurt Cobain's death was the result of him being lactose intolerant (coincidentally, Nirvana wrote a pro-plumbing song called "Drain You"). You just have to raise your plunger and give an epic invocation to a zine that triumphantly declares, "It's crap for your eyes." For info, write Drainwash, 915 Capitola Road, Santa Cruz, 95062 ([email protected]). Upcoming Friday (June 25), the What-Nots, Junk Sick Dawn and Meat Pizza Sandwich play Skinny's (9pm); Sunday, Herbert, Sketch, Dojo, Damones and the Pre-Jacks play the Paradise Lounge in San Francisco (21 and up). [ Santa Cruz Week | MetroActive Central | Archives ]