song 066 : Night Prowler PCH (DNA + Outtakes)
Crime was a constant at Jabberjaw in Crenshaw. Friendships were born in the aftermath. One night when the PeeChees were playing two guys from San Pedro had their truck broken into, shattered glass everywhere. We waited with them for the police who, as we tried to flag them down, drove slowly by, laughing at us.
After Jabberjaw closed, the two guys from San Pedro opened a club in a bleak strip of warehouses along Pacific Coast Highway: PCH Club. The first time we were asked to play there we went down to check it out and to my shock I had a full blown panic attack, something that never happens to me. I was sure I was going to die in a car crash or assault any second.
Later that night after talking it over with a friend I figured it out. PCH Club and the area around it looked an awful lot like where I was taken in tenth grade when I was kidnapped, beaten, raped and nearly murdered. I was having a flashback.
The band wanted to cancel the show but I didn't want to. I think we were opening for Red Monkey from the UK. I decided I wanted to face this down. I wanted to use the fear, harness it to my performance, and be rid of at least some of it. I found the two creepiest predator songs I could to make into my revenge song.
"Night Prowler" by Bon Scott's AC/DC is known around SoCal as the Richard Ramirez song because it helped inspire the Hispanic satanic causing panic serial killer to call himself the Night Stalker. "Pacific Coast Highway" from Sonic Youth's Sister CD is a Kim Gordon song about a predator in a car. Given the club placement, it seemed magical. I began seeing what I was doing as a ritual.
The night of the show I wore a big black hoodie, when I sang Night Prowler PCH I pulled the hoodie over my head. It had silkscreened in white on the back of it the planet Earth and the words Terror Worldwide. When I put it on I thought of all the girls and women raped and murdered every day in the world.
At first as I sang it I was shaking and sweaty but as I began using the lyrics as my own words, as I imagined myself as the hunter, taking vengeance on a rapist, I began feeling an incredible amount of energy. By the end of the song I was relaxed, relieved, and happy even. People said I was glowing.
Listen to the song: Click Here
After Jabberjaw closed, the two guys from San Pedro opened a club in a bleak strip of warehouses along Pacific Coast Highway: PCH Club. The first time we were asked to play there we went down to check it out and to my shock I had a full blown panic attack, something that never happens to me. I was sure I was going to die in a car crash or assault any second.
Later that night after talking it over with a friend I figured it out. PCH Club and the area around it looked an awful lot like where I was taken in tenth grade when I was kidnapped, beaten, raped and nearly murdered. I was having a flashback.
The band wanted to cancel the show but I didn't want to. I think we were opening for Red Monkey from the UK. I decided I wanted to face this down. I wanted to use the fear, harness it to my performance, and be rid of at least some of it. I found the two creepiest predator songs I could to make into my revenge song.
"Night Prowler" by Bon Scott's AC/DC is known around SoCal as the Richard Ramirez song because it helped inspire the Hispanic satanic causing panic serial killer to call himself the Night Stalker. "Pacific Coast Highway" from Sonic Youth's Sister CD is a Kim Gordon song about a predator in a car. Given the club placement, it seemed magical. I began seeing what I was doing as a ritual.
The night of the show I wore a big black hoodie, when I sang Night Prowler PCH I pulled the hoodie over my head. It had silkscreened in white on the back of it the planet Earth and the words Terror Worldwide. When I put it on I thought of all the girls and women raped and murdered every day in the world.
At first as I sang it I was shaking and sweaty but as I began using the lyrics as my own words, as I imagined myself as the hunter, taking vengeance on a rapist, I began feeling an incredible amount of energy. By the end of the song I was relaxed, relieved, and happy even. People said I was glowing.
Listen to the song: Click Here
posted by TamraSpivey at 12:50 AM
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