Issue 03
Underground music scenes in Latin America; the Black roots of the skinhead punk scene; and all-girl AC/DC tribute band called AC/DShe. SWINDLE delves into the real alternatives of alternative rock. Our cover boy this time around is the Space Invader—a perfectionist, a thoughtful and focused artist, he considers his street art a “gift” to the city.
The Legacy of Ian Stuart
By Fat Richard Warwick
Illustration By Florencio Zavala and Shepard Fairey
On January 30th, 1978, Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, gave a television interview in which she stated, “People are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture.”
THE HISTORY OF SPRAY PAINT
By Ian Sattler and Darrell and Ben Chapnick
Photos By Darrell and Ben Chapnick
Illustration By Anthony Smyrski
They’re everywhere. There are millions of them sold every year in hundreds of thousands of stores across the country. They are most likely in your house right now. “They” are aerosol spray paint cans. While you may not give them an awful lot of thought on a daily basis, they have been coloring Americans’ vision
Latin Alternative Sound
By Caroline Ryder
Photos By Dan Monick
Illustration By Florencio Zavala
The sun’s going down on Tijuana, and some teenage kids are letting off firecrackers on the beach. Orange rust has decomposed a corrugated iron fence that extends into the Pacific, marking the borderline between Mexico and the United States.
STEP RIGHT UP
By Caleb Neelon
Photos By the National Carousel Archives, Museum of Carousel Art and History, Sandusky, Ohio
Illustration By Florenci0 Zavala
Carousel animals are a confusing species. They are alternately beautiful and creepy, the kind of image that can populate both a fantasy of bucolic childhood days at the park and a macabre bad dream full of clowns gone evil. At their best, in their original wood-carved forms, they are certainly some kind of art
SPACE INVADER
By Shepard Fairey
Photos By © Invader & SCS
The classic arcade game Space Invaders was named as such because it featured aliens from outer space invading Earth. Space Invader chose his name because he very literally invades space—public space, to be more specific. For close to 10 years, Space Invader has been infiltrating cities and subtly altering their landscapes.
Lee Ving
By Brendan Mullen
Photos By Edward Colver
Portrait By Jeremy & Claire Weiss
The bustling punk scene that sprouted in Los Angeles during the late 1970s was never short of characters, including, to name a few: Darby Crash, the would-be apocalyptic cult leader of the Germs and the Circle One sect; Claude Bessey, a.k.a. Kickboy Face, an itinerant French-born poet, singer of Catholic Discipline
THE ROYAL ART LODGE
By Caleb Neelon
Photos By Two Tall Jamal
Message to young artists: rent some big space with your friends, and give it and your new crew a name. It’s an important lesson, especially for young people living outside the big cities, and it’s a lesson best acted upon sooner rather than later.
D.C. JUICY
By Sally Kleinbart
Photos By Carlos Batts
Illustration By Garrett Morin
Calling all pimps and ho’s: the Mothership has just flown in to incarnate her newest sons of funk. If Outkast made love to Mad TV and knocked the bitch up a couple times, and then if Tenacious D and Spinal Tap took the afterbirths of those babies and drank-em down with a 40
CAROLINE HWANG
By Caleb Neelon
Portrait By Caleb Neelon
Plenty of young artists on the come-up will move to New York and immediately proclaim themselves NYC lifers. Caroline Hwang isn’t falling into that trap. Born, raised, and schooled in Los Angeles, the 25-year-old Hwang moved to Brooklyn just under a year ago, treating it as an experiment.
AC/DSHE
By Debbie Does Dexter
Photos By Piper Ferguson
Illustration By Kris Chau
When arenas rocked with a hard K and cameltoe was commonplace; before it got soft, and gave way to angled hair; when 24 tracks were just enough and sometimes too much; that in-between time, riding on the crest of the mid- to late ‘70s, slowly making its way to the digital ‘80s…
99¢ ONLY
By Bryan Howell
Photos By Carlos Batts
Illustration By Anthony Smyrski
Is it a psychological response to the number 99 that draws customers to the 99 Cents Only Stores? Or is it the mere comfort of knowing that none of the 6,000 items is out of even the narrowest price range? Whatever the reason may be, the single-price retailer’s appeal is undeniable.
THE ROLLER DERBY
By Shawna Kenney
Photos By Dale Rio
Illustration By ThingMaking
Today, like a horror-movie zombie, Roller Derby is back from the dead, thriving in at least 16 American cities. Well-organized women’s leagues like the Los Angeles Derby Dolls have no shortage of players answering their recruitment flyer requiring prospects to: