Underground Music Cultures and Music-Making in Los Angeles

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF SUBCULTURES AND POPULAR MUSIC Series Editors: Keith Gildart · Anna Gough-Yates · Sian Lincoln · Bill Osgerby Lucy Robinson · John Street · Peter Webb · Matthew Worley “This book investigates how histories, industries and local geographies intersect in different ways that are at odds with mainstream depictions of L.A. The personal stories are fascinating, revealing a complicated picture of scenes across different eras and genres, and intricate relationships between bands, venues and underground media. It is an important reminder of how alternative ambitions can be realised, and how they in turn change our readings of the city. ” —Associate Professor Shane Homan, Head, School of Media, Film and Journalism Monash University, Melbourne, Australia “Underground Music Cultures is the rare academic book that is both thoughtful and fun to read. The essays and interviews in this volume expand our thinking on the formative role that music plays in shaping how we imagine and experience cities, and how identity is filtered through the intersection of music and place. ” —Professor Carl Grodach, Urban Planning and Design Art design & Architecture Monash University, Melbourne, Australia “ L.A. is the ultimate city of surfaces, and the global centre of image production. Yet beneath the surface, in the cracks and crevices, the clubs and dark corners, there lives another L.A.: an underground music city. In this long overdue analysis, the authors take the reader there, through places, lyrics, band biographies and interviews, to discover L.A.’s subterranean sonic geography and, in the process, enrich our understanding of what musical urbanism can be. ” —Senior Professor Chris Gibson, School of Geography and Sustainable Communities University of Wollongong, Australia Sébastien Darchen is Senior Lecturer in Planning at the Universitty of Queensland, Australia. John Willsteed is Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. Damien Charrieras is Associate Professor at the City University of Hong Kong.