Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Gonzo Report: Surviving a secret Destroy Boys show at Lions Den Tattoo

“We watched a mosh pit spinning with costumed killer clowns”

Everyone likes to pretend to be someone else for Halloween!
Everyone likes to pretend to be someone else for Halloween!

It started with three of us. I was driving, while Matt and Francisco held down the passenger duties of radio selection and wry commentary, respectively. With a Spotify Destroy Boys playlist spilling through the speakers, we cruised east to Burning Beard Brewing in El Cajon for pregame activities, before the Freak Show kicked off at Lions Den Tattoo in Lemon Grove. Currently under Grammy consideration for Best Rock Performance for their song “Shadow,” Destroy Boys would be appearing undercover at this late-October Halloween event, temporarily renamed for the evening as “Create Girls.”

Suddenly, Matt yelled out “Siouxsie Sioux!”

What?

“Yeah, she sounds like Siouxsie Sioux from Siouxsie and the Banshees,” he said, referring to Destroy Boys singer Alexia Roditis.

Matt is one of those friends with vast musical knowledge and an equally extensive record collection, so I had to take his word for it — at least for the moment. Later, I put on some Siouxsie Sioux to compare. He wasn’t wrong: they both sound justly robust. However, Roditis’ lungs and lyrics billow with a more middle-fingered attitude.

“We went to Burning Beard before the last show at Lions Den, too,” Francisco reminded us before pouring some kind of hazy IPA down his throat. I didn’t really remember, but I believed him, too. That show must have been at least six years ago. Francisco used to be the wizard behind the curtain of The Industry, a short-lived but loud music venue during a not-so-distant local punk rock era. Everyone remembers him as the minister of punk, always rocking Vans, a scally cap, and a clerical collar when he used his ministry in the Methodist church as a means to open a venue. This divine move helped keep his connection with the punk community tight long after the venue closed.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Place

Lions Den Tattoo Studio

7628 Broadway, San Diego

Once in Lemon Grove, I pulled into the parking lot of an auto body shop that was closed for the day. A murder of crows flew overhead in the late afternoon sky, cawing away to the west. “We parked in this exact same spot last time too,” Francisco noted. It seemed we were living on some kind of weird recursive timeline, packed with episodes of déjà vu, that quickly twisted into an even more Bizarro World scene.

As we made our way to the show, Matt said, “Jeff is going to meet us outside. New Jeff.” Wait, New Jeff? What happened to Old Jeff? Old Jeff used to be Matt’s neighbor. Old Jeff had long wavy hair and red-red-wine stained teeth. So who was this new Jeff we were waiting for at the gate? Well of course: he was Matt’s new neighbor, whose name was also Jeff. A few minutes later, we saw New Jeff strolling our way, his short hair hiding under a hat, his over-the-top friendly demeanor cheerfully exposed. “Jeff offered to drive,” Matt said. “He doesn’t drink.”

We entered the event space, jammed into the gap between Lions Den and one of about two-hundred Lemon Grove auto repair shops. A small stage held the band No Bueno. Many punks had been salivating over this show for quite some time, and much of the crowd was wearing Halloween costumes. The stacked bill featured bands like Oatmeal, Project Sellout (PSO), and Destroy Boys/Create Girls. Local musician David Orozco was playing in each of the aforementioned bands, so it was a busy night for the drummer/bassist.

Hardcore outfit PSO took the stage dressed in country western accoutrements, creating another offbeat sight for my coconut to try to comprehend. Eventually, I settled in, flowering up to a brick wall next to Matt and New Jeff. We watched a mosh pit spinning with costumed killer clowns, a couple of priests, an orange traffic cone, a spotted cow, an angel, jesters, and a green alien, all while an actual magician tried to bum smokes from the crowd for a trick. The Freak Show was officially set into motion.

As the night wore on and bodies intertwined in a packed space, Destroy Boys/Create Girls jumped into the lights with a fittingly feedback-filled, broken strings/busted amps headline set. “Somebody get me a tequila shot,” singer Roditis called out. Nothing seemed to be going right, yet the band was able to pull it together and deliver, with the struggling amps eventually crunching out all the crowd-requested songs. “These are all covers of Destroy Boys, because we hate them,” guitarist Violet Mayugba joked. Between the two broken guitars and the broken amp, I’d say “Create Girls” blew their cover, what with all the destruction that went down. The jig was up. I knew those fuckers liked to destroy shit. Especially boys.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ramona musicians seek solution for outdoor playing at wineries

Ambient artists aren’t trying to put AC/DC in anyone’s backyard
Next Article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon
Everyone likes to pretend to be someone else for Halloween!
Everyone likes to pretend to be someone else for Halloween!

It started with three of us. I was driving, while Matt and Francisco held down the passenger duties of radio selection and wry commentary, respectively. With a Spotify Destroy Boys playlist spilling through the speakers, we cruised east to Burning Beard Brewing in El Cajon for pregame activities, before the Freak Show kicked off at Lions Den Tattoo in Lemon Grove. Currently under Grammy consideration for Best Rock Performance for their song “Shadow,” Destroy Boys would be appearing undercover at this late-October Halloween event, temporarily renamed for the evening as “Create Girls.”

Suddenly, Matt yelled out “Siouxsie Sioux!”

What?

“Yeah, she sounds like Siouxsie Sioux from Siouxsie and the Banshees,” he said, referring to Destroy Boys singer Alexia Roditis.

Matt is one of those friends with vast musical knowledge and an equally extensive record collection, so I had to take his word for it — at least for the moment. Later, I put on some Siouxsie Sioux to compare. He wasn’t wrong: they both sound justly robust. However, Roditis’ lungs and lyrics billow with a more middle-fingered attitude.

“We went to Burning Beard before the last show at Lions Den, too,” Francisco reminded us before pouring some kind of hazy IPA down his throat. I didn’t really remember, but I believed him, too. That show must have been at least six years ago. Francisco used to be the wizard behind the curtain of The Industry, a short-lived but loud music venue during a not-so-distant local punk rock era. Everyone remembers him as the minister of punk, always rocking Vans, a scally cap, and a clerical collar when he used his ministry in the Methodist church as a means to open a venue. This divine move helped keep his connection with the punk community tight long after the venue closed.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Place

Lions Den Tattoo Studio

7628 Broadway, San Diego

Once in Lemon Grove, I pulled into the parking lot of an auto body shop that was closed for the day. A murder of crows flew overhead in the late afternoon sky, cawing away to the west. “We parked in this exact same spot last time too,” Francisco noted. It seemed we were living on some kind of weird recursive timeline, packed with episodes of déjà vu, that quickly twisted into an even more Bizarro World scene.

As we made our way to the show, Matt said, “Jeff is going to meet us outside. New Jeff.” Wait, New Jeff? What happened to Old Jeff? Old Jeff used to be Matt’s neighbor. Old Jeff had long wavy hair and red-red-wine stained teeth. So who was this new Jeff we were waiting for at the gate? Well of course: he was Matt’s new neighbor, whose name was also Jeff. A few minutes later, we saw New Jeff strolling our way, his short hair hiding under a hat, his over-the-top friendly demeanor cheerfully exposed. “Jeff offered to drive,” Matt said. “He doesn’t drink.”

We entered the event space, jammed into the gap between Lions Den and one of about two-hundred Lemon Grove auto repair shops. A small stage held the band No Bueno. Many punks had been salivating over this show for quite some time, and much of the crowd was wearing Halloween costumes. The stacked bill featured bands like Oatmeal, Project Sellout (PSO), and Destroy Boys/Create Girls. Local musician David Orozco was playing in each of the aforementioned bands, so it was a busy night for the drummer/bassist.

Hardcore outfit PSO took the stage dressed in country western accoutrements, creating another offbeat sight for my coconut to try to comprehend. Eventually, I settled in, flowering up to a brick wall next to Matt and New Jeff. We watched a mosh pit spinning with costumed killer clowns, a couple of priests, an orange traffic cone, a spotted cow, an angel, jesters, and a green alien, all while an actual magician tried to bum smokes from the crowd for a trick. The Freak Show was officially set into motion.

As the night wore on and bodies intertwined in a packed space, Destroy Boys/Create Girls jumped into the lights with a fittingly feedback-filled, broken strings/busted amps headline set. “Somebody get me a tequila shot,” singer Roditis called out. Nothing seemed to be going right, yet the band was able to pull it together and deliver, with the struggling amps eventually crunching out all the crowd-requested songs. “These are all covers of Destroy Boys, because we hate them,” guitarist Violet Mayugba joked. Between the two broken guitars and the broken amp, I’d say “Create Girls” blew their cover, what with all the destruction that went down. The jig was up. I knew those fuckers liked to destroy shit. Especially boys.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Last plane out of Seoul, 1950

Memories of a daring escape at the start of a war
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader