INTERROGATION photo by Jin Moss Steven Favus, DJ of the Eagle, and Richard’ Dearborn, writer for the Advocate and DJ of the Handball Express, interrogate Bob Kovak, by Richard Dearborn During the pinnsele of his engineer ing career, ~on Francisco resident Bob Kovach accomplished many gous as an ambitious vecording engineer, During bis New York and. Los Angses days Bob skills were wized in op record ing studios wheve he worked with an fntire specvum of recording” artists ‘Wom classical to bubblegum ‘Being content with success and mate fal pride, Kuvach was willing to give op his erative career inocderto submerge Insel in hee activites of San Fra citco's must notorious gay ghetto, the Folsom Since his avival he hes eagerly ben receiving and giving tht special LMeatment accorded 10 the men South of Market. (An area dominated by ware houses, construction companies and abscute second:hand busines by day tnd gay bats sex clubs and bath houses tnight) Feeling inspired by his oew Ife, Kovach, whose pen name is Robert T. Rings, started writing songs about his experiences while-sopplemeting his Income by working in local stodios ling what he does best -- engineer. ing, The results cam be beard on anew Underground album, Sleere Attack, Which incorporates elementary Rock N Roll with above-the-bourd sexual ites that representa cross section of SAM activities. Though sativical in auitade Kovach has sertinized the scene with ‘The album ony lacks the sophiscation ofa scene that has progressed beyond the polnt thas reflected in the mse ‘chosen to represent it The album does hive many merits that Should ot be overlooked. Folsom Magazine, in recognizing these talents wanted 2 firsthand Took at the creative forces behind Sleeze Attack, 'A visit to Bob Kovach South of like play room equipped with chai, Whips, aemy cots nd toilets (here> ven a clothes washer). Upaaits hist 23ing room walls are partly covered with gold records awarded im during Fis LA heydays, Both dungeon and gold cords Seem iting a they epeesent his transition from mixing and mastering engineer to master and. slave sek 'A photo investigation of the play oom with an accompanying interroga tion of Kovach it lead by Folsom photographer Jim Moss, San Francisco DJ Steve Fabur and mysell Bob feendly, bright and willing to partici= pate, thovgh anxious over the hea of publicly appearing in a position that Before he had only chosen 10. write about Re Do you ea shit? BL think everybody in show business Ibs to eat some shit Re Really, how did this project come about? 1B: From a group that Iwas producing about a year egoand they fell apart tracks. When you listen to the racks youl hear a Beale ifluence Spd thas wha they were doing So Tept the racks tase pai forthe studio time and the tapes, I had nays wanted to do a sleaze disco sibum 20 I collaborated with my partner and we wrote the trie and ‘ew melodies using the basi tracks. Where did you record al this? [Ata stadio'on Foltom St ‘What's the name of? Tean' say because when they found cut what Twas doing theyll me go oT went to another studio You mean you lost yourjob because ot sSlere Attack? Well, 1 was wosking on it while 1 seas sill working there Do you want io alk about thar? No, not really beeause Fan prove thats the reaton why I got Gre Howe di you get started in ll hie? When Fwar 1 knew Thad to be recording engineer because of my interes in mosie and electronic. wea living in New York and went ‘very studio knocking ondoorsand petting the oldeateh-2? Finally this ne place sed Teould be thei jai tor and. do. maintenance on the tmachines because of my Keowledpe in elecyonies I found out three year later that the only reason they Jet me hang around was because | Inada cote ass. One sorning, the engineer didn show ups stepped Inand that was my fist session. Re What did you do exacly? By Iewas an announcer date and | did the recording ‘S: Where did you get your electronics background? B: By ceading, and when I was 15 1 worked ina TV shop and earned to fx them. So T just kept ait doing everything 1 eould, more mesicians, ‘nore sessions. 1 developed my 24 = pe vee shill. Then Thad togointo the navy fad got stationed in Washington D.C Sol pot job ina stiothere doing the seme thing and working forthe Navy. Trecorded folk music, heavy R&B, the National Sym phony and anyone who. wat in own, After the Navy Twent back NY. sted again doing Winstone Salem commercial, Urs Bright Coke, Pepsh music for the Jolrey Ball, rack rol, everything, 1 ven did movie scores lke "Harb fell" Vou Are What You Eat."In "WI moved to LA where my earcer really took oll and Twas sceonding probably every bubblegum group {hat wat on the airwaver, more movie scores, commercials | eae {ot of money duting the 10 years there ‘Were you a part of the Hollywood No, Lid get into the scene a al had my own socal ie with my Foire. I didn't want to astocate sith those pele Wry nor? ‘Theyte not interesting, They'e alway talking thop. Besides not that many are gay or attractive What about socializing ona profes sional level? Very rarely, Lust dont ke co get foto all hat don’ want my bos nes life to be par of my social ie, ‘Who were some of the people you worked with? [At one point I worked with most tveryone who sas on the Warner Bos. Reprise label including some very famous Haan people [Are you not mentioning names fora Yes Since you were so succesful why {id you leave? Tnanted to leave LA and come to SFL thought I was ready. Ready for what? For the ile aye You were willing to pot your career aside) Yes, its not important to me any- sore di the big"materal"thing ‘Would you resume youreareerona diferent level? Yes, 1 want to get into production nd) do. more "Sleze Attack” [bums ae soon as there more money. ‘What happens nent? 11 enough people buy the LP then there will be a "Sleeve Two.” We have topics that weren’ covered in the fit album Tike wrestling. | ‘ought my audience would be the hard core South of Market SAM, pss and hit leather guy. But is ot. ICs the people who are aot Feallyinto the scene who ae busing the LP. People who his album ‘ould bea famaty to ‘The cover is strange Did geting t printed cause problems? upset when he read thesongsis 0 nent leewhere. He said we had young kids working here. T don know what's wrong with"The Whip Song” or "A Night a the Orgy.” fleughs) Statements ike shat represent their wn fears, not someane eee’. There's nothing that appears to be homosenual onthe cover. No, of course not, and the fact of the matter is that there are no four Jeter words in the album. The meanings ate obvious and that tight be offensive to some people IAs we were writing it we thoveht ‘hat this in very sleay. Shows how jaded weve geting Should i be sense? Novtyjstatyon gee stot Did you invent Castoids and 5: markets? Yes, Ive been wanting to copyright Move words and finally id) There sccm to be a svaly between the two arens, But | ida want fo sound bitter or ugly 50 Furned i tound. Is more clever nom ‘On the back cover i says the mos clans and singers wish to remain Anonymous. Do you want to pro dice @ group that's willing 10 be Upfront? On sure, Td love to. But I dont that want to come out. ITs very strange considering its San Fran deca I don know why that i ts Jess so im LA which you'd think would be more uptight. The market hte iss0 stall hat people think they have vo be more care Do you live your lyri? (doughs) Yes, even before 1 wrote them. Thats how I dtcovered what Sleeze Attack” seems very underground Yer. itis ery underground. HY can sella few thousand moreit won be, [As onderground as things were 15 years ago? ‘Well, he underground thenisprob- ably ‘more sophisticated now. At least members ofthe original scene should be. don know about al the groupies. Maybe the younger scene will be more willing (9 acept something Irom the underground They could be the ones buying the bum ‘any thoughts on the future of rosie? You can se what's appening no™: People say theres no such thing a disco, Now its dance-orented {er now sothat people eanjut enjoy itand not categorize i Do you like to dance? No, don go tothe discos. I dont even ply the monitors in the sa dios at loud as in. thove bars, {ugh Uthink fusion wil get more popular and people will appreciate Jame move and big band, county and western. MOR, rock and some form of bubblegum music. wil always be around. The new engi- feers will change the sound of Imusic alot Trial and error wil R ® ‘create diferent things that ave wot Is the music petting too doctored? (On god, yes, people cant make Fecorde without three tone of audio ‘ict Ws much too mechanized without being sophisticated 15 that why people like music with an earhier snd? (Om sure expecially Countey and Western cave i's ot fucked with Wha rea ive yrs tha people cam Do you like sou! music? favorite. Ive ail never danced wort ‘enune dancing is such a ritual lon like i Pe rather get my exer ‘lee from serewing Even thats been ritualized, Yer especially in San Francie where everything sex, deugs eck 2 coll but il rather screw than dance ‘Arent they the same thing justi {erent postions? Yea, but at least you can com when you serew. laughs) Do you fack to your own music everything else fais yes then | ‘What go you think ofthe music in ‘he South of Marker? Tike most of it Alot is just sof found music Tike New Wave alot ‘as it's nothing new just old rock snd roll 1980 syle. Black mais foming bac strong, which funny Considering how bigoted theleather [Another contradiction is that alot of what people call sleaze musi is soul musi. Thesame with dsc, i's black mosie ‘ad ga) which may explain why there is such backlash to it now Probably ro. The music down here reflects the ownership of the bat Js there anything else you want to ‘mention about “Sleete Attack” Yes, the addvessand price, whereto ett oughs) Fave you tied to promote ittothe pre Yes, Ie gotten it to mos of them. The reaction has been very go0d Another thing I want to sai that this whole project has been amazing because of hecriticim. One person has sai "you call that rock fll wil say is 109 sleazy oF is aot Sleazy enough. It oes back and forth. Ym learning you cant please everybody. Ie never een in this position before, meaning 1 never product before. But now it doesn bother me even though there were rights when I tose and turned fer this thing. Its hike having = aby. Mort ofthe songs are satiriea: do T'dony know what direction the FefinedTeises == and mare ‘hythm and melodieest you? 11 inch flyers ) 0 vond paper. Typesetting ackage’ $15 for April) 1950 Un PROTOTPESETTING sco, CA 94103 SLEEZE ROCK FOLSOM: More kinky sex than you ever had with anything that measures 12 inches! DRUMMER: t's the kind of album you give your bottom if he’s been a damn good boy — but get ready to hear it from his lips as well as the stereo ALTERNATE: It may not have the marketabiliy of the Vilage People, but it's a hell of a lot more honest. This is strictly crotch rock... . and is musically as viable as a majority of the establishment pressings. MATMEN: The most outrageous shit I've ever heard — | love it! MALEBOX: It's raw sex — with a sound you'll remember! Send check or money orser for $7.95 to: (MORE Best Productions 146 Langton St, Box F San Francisco, CA 94103