Love and Lust, Sweaty Pits and Hard Nips

Written and Photographed By Grady Gillett

For the 3rd year in a row, Basic Cable Programming threw their epic Valentine’s Day themed festival “My Slutty Valentine”, held across three stages at The Echo and Echoplex. This year’s lineup included bands such as Mothe, Slaughterhouse, Mz Neon, Bushfire, Poppy Jean Crawford, Shamon Cassette, Chimera, a karaoke stage, and so much more. Reckless Correspondent Grady Gillett was there to capture the fun.

Los Angeles, USA

My Slutty Valentine 2025 was by far one of the best event Basic Cable Programming has put on in the past few years. Having attended the previous two events, there has been a level of growth every year that one could only imagine will snowball into something beyond what we know now. This year had a large amount of diversity in all aspects. Although the festival is primarily punk music, this year they also had a few indie rock artists, a country band and one of the headliners for the festival (Mothe) is an indie pop artist. Talking to attendees, their reactions to the diversity of genre were very mixed. Not all punks are into country I guess. I continuously bumped into another photographer, and friend, Cole , and he also mentioned that there were more femme lead bands on the lineup this year. Slaughterhouse, Chimera, Spooky Marvin, Poppy Jean Crawford, and MZ Neon stood out to both of us as fantastic musicians and incredible performers.

MSV opened with CNTS and Spooky Marvin (5:00 Echoplex and 5:20 Echo respectively). For an opening act, Spooky Marvin attracted a very large crowd, and still more people should have seen it. Spooky takes over the stage with their strong queer goth energy, entrancing watchers to join in on the chaotic spooky energy. Backed by incredible musicians: Alana Femme on guitar, Grace on drums, and Samantha on bass, Spooky Marvin has only one direction to go and we are all so lucky to watch their rise.

One very cool aspect of the festival is how much everyone seems to care about the event itself. In a way, My Slutty Valentine feels like a family reunion of some of the best underground cross-disciplinary artists in Los Angeles. I myself have made so many friends at this festival, that at every turn there was another person whom I adore. The dedication does not end when the ticket is purchased, most of the people that attend are in some kind of slutty valentine clown outfit. Experiencing everyone’s creativity in the interpretation of the theme is a beautiful sight to behold. MSV had a little face painting booth for those who wanted to clown up once they got to the event so no one felt left out of the festivities.

Shamon Cassette also graced us with their presence, as they have both of the previous events. There has not been a single time Shamon Cassette and the Zamboni Zound Zystem performed where they did not have something important to share. I spoke with Spooky Marvin later in the evening and they had mentioned Shamon Cassette as a stand-out performance of the day. There should be no need to remind people that punk is for those ostracised from society, especially at a time when everything is going backward and people actively fight for our rights to be taken away. Shamon brings a light and a reminder to those that punk is a safe space for those unsafe, and a dangerous space for those who want to cause harm out of malice.

My Slutty Valentine takes advantage of The Echo/plex’s multiple stages and fills up the event space, many people will cycle between stages all day to see as many artists as they can. On top of the musical entertainment, they also have some vendors stationed in the Echoplex selling jewelry and other punk-inspired accessories. This year they had karaoke outside hosted by the band Buckets and a hot dog eating competition on the patio after the bands had finished outside.

My Slutty Valentine is the best underground festival in Los Angeles and a wonderful start to the festival season. If you have never attended, I recommend keeping up to date with Basic Cable Programming to see what other amazing events they host.