Everything turns video: Agent Orange leads solid lineup in Seattle

All videos shot by Andy ... settle in and dig it.


AGENT ORANGE

EXPIRED LOGIC

IN THE WHALE

THE BOSS MARTIANS

Sorry, FCON... just a photo... nice raging hardcore set ala  LA band Circle One and Canada's Stretch Marks.

'Salad Days': A musical victory for the Washington, DC scene /Interview with writer-director Scott Crawford

Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat. (Jim Saah photo)

By Andy

When the film started rolling, Scott Crawford was a bundle of nerves.

It was hometown premiere night and the writer-director of "Salad Days - 1980-1990: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC" leaned forward in his seat and poked his head around the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center on Dec. 19, 2014.

Ian MacKaye was there, someone whom Crawford interviewed for his Metrozine when he was 12 years old in 1984 and extensively for "Salad Days." What would MacKaye think of Crawford's work on the 100-minute documentary that features his bands Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Embrace and Fugazi and a wealth of other pivotal groups that put DC on the punk map? How would the other musicians included in the film react while watching the DC premiere?

Like when the pre-teen Crawford witnessed his first gig 32 years ago -- MDC at a Rock Against Reagan event in DC -- the grown-up was also anxious and thrilled at what was unfolding before his eyes, this time on the big screen.

"The DC premiere was pretty emotional for me. The folks that came were so supportive and happy and had great things to say," Crawford, 44, said in a phone interview last Sunday. "That whole night was pretty overwhelming, but it was all worth it when it was over. You're making this film not just for you -- you wanna make the city proud, but you also wanna make it for folks that weren't there. Definitely a night I won't forget."

At another "Salad Days" screening, HR from the Bad Brains was in the house and gave Crawford a thumbs up afterward.

"Salad Days" had its world premiere on Nov. 14, 2014 at the SVA Theatre in New York and continues to garner rave reviews each time it hits screens worldwide. Prior to his There's Something Hard in There interview, Crawford had a Skype discussion with a writer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the film is currently showing at the BAFICI Film Festival.

Cat and I checked out "Salad Days" on Feb. 27 at Seattle's Grand Illusion Cinema and I sported my Youth Brigade "Full Speed Ahead" T-shirt -- thanks to that band's drummer Danny Ingram -- for the occasion. While watching the film, my past flashed before my eyes, as I kept a close watch on the DC scene back in the day and ordered many Dischord Records releases that were delivered to my Redondo Beach, Calif., home -- some 3,000 miles away from the harDCore action. I saw Minor Threat five times in the LA area, the Bad Brains three times and witnessed a memorable Government Issue set, as well, so I got an in-your-face taste of the DC bands to go along with those crucial vinyl offerings.

The film is a victory for Crawford and for all of us music fans who appreciated what was transpiring in the nation's capital during that decade.

How could you not smile when bands like Marginal Man, Soulside, Black Market Baby and countless others get some screen time? And what about when Alec MacKaye mentions with a smirk about how people are still debating which side of the Faith/VOID split LP is best?

The interviews are insightful, intriguing and humorous, and as Crawford said, he was conversing with old friends so there's a natural feel to the documentary. The viewer feels as if they're in the same room and part of the discussion. Another triumph.

Guy Picciotto of Fugazi. (Jim Saah photo)

Crawford worked on the film every day for 3 1/2 years and was joined on the journey by Jim Saah, director of photography, who snapped countless stellar photos of early DC bands. The total budget for "Salad Days" was about $45,000 and Crawford received financial help from more than 900 Kickstarter contributors.

The whole experience has been a labor of love for Crawford and he hoped that it would resonate with others.

"I knew that it was really special. Obviously, that period of time was huge for a lot of people, including me, and the music really meant a lot and it was a big deal, at least in my mind," he said. "It wasn't really until the Kickstarter campaign until I realized that maybe I was on to something.

"If I had it my way, I'd do a documentary on every single band that's in the film. The whole experience has been so satisfying on every level -- and therapeutic (laughs)."

As the years ticked by, Crawford kept plugging away by interviewing 100 people -- he noted Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins and Mark Anderson of Positive Force as particularly engaging discussions -- and developing his storyline, which featured his and others' journeys through the years on the DC scene.

Crawford knew all his hard work would come to fruition.

"I never felt like it wasn't gonna come about, there was never a moment where I just said, 'I can't do this.' It was always just pushing ahead, pushing through whatever challenge I was dealing with on any given day, which at times felt a little insurmountable," said Crawford, noting that locating archival footage of bands from the 1980s was an arduous task in the filmmaking process.

While his film was in the waiting room, so to speak, Crawford reflected on his past and used one particular instance as inspiration.

"I did refer back to this one thing that Ian MacKaye said to me, first time I ever interviewed him. He was talking about just what a mess (the DC hardcore scene) was and he was pretty disillusioned. He wasn't in a band, it was right after Minor Threat broke up, and I remember him saying that HR had said to him a few years earlier: 'Ian, you know, when this is all over, when the smoke clears, only the true rebels will stand,' and I think he was actually quoting Bob Marley.

"At 12, I was sort of like, 'I don't know what the fuck you're talking about.' But it's something I've thought about a lot through the course of my life, and I guess what I mean by that is: While you're doing something like this, there are a lot of outside voices or opinions or people suggesting you do it this way or that way or you're not doing it the right way. And I just kind of remembered that and I just kind of felt like, 'Well, you know, stick to your vision and when this all over and all is said and done, there's this document out there of this time and the only thing I can do is tell it the way I saw it or at least the things that I was interested in and stick to that.'

"When I came to that conclusion, it kind of freed me up a little bit and I stopped trying to just make it everything to everybody."

When "Salad Days" was released, the emotions began to flow, not just for Crawford, but for the movie-goers, as well. While attending screenings and participating in Q and A's, Crawford said people have given him heartfelt, positive feedback about the movie and the music that has influenced their lives.

It's been a surreal, out-of-body experience for Crawford, who feels he's come full circle in his excitement of discovering the music at age 12 and sharing this documentary with people with equal elation. Perhaps there's a 12-year-old out there on the verge of plowing through their parents' record collection, blasting some Rites of Spring and sharing lyrics from "For Want Of" in their poetry class.

Speaking of pivotal DC songs, 3's "Swann Street" closes out the film and stirs the emotions all over again.

"Well I don't care how picturesque or incomplex your life gets; the ground's un-solid don't forget to keep your ear to the ground," it goes, as Geoff Turner belts out the melodic vocals while 8-millimeter footage rolls of Positive Force outdoor gigs in Dupont Circle, with bands playing, carrying their amps from the van to the stage and audience members dancing and laughing.

"That song has given me goosebumps since 1987, so I knew all along, before we even shot the first interview, that that song was going to play a major role at some point in the film," said Crawford, noting that the footage had gone unseen until someone gave it to him and he kept it under lock and key until the film's release.

"When I saw that 8-mm footage, I said, 'Jim, we gotta put 'Swann Street' over top of that. That's the fucking end of the film right there. We had the end of the film for like two years. I always felt that that song should have been a huge hit," Crawford said. "I get emails almost every day from somebody saying, 'What was that last song? I love that song.' So it's nice to know that I wasn't the only one that felt that was a great song (laughs).

"You put it with that footage ..." Crawford reflects, looking for the perfect connector... "To me, it was just so powerful and I was hoping that others would feel that way."

Rockin' for the Rat City Roller Girls

The Burnz

Fans of the Dead Boys, MC5, Ramones, Kim Wilde, Venus and Unit 3, The Cult and AC/DC were in heaven last night at Darrell's Tavern in Shoreline, WA.

A power trio of bands ripped it up in those bands' styles with their own edge for the Rat City Roller Girls' after-bout party: The Burnz, Jaguar Paw and The Chasers.

Cat Rose captured the action.


THE BURNZ

JAGUAR PAW

THE CHASERS

... AND YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH COW BELL, RIGHT?

Mad Parade belts out new single on Hostage Records / Interview

Mad Parade with singer Billy Ledges, middle. (Bainphoto)

By Andy

As a teen in 1985, I'd been a fan of Mad Parade's debut album, but had never seen the band play live.

However, that doesn't mean I didn't witness vocalist Billy Ledges "perform." While attending a record show in Anaheim, Calif., he was selling punk vinyl at his table and broke out into an impromptu chorus of an Undertones song: "Jump Boys, oooh, Jump Boys," he sang while standing on a chair when someone asked him about the fab Northern Ireland band.

Just brilliant, I thought, and shook my head and smiled.

Cat and I finally saw Mad Parade, which formed in West Covina in 1982, at the Cactus Club in San Jose with 999 in 2000. I sang along, yelled out song requests from the crowd and was probably a nuisance, but that's punk rock, right?

I spoke with guitarist Joey Kelly afterward and told the above tale about his older brother's record-show performance. We both chuckled as we strolled backstage to hang out with the guys from 999, who I and several others joined onstage that night to sing backup vocals on "Homicide."

Also that night, I purchased Mad Parade's "God Bless America" CD, which is a solid offering of old-school, English-style punk rock with a Southern California flair that gets me going every time I spin it.

Mad Parade is back in the game, folks, with a new sterling 45 on Hostage Records: "The Fool" and "Lovers and Strangers." And another slab o' 7-inch vinyl is on the way. (Along with Ledges and Kelly, the band consists of Mike Sosa on drums, Stevo on bass and Danny Tessier on guitar.)

I caught up with Ledges, 53, by phone on Thursday night and here's the lowdown on Mad Parade and his punk-rock life.


** What were some of your early musical influences that pushed you to start a band?

See, I'm an older guy, so pre-punk, I've always liked Alice Cooper, David Bowie and that stuff, but I always figured those guys were so out of touch because it seemed like they dropped down from stars.

So it wasn't until '76 when (I first heard) punk rock, I'm like, you know what's great about this music? I figured, not only is it great, I never heard music like this before, but I could do this, too. Before that stuff came out, I was in different bands, we were doing covers of songs that I couldn't even sing if I wanted to, not that I was particularly thrilled to sing: "Rock and Roll," KISS or whatever. I thought to myself, 'Alice Cooper's great and everything,' but I remember buying, especially the 'Bollocks,' I got that home and my life changed. The music, there was a feeling of camaraderie, everybody's accepted and I like that a lot. So I was instantly attracted to that, and from that point on, I stopped doing covers and I talked to my little brother, who was still even younger than I: 'Dude, we gotta get a band together' ... and Mad Parade started from there.

It was supposed to be, pretty much more English stuff than anything else because that's we first heard. I was buying all kinds of stuff, but I was really a fan of the Pistols, the Clash, The Damned, Generation X, Vibrators, Sham 69, UK Subs, all that stuff. And I also liked LA stuff, the NY stuff, basically I just liked the whole thing about it -- it made me feel like, 'This is mine; my ship has come in.' (laughs)

Unlike the music before punk rock, it was kind of like going to concerts, everything was so far away and it was so separated. And punk rock was right up in your face, and you could see these bands at the Whisky... right there, sweating. I thought it was great.


** What was the first punk gig that you went to?

Let me think, let me think, let me think ... (not his first, but...) You wanna hear something funny? In '79, I saw the Ramones open up for Black Sabbath, I kid you not. That was crazy, man! All those hippies and it was at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino over here, and the Ramones couldn't get through five songs.

But shows that actually lasted, probably at the Whisky, I saw the Dead Kennedys and Sham 69, I took my little brother to that. I went to the Whisky every weekend, saw Stiff Little Fingers, whatever was playing, they'd have a bunch of great frickin' bands... Magazine, the  Lurkers. You got to see a lot of the LA bands because they would open up for these English bands.  

** Speaking of the new 7-inch, tell me about those new songs, lyrically and musically what they mean to you.

'The Fool' and 'Lovers and Strangers' ... I haven't written anything for Mad Parade for a while, so when I was working on it, it's like a whole new (thing). It kind of reminds me of stuff I've done in the past, it has that bite and everything, I just felt it kind of came naturally.

'The Fool,' that song is just about basically, sometimes considering all the things that are going on in the world today -- just like back when I wrote 'Court Jester' years ago --  sometimes perhaps it's better to be a little foolish, because if you take yourself too serious ... I've done that before.

And 'Lovers and Strangers' ... it's like that one line, morphine and alcohol, which is a really bad combination, so it's like a relationship that doesn't make sense -- you shouldn't be with this person, whether it be a guy and a girl or a band or whatever the situation. Sometimes that person that you're supposed to be closest to can be a complete stranger, even though it might be your parent.


** How does it feel to be still be putting out some tunes here under the Mad Parade banner?

It feels great. It was weird because we got approached to do it from Hostage Records and it kind of came out of nowhere. I heard it from our original bass player, and I was like 'Yeah, right,' I thought he was just jerking around. We hadn't put anything out since 'Bombs and the Bible,' which was in 2004.

I realized one thing -- that I'm not crazy about nostalgia, however, I will say this: I'm trying to have a more open mind about it, because if a band, all you do is continue to play stuff that you wrote years ago and you're not creating anything new, you kind of become a cover version of your own band. If you're gonna do something, make it worthwhile, especially if you're gonna go out of your way and (record).


** It's good to keep it fresh and still know that you can go out there and do it and still make an impact, and it sounds like you're in a good spot right now.

Before the recording, we were playing these shows and I was kind of thinking to myself, 'Ahh, this is alright and everything, but it's kind of redundant.' So, I told my brother, if we're gonna do this, we gotta keep writing songs. (Editor's note: He's got plenty of song ideas to offer that he's been working on all along.)

** The two songs that I heard on that 45 sound driving and it's got your guys' signature sound, but it's taken it a step further and that's how you're gonna be able to thrive nowadays without just relying on the old tunes.

Exactly. Those songs 'The Fool' and 'Lovers and Strangers,' when you put them next to 'Sex and Violence' or 'Horror Show'... it makes those songs better because you're not just repeating something that you've done over and over -- you're bringing something new to the thing. Obviously, when we put our minds to it, we can still kick up and racket and make it sound pretty good. So let this be an example, and I'm just glad that it happened that way.


** What did punk rock mean to you in the early days and what does it mean to you now?

So much. I felt like I had no direction, I was young at the time when it came out and it was like I had this feeling ... and I still get this feeling, if it's done right, that the music basically spoke to me in a sense that said, 'Hey, we accept everybody. Come over and hang out with us. We'll take the misfits, we'll take the rejects, the square pegs in the round holes.' Whatever it might be. It was welcoming.

Mould to embark on seven-date solo tour this fall

Cat Rose photo

Bob Mould will hit the road in September and October on a seven-date solo electric tour. (Bassist Jason Narducy will join Mould on the trek.)

Sept. 23 at The Sinclair, Boston, MA

Sept. 25 at City Winery NYC, New York, NY

Sept. 26 at City Winery NYC, New York, NY

Oct. 2 at Red Clay Music Foundry, Duluth, GA

Oct. 3 at City Winery Nashville, Nashville, TN

Oct. 10 at City Winery Chicago, Chicago, IL

Oct. 11 at Evanston SPACE, Evanston, IL

Charred Remains: Still a crucial compilation 34 years later

By Andy

John and I had seen the ad in Flipside: Pushead's gnarly drawing of a Gollum-looking creature with a short mohawk who had snapped free from some chains (of society?) only to be gripped by a pair of tenacious hands, halted on his escape to a better world and yanked into the raging water. This growling dude is clearly not pleased with his situation, much as we weren't accepting what music was being lauded in our high school and on the radio.

We craved the Charred Remains cassette compilation that this grizzled beast was the poster boy for. Soon, it would be ours ... from the far-away land of Xenia, Ohio.

John sent $6 to Bob Moore of Version Sound and about a month or so later -- sometime in 1981 or '82 -- we were sitting in his bedroom in Redondo Beach and cranking up this 60-minute hardcore punk gem (as far as we could blast it on John's antiquated portable player).

The tunes flew by us quickly and furiously by bands from all over the United States and Canada: Void, Husker Du, 5051, Die Kreuzen, Violent Apathy, Toxic Reasons, Personality Crisis, Double O, District Tradition, Rebel Truth, Sin 34, Misguided, Articles of Faith, Dogs of War and UXB.

John's parents or siblings would pop their heads into the room every once in a while to see what us teenagers were up to ... "There's no escape, now it's too late, Doomsday is coming, it's your fate," sang Riz of the Misguided... "I fear the common cause, I hide inside my attic, I bolt and lock the doors, I hope that I don't panic," offered Vic Bondi on Articles of Faith's "Ghost in the House" ... the roaring songs spewed forth again and again from that glorious tape player.

Thirty four years later, I believe John still has that worn-out tape, but he told me recently that he's going to track down the double-LP re-release of Charred Remains that our new saviors, Chris Minicucci and Rich Warwick of Radio Raheem Records, have unleashed on the world. It was transferred and remastered from the original 1/4" master tapes by Mark Dann.

The songs are ablaze like never before as they leap out of the speakers at you while you follow along with the 24-page reproduction of the original fanzine insert at your fingertips.

Charred Remains --- yes, it's just as vital as it was back in 1981.

Craig Ibarra, Author of 'A Wailing of a Town' / LA Beat Interview

Photo by Victor Sedillo

By Elise Thompson of the LA Beat

Originally posted on April 4


Craig Ibarra's 416-page softcover book, “A Wailing of a Town: An Oral History of Early San Pedro Punk and More," was released on April 1, D. Boon’s birthday.

This first-hand account, which spans the years from 1977 to 1985, includes interviews with the musicians, locals, and the fans who lived it. Contributors and interview subjects include Gary Jacobelly, Joe Nolte, Jack Brewer and Joe Baiza, Richard Bonney, Mike Watt, Carla Bozulich, Joe Carducci, Chuck Dukowski, Linda Kite, Earl Liberty, and a slew of other key players.

Bands profiled include Saccharine Trust, Slivers, Peer Group, Mood of Defiance, Hari-Kari, The Wigs! and Jimmy Smack. Local venues, record labels, and influential events are covered as well. There are 36 pages of photos, including fliers, candids, and live band shots.

The book is anchored by the story of the Minutemen, probably the quintessential San Pedro band. Individual chapters are dedicated to Mike Watt, George Hurley, and the irreplaceable D. Boon, ending with the story of his passing on a lonely stretch of the Arizona desert. “The tragic death of D. Boon stole the wind from the scene and was the catalyst to send the artists, friends and fans on their separate paths into or out of the flickering L.A. harbor lights.”

* How would you define the Pedro Sound?

I don’t think there was a Pedro sound. In the book, Jeffrey McLellan (the Wigs!) says: “There was not a defined (San Pedro) sound, and rather than that being a plus, it’s almost like people took it as if it were a negative.” I think the fact that Pedro did not have a defined sound, like some other places like Orange County, may have been one of the reasons why Pedro didn’t stand out so much. Diversity is good, right? Some of the early Pedro punk bands were a little more experimental — some might even say, “artsy.” I think the early Pedro bands were a bit alienated by the prevailing hardcore scene at that time. A lot of the kids were closed minded to anything that wasn’t hardcore.

Joe Baiza had this to say: “The San Pedro scene — it seemed like all the people involved in that scene challenged themselves to be different. So, instead of sounding like the band that was the most popular — “Let’s sound like those guys, everyone likes them!” It was a challenge to be different than the next band. That was what was so interesting about the early Pedro punk scene. The Pedro scene was always these awkward little groups. Everyone was trying something new. If you were gonna start a band, you better not try and sound like one of the other groups. Everyone had different instrumentations and combinations. “Oh, I’m starting a band with a guy on clarinet, a drummer and guitar, only!” “OK, no one’s done that yet in Pedro.” And then someone else would have another type of group, just trying to be adventurous. It was that type of feeling in the air. Everyone had to do something different. The Minutemen were really original, so they led the way for everyone.”

* Would you differentiate it from other areas of the South Bay?

Totally. Bands like Slivers, Peer Group, Plebs and even Jimmy Smack were doing some ballsy experimental stuff at a time when most bands were doing the fast hardcore thing, which made it hard for these Pedro bands to get gigs, I imagine. No one else was doing this sort of stuff in the South Bay, that I know of. Not to say that any of the other South Bay bands were not original, but no one sounded like the Minutemen or Saccharine Trust, they were both very unique. The Minutemen blazed a path of creativity that was definitely influential on all the other Pedro bands that formed after them.

* Do you think Pedro’s history as a Navy town, and a fishing port populated with longshoremen and blue collar workers affected the music?

Sure. Minutemen had songs about working things — in their words and their art. That was part of their identity. Even D. Boon’s fanzine was called “The Prole,” which is short for Proletariat. The Minutemen couldn’t go on the big Black Flag tours in the beginning, ’cause of their domestic situations — they had to work. Gary Jacobelly has a spiel on the back of the book that ends with, “Pedro punk was workingman’s noise.”

* Does the inception of Pedro punk go back to the apartment Joe Baiza and D. Boon lived in?

Pretty close. The Reactionaries (precursor to the Minutemen) were the first Pedro punk band. They were around from 1978 to 1979. Not long after, in early 1980, the 19th Street duplex was the birthplace of the Minutemen and Saccharine Trust too, to some extent. Gary Jacobelly and Joe Baiza lived on the bottom floor and D. Boon lived above them — a chance meeting. There’s a good chapter on the 19th Street scenario in the book. It’s funny, a few of my friends ended up moving into that same complex in the late ’80s. We had no idea that’s where the Minutemen formed, at the time. I even got HR (with the “It’s About Luv” lineup) to play in the cement yard in 1988, between the front house and the duplex that D., Gary and Joe lived in — they had all moved out by then, of course.

* Would you say Gary Jacobelly is a co-author? What was his contribution?

Not really. Although he played a huge part, and some of his anecdotes are some of my favorites in the book. He did write a couple of nice pieces that I ended up using in the beginning of the book, and I also used an anecdote of his for the back of the book. He’s a great writer, I love his style. Joe Nolte also wrote a great detailed piece on the early South Bay/Hermosa Beach scene, including the Church and all the craziness that went on there. Everyone’s gonna dig it. Those two are the only ones that wrote entire stories that are in the book. The rest is strictly an oral history format.

* Your book stops in 1985. Do you believe Dennes Boon’s death, although not the end of the local music scene, marked the end of an era of idealism, like the end of The Summer of Love?

Yeah, Pedro took a big hit when D. Boon passed away, especially for that generation. The late Lisa Roeland put it like this: “Once D. Boon died, everybody went their separate ways. He was the guy that kept us all together. He changed all of our lives. God knows where they would have been musically if D. was still here. Who knows, they could have taken over the world. It was just beginning. Things were never quite the same with all of us. Some of us lost touch with each other. It seemed to me to never be quite the same.”

* Have you considered an accompanying compilation album? A lot of people have never heard the other Pedro bands you discuss.

Yes, I have. It was actually in the works and then I pulled the plug on it. I actually prefer, at some point, to release full records of some these bands on my record label, Water Under the Bridge Records. So far we’ve done: the Reactionaries, some of the earliest recordings of the Minutemen and Saccharine Trust, Peer Group and we have a Mood of Defiance record coming out in early May — a split release with Recess Records. We will have a limited amount of test pressings for sale of the Mood of Defiance 7-inch which has never been released (recorded and produced by Spot at Media Art in 1981), at the book release party on April 17th.

* Is there anything else you would like to mention about the book?

January of 2007 was when I came up with the idea to do the book. I was inspired by two books: “Please Kill Me” and “We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk” — both oral histories.  The books on L.A. punk that I read would never mention San Pedro, along with countless other small scenes scattered around Los Angeles. These books mostly cover the Hollywood scene and have short sections on the South Bay and Orange County scenes, usually. The Minutemen were lumped in with the South Bay scene with bands like Black Flag (Hermosa Beach), Red Cross (Hawthorne), Descendents (Hermosa Beach), the Alley Cats  (Lomita), the Last (Hermosa Beach), etc. People from Hollywood thought the South Bay was one big town. There are lots of small cities and towns within the South Bay area of Los Angeles: San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City, Lomita, Carson, Rancho Palos Verdes, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Gardena, Lawndale, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, El Segundo, Inglewood — the South Bay is huge and very balkanized.

I felt it was my calling to do a book on the early punk community from the town that I was born and raised in. I’ve always been interested in the pioneering days of L.A. punk and I wanted to tell our side of the story, which has never been told before. Since I don’t really consider myself a writer, I chose to do an oral history, which involves a lot of interviewing, transcribing and editing to make the story flow correctly. I had gotten some practice doing these things with a zine that I did called “The Rise and the Fall” and thought an oral history was a format that I was capable of pulling off. For the most part, I interviewed everyone I felt was important to help tell the story. I even included anecdotes from various fanzines, in that way, D. Boon is represented which I think is crucial. The book took longer than I thought to finish. I estimated it would take five years, it took about eight. I did go long periods of time without working on it, though, ’cause other things would come up that I had to focus on like the record label and art related stuff. I’m glad it’s done — sorry it took so long.

Order your copy at Water Under the Bridge Records.