Collection of writings exposing punk’s long-standing political and philosophical traditions beyond the violence and fashion of this often-misrepresented subculture. Through a series of well-researched interviews, Born to Rock covers everything from a junky skateboarder’s death wish to a hardcore clinical psychologist’s vision of a better world. In between, there is censorship, children’s rights, … rights, art, photography, and a lot of drunken, good times; like the music itself, this book is funny, sad, fast, angry, smart, and redemptive.
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After picking through the hundreds of interviews he’s conducted, Taylor has compiled Born To Rock, a “best of” anthology of his 17 favorite interviews, sandwiched by three enjoyable essays.
First and foremost, even though it’s at the end of the book (starting on page 313), I want to mention Taylor’s essay “On Interviewing: From Beer Drinking Goats to Popes.” It may not be the focus or selling point of this book, but goddammit, someone has needed to write an Elements of Style for the punk rock interviewer for a long time, and Todd’s done it here. EVERY kid with ambition to put out a fanzine should read it; EVERY current publisher and journalist should look it over and consider it a tune-up to their skills. From dealing with publicists, to listing the rote questions to avoid, to emphasizing the importance of research, Taylor covers the bases of conducting a successful, interesting interview in six short, easy-to-read pages. You have no good reason not to read this.
Now, let’s flash back to the opening piece, “Endless Accidents.” This is an essay, a story, and a manifesto wrapped into one. It details Taylor’s introduction into punk rock, how it has fit into his life since he was 15, and his experiences working for Flipside and how he began Razorcake. Sounds self-indulgent and kinda boring, right? Yeah, I was even a little reluctant to read it, but I’m glad I did — it’s an inspiring piece that begins with the tragic car accident that changed Todd’s life when he was 15. After weeks of working as an underpaid Boy Scout camp counselor with his older brother, he was in an accident caused by a tire blow-out that sent him to the hospital, and killed his friend who was driving. Todd’s family racked up large medical bills, and when they sought help from the Boy Scouts — who, legally, were responsible for providing Todd transportation home and failed to do so — they refused to assist. They then suggested the Taylors sue the parents of the driver, who had just lost their son (who was not intoxicated and not speeding). While spending the next several months healing from surgery, pulling shards of glass and rock from his skin that had become embedded in the accident, Todd discovered, to quote my friend Chris Connal, “the world is a large dick that you’re forced to sit on for life, and not a candy, fireworks, and puppy dog store.” Enter skepticism. Enter cynicism. Enter punk rock.
But like I said, this is, largely, a happy, inspiring story. Todd goes on to talk about earning his master’s degree, his travels, his very supportive family, his time working at Flipside (and his nasty split), and starting up Razorcake, with Sean Carswell. The way he tells his story is not so much a narrative of the episodes that took place, but rather his insights and mental attitudes that accompanied his experiences, and how they all related to punk rock. He also details the martyrdom that oftentimes encompasses the zine publisher, who works insane hours for little or (usually) no pay, who refuses to give up his or her passion for money or security in the real world. And yet, with no cynicism whatsoever, Todd states that his enthusiasm and love for what he does continues to this day. Coming from someone about eight or nine years my senior, this is something I really appreciated reading.
Phew. I haven’t even gotten to the meat of this book: the interviews. As I stated previously, there are 17 interviews in this book that show the best of Todd Taylor’s work over his career as a rock journalist.
I will, however, say that if Taylor is seeking in this book to avoid the “glorified fuckups” and “black eyes” on the face of punk rock, then he’s not entirely successful. There are a few interview subjects contained within Born to Rock that I will unabashedly “dismiss as being stupid.”
First of all, one of the 17 interviews is with Duane Peters, most widely known as the front man of the U.S. Bombs. Peters can suck my U.S. Balls because he is the definition of a glorified fuckup who sings for a shitty band. If I want to read an interview with a 40-year-old who dresses like an idiot and glorifies his rough-and-tough past life of drugs and crime, I’ll pick up a copy of AP and flip to the latest Lars Fredericksen interview. To Taylor’s credit, though, he does eke a couple good stories out of Peters — most notably, I enjoyed hearing about his experience opening for The Misfits in the early ‘80s. Overall, though, this interview bored the hell out of me, and isn’t exactly something I’d pass on to a friend whose negative perception of punk rock I was attempting to sway.
Nor would I pass on the interview with Fletcher from Pennywise. More drinking stories…a few too many of these in this book…zzz… At one point, Fletcher whines about how people have a misconception that he’s a “complete asshole,” oh, and then he goes on to tell stories about puking on people and shooting people at a party with a water pistol filled with his piss. Where I come from, you get your ass kicked for shit like that.
Let’s get on to the good stuff, shall we? Because aside from my negative digressions, reading this book is mostly a fun experience.
The first thing I turned to when I got this book was the interview with Maximum RocknRoll founder Tim Yohannan and the then-editor of MRR, Jen Angel (now co-editor/co-publisher of Clamor). This was the last-ever interview conducted with Yohannan in early 1998, as he died in April of that year. Now, I’m not a big fan of MRR. I think their PC politics and their punk credibility-policing tactics suck, and, in general, they’re hypocritical assholes, and this stems from Yohannan’s ideologies. This interview didn’t change how I feel, but, still, I found it to be really fascinating. This interview also gave me a bit of respect and admiration for Yohannan, because, even if I don’t agree with all or even most of his personal opinions, I respect his steadfastness and overwhelming dedication to his beliefs and to his zine. It was his baby, as Verbicide is to me, as Razorcake is to this book’s author, as any zine is to anyone who puts the true-blue effort in and crosses from part-time hobbyist to full-time money-less martyr.
The interview with Andrew Vachss, pro-bono child rights lawyer, is flat-out fascinating and impressive. Todd’s interview in this issue of Verbicide with PROTECT’s Grier Weeks should pique your interest in their cause; if not, read this interview. It covers all the bases of child abuse definitions and throws out a lot of interesting tid-bits that’ll open your eyes and piss you off. To quote Vachss: “Did you know the United States has not signed a U.N. convention on the rights of a child? Because it prohibits the death penalty…[which] has been proved to be such a potent weapon against crime,” which he states facetiously.
Another interview I liked a lot was the (rare) interview with everyone from NOFX. I’m not a raving NOFX fan, but they definitely provide some humorous and poignant quips, and I especially enjoy reading the quote from Fat Mike — the man who sang the anti-vegetarian anthem, “Vegetarian Mumbo Jumbo” — in which he states, “I’m a vegetarian now.” Mike continues by saying, “People who don’t change their views aren’t smart people. Some people have a way with words and others have…not…way.”
While household punk names do pop up in this book, Taylor’s interviews in no way relegate themselves to the “big names.” He digs deep, and he finds great stories and chunks of wisdom in unlikelier places; from bands that you most likely aren’t familiar with.
There is an interview with uber-geek Rev. Norb of Boris the Sprinkler (he is also a Razorcake columnist) who should be a “Jeopardy” contestant. Taylor chats with Mike Diana, a comic book artist who is, and I quote, “the only illustrator in the history of the United States to be put in jail solely based on what he drew,” due to his crude comics, which were charged as obscene and drew outrage from religious protesters (it’s like looking into the future of Nate Pollard!). I also really enjoyed the interview with a band called Bloodhag, who probably had the best pull-quote in whole book: “I believe that reading is truly punk rock and I believe that it’s truly punk rock to teach yourself through reading. If you think it’s punk to be ignorant, you’re wrong. It’s punk to learn and it’s punk to know and be wiser than those who are supposedly in control.” Jeff McNulty, I think you’ve hit it on the head.
I could keep going, offering little bytes of a bunch of interviews within, but seeing as how I’ve long-since crossed the line from book review to book report, I’ll finish up.
Taylor has put together a fine collection of interviews here. He’s one of the best of our generation’s rock journalists, hands-down, and that estimation spans all of music journalism. You won’t read a dull interview by Todd Taylor. You most certainly are sure to come across one or two that are unappealing and boring in context, but in terms of content, even the most loathsome subjects open up and bare a lot of their inner-workings in his presence. We’ve got 17 of his best here, sandwiched by some great essays, and any avid reader is certain to find a lot to enjoy.