Sinker - We owe you nothing. punk planet : the collected interviews

Raves for the original edition of
We Owe You Nothing

This collection of interviews reflects one of Punk Planets most important qualities: Sinkers willingness to look beyond the small world of punk bands and labels and deal with larger issues. With interview subjects ranging from punk icons Thurston Moore and Ian MacKaye to Noam Chomsky and representatives of the Central Ohio Abortion Access Fund, as well as many other artists, musicians, and activists, this book is not solely for the tattooed, pierced teenage set. All of the interviews are probing and well thought out, the questions going deeper than most magazines would ever dare; and each has a succinct, informative introduction for readers who are unfamiliar with the subject. Required reading for all music fans.Library Journal

The magazine Punk Planet has quietly been one of the most intelligent voices in the kingdom of punk and post-punk [and] anyone with the vaguest interest in music would be well-served to learn from the captured moments [in We Owe You Nothing]. Similarly, everyone can learn from the example of Punk Planet, that sometimes being passionate, aware, and active is enough.Metro Times (Detroit)

The books thoughtful, and often conflicting, conversations are exactly what the magazine Punk Planet is about, [and] no book lately has illustrated this relationship between punk and its believers more than We Owe You Nothing.Daily Herald (Chicago)

The people who put this book together know how to do an interview. They know their subjects, ask probing questions, and then let the people speak with passion and the eloquence that comes from straight talk with no bullshit, no spin. The result is an airblast of honesty, an antidote of attitude. Music fans will love this book, and so will fans of independent thinking.Flagpole (Athens, GA)

The pages are broken down into thematic sections [and] what emerges is precisely what Sinker was aiming for: a wholly unique vision wrought not by consensus but by cultural cynicism and never-say-die musical populism.Magnet

Published by Punk Planet Books/Akashic Books

2001, 2008 Punk Planet

Punk Planet Books is a project of Independents Day Media

Design and layout by Pirate Signal International
Cover photo by Shawn Scallen

ePUB ISBN-13: 978-1-936-07055-8

ISBN-13: 978-1-933354-32-3

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006936686

All rights reserved

For Roosevelt, who cant yet read the words in this book
but has already been influenced by every one of them.

T he original edition of this book was published in March of 2001. Things have changed significantly since then, to say the least. From the fall of the Twin Towers to the siege of Iraq, from the ascendance of digital music and communication to the decline of print, the world sometimes feels wholly different than the one this book was originally crafted in.

One thing that hasnt changed, however, are the ideals that fuel the conversations in this book. Steeped in the belief that independent thought and voices are still vital, these interviews craft a portrait of the underground that is just as important todaymaybe even more soas it was six and a half years ago.

Six and a half years ago also, unknowingly, marked the halfway point in the life of Punk Planet magazine, from which these interviews are culled. With eighty issues and thirteen years under our belt, the magazines run was a long one. The closure of Punk Planet magazine in July 2007 marked the end of an eraboth a personal one, but also in the underground. As such, this book now serves as a document of a time when independence was a virtue, a time before the always-fuzzy line between underground creation and corporate co-optation became blurred beyond recognition. Its a document that remains just as vital as the voices chronicled within it.

In part to flesh out the original version of We Owe You Nothing, as well as to introduce some current voices into the mix, this expanded edition features six additional interviews, one for each section of the book. The new interviews include punk forefather Bob Mould reflecting on his life in music; the hugely influential band Jawbreaker reuniting for a one-off interview to discuss their legacy; artist, writer, and filmmaker Miranda July talking about how the underground has informed her artwork; The Gossip, a blazing ball of rock n roll, exploring their conservative Southern upbringing; Mike Burkett, the founder of the website Punkvoter, commenting on how the 2004 presidential election brought punk politics to the mainstream; and G7 Welcoming Committee Records discussing their conversion to a strictly online music label. Together, these diverse voices add to the loud cacophony from the original edition and create a supersized look at the most essential corners of the underground.

Enjoy them and take their ideas as a launching pad for your own.

Daniel Sinker

October 2007

Chicago

I ve been working on Punk Planet magazine for six and a half years now and never once, not even for a fleeting second, have I felt like Ive known what Im doing. And now, all of a sudden, Im working on a book. I went to art school for gods sake not exactly the pedigree of a fine journalistor even a shitty one. But thats kind of the point, isnt it? Im not a journalistnever have been and probably never will be. And thank god for that. Ive managed to pull off over forty issues of Punk Planet not because of years spent in journalism school, but because I believed in the dream called punk rock. Punk said that anyone could take partin fact, anyone should take part.

It was that ethos that led me to starting Punk Planet in the early spring of 1994. The idea to do a magazine was the result of growing frustration with the punk-rock status quo. A number of peoplemyself includedon an online message board had been posting for weeks, complaining about the lack of a nationally distributed punk zine that had its ear tuned to the exciting things happening at the moment. I wanted to change that.

Nineteen ninety-four was an interesting time in punk. For the first time in more than a decade, the mainstream media was paying close attention to the underground, thanks to the fame of Nirvana and the signing frenzy that followed. Green Day was poised to rocket to stardom and there were dozens of newly signed punk bands ready to follow them to glory (the fact that none of them actually did is a story for another day). The main national punk zine at the time, the venerable Maximum Rock n Roll, took a wildly reactionary stance to this newfound exposure and began to tightly control what bands it would cover and what music it would review. Many bands, including quite a few I was friends with, found themselves locked out of Maximums pages, having been deemed not punk. Suddenly, they had no outlet with which to let people know about their music. In a scene that relied on the underground press to sell records, promote tours, and get into record stores, being locked out of Maximum was perceived as a death blow for many.

At the same time, there were a number of movements blossoming far below the mainstream medias radar that also werent registering on Maximums: most notably, the riot girl movement and the burgeoning sound known as emo. For whatever reason, two of the most exciting things to happen to the underground in the 90s werent getting the exposure they needed within the scene to really break beyond their insular worlds.