Overview
Left of the Dial features interviews by musical journalist, folklorist, educator, and musician David Ensminger with leading figures of the punk underground: Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Dave Dictor (MDC), and many more. Ensminger probes the legacy of punk's sometimes fuzzy political ideology, its ongoing DIY traditions, its rupture of cultural and social norms, its progressive media ecology, its transgenerational and transnational appeal, its pursuit of social justice, its hybrid musical nuances, and its sometimes ambivalent responses to queer identities, race relations, and its own history. Passionate, far-reaching, and fresh, these conversations illuminate punk's oral history with candor and humor. Rather than focus on discographies and rehashed gig memories, the interviews aim to unveil the secret history of punk and hardcore ideologies and values, as understood by the performers. In addition, Ensminger has culled key graphics from his massive punk flyer collection to celebrate the visual history of the bands represented. The book also features rare photographs shot by Houston-based photographer Ben DeSoto during the heyday of punk and hardcore, which capture the movement's raw gusto, gritty physicality, and resilient determination. Interviews include Peter Case (Nerves, Plimsouls), Captain Sensible (The Damned), Tony Kinman (The Dils), El Vez, Charlie Harper (UK Subs), The Deaf Club (an oral history of the landmark San Francisco club), Mike Palm (Agent Orange), Gregg Turner (Angry Samoans), Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi), Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Gary Floyd (Dicks, Sister Double Happiness), Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE), Shawn Stern (Youth Brigade), Kira Roessler (Black Flag, Dos), Jack Grisham (TSOL), Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, Off!) Fred ""Freak"" Smith (Beefeater), U-Ron Bondage (Really Red), Vic Bondi (Articles of Faith), Lisa Fancher (Frontier Records), Dave Dictor (MDC), and Thomas Barnett (Strike Anywhere).
Full Product Details
Author: David Ensminger
Publisher: PM Press
Imprint: PM Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.10cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.368kg
ISBN: 9781604866414
ISBN 10: 1604866411
Pages: 294
Publication Date: 27 June 2013
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Temporarily unavailable
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Reviews
Left of the Dial offers a fascinating range of experiences from such subjects as The Dils' Tony Kinman and Minuteman Mike Watt. The diversity is impressive too as we get perspectives beyond the white, hetero dudes who constitute the prevailing punk stereotype... --Mike Segretto, Psychobabble
David Ensminger is the right mix of intellectual and real ass emotional punk. He is a historian and has walked the life . . . I recommend everything this man is up to! --Dave Dictor, lead singer, MDC
In these interviews, David Ensminger goes beyond questions of biography and discography to explore some of these artists' more unlikely influences and their philosophies on not just punk, but life. --Adam Ellsworth, The Arts Fuse
Some of the most revealing and candid words spoken from inside punk rock can be found in Left of the Dial , the book. --Tim Stegall, Austin Chronicle
Author Information
David Ensminger is an instructor at Lee College and the author of Visual Vitriol. He lives Baytown, Texas.
