Tin-Ear

Why Thoreau and why angry?
I have long been an avid reader of Thoreau's writing. Many people confuse his writing to be about getting back to the woods, but its really about responsibility, complete responsibility. And at the time I came up with the name I was really into the Angry Samoan's album. I just put the two together without too much thought about the matter.

Is an aim of the Angry Thoreauan to debunk social myths?

A little bit, yeah, but much of the magazine deals with subjects with which everyone is familiar with but doesn't like to talk about or refuses to address realistically. For example, wife-beating. People will talk about it in apologetic tones but no one will give a clear picture of how it really is, and that's why it keeps occurring.

Do you think people get what you write, and if not what's the purpose of writing it?

I would have to be more egotistical than I am to think that people put too much thought into what I write or in fact even read what I write. I do it for myself first. I like to put it out there and to occasionally receive correspondence from people who understood and liked an article. I really just do it for myself and I'm not interested in pleasing or appeasing people.

You started the magazine in Orange County and originally covered the Orange County scene?

Yes, for the first 5 or 6 issues and it was more politically oriented at that time because I was a Crusty and most of the material had to do with pissing off cops and the riots in which we were involved and dumpster diving and general fucking around and making a mess of things and enjoying it. There were a lot of music reviews at the time because I received a lot of material and just reviewed everything I got.

Where do you think your music reviews fall in the food chain of the music industry?

I don't follow the standard method of reviewing. I review stuff if I like it. The advertising has nothing to do with the reviews that I do because, as much as I claim to hate people, I'm not going to lie to them by giving a good review just to get the advertising. If a label won't advertise in the magazine because I won't give them a good review or any review then tough shit. I'm not going to do that for them. Other than that I know that people in the industry do read the reviews and that bands do get responses. I've had people tell me that live reviews I've done on them have brought contact from a lot of record companies. I know the magazine does make somewhat of an impression on the industry.

What are some of the factors that go into your decision to endorse a band?

It's rare that I'll consider politics or whether I like the person because I'm figuring that it's just a music product. Basically I don't consider things such as whether I like the band or the label. However there are some labels that I won't review at all because I've had a spat with them but then they don't send me anything either. I'll review friends' stuff because I do know a lot of friends who are in bands, but actually I give them a harder shake. I don't want them to think that just because we're acquainted that I owe them a favorable or shining review.

The Silver Lake music scene has been enjoying a lot of attention recently. What do you think of the hype?

First off, a lot of these bands started out at Al's Bar and have gone on to create a scene at Spaceland. Al's Bar doesn't get the recognition that Spaceland does and it was one of the few clubs that gave many of those bands a chance to even play.

With that said, a lot of the bands in the Silver Lake scene don't impress me. I like some of the bands and know some of the people and I don't have much of an opinion other than that. But it's not really anything that's as exciting on the whole as it's made out to be. The music industry is always going to seek the next big thing. After the Seattle thing the industry focused on San Diego and they're still marketing the Orange County scene and ofcourse Silver Lake is something they're pushing as well because they've got to have something to sell.

Sub classes of "alternative music" often derive from social movements or alternative lifestyle enclaves, such as the Punk movement in the seventies. Do you think there are any genuine, non commercial, musical enclaves in existence today?

Yeah there are a lot of little ones but they're pretty much comprised of small circles of friends who enjoy each other's music and company and shit like that. There will always be those circles and sometimes they'll expand into something like what happened in Silver Lake for instance. As far as something that's widespread and truly alternative that could sustain its own financial community by what they're doing-- I don't think that will ever happen. Someone will always come along with so much money and overwhelm the individual participants in the scene and then commercialize and commodify the scene, making it a commodity for the larger community. It's not going to be any different than what the music industry has done during the last few decades. They take what's easy to sell over television or radio, which is the image: the music and the dress and whatever other fashion accessories may go along with that.

Do you think America will become more corporate, more centralized, more unified or do you think it will become more decentralized, with people becoming more autonomous and responsible?

I don't know and honestly I just don't care. I must plead apathy on that one. I'm very insular about what I do. I'm not really up on the news either unless there's something I want to use for my writing.

And lastly do you think the internet will wipe out the paper version of small alternative magazines?

I don't think the internet is going to have much of an effect on them because it's different enough as a medium. Most people that read them don't own computers. Additionally it's not as exciting as actually having a magazine that you can carry around. Regulation is another issue. Because the internet is such a pervasive medium there will no doubt be a lot of regulatory bullshit. People read these magazines because they enjoy content that doesn't cater to the mainstream and that is relatively personal. If you have the guts to put it out and can find someone who will print it, which is not at all hard, or buy your own two color printing press or get a cheap computer or rent one, you can create a magazine with whatever content you desire. But on the internet you may run into problems with content matter, especially if you're putting out one of the more extreme magazines.