I
did this interview with myself a long while back. here
goes.
So what is Unamerican Activities anyway?
Unamerican Activities is a punk-rock band that doesn't bother
with songs, only titles.
The hell you say.
No, it makes perfect sense. Punk ceases to be "punk" when
it stops creating crazy situations where people with two
brain cells can irk people with no brain cells.
What the heck are you talking about.
Unamerican Activities creates "provoking" art. We manufacture
"tools to help you fucking MATTER". The whole thing is that
this is a country with a lot of TEDIUM in it, a lot of boring
people and objects and institutions. Together, these form
a system which, I believe, constitutes a huge OBSTACLE TO
JOY. The struggle of all provocateurs is to CHALLENGE THIS
OBSTACLE, and ultimately create counter-objects that help
others OVERCOME it.
And so I "matter" through the purchase of your fine product.
Well, what's important to me is not necessarily your purchase
of this stuff, but rather the satisfaction I derive in making
it. I am getting off on challenging the poison of boredom
that washes over this country, and I believe that this sense
of fun I've got helps me make cool things. And helps to
sell it, as well.
This is what we're selling you - the chance to sport something
on your car, guitar, wherever - that has the potential of
PISSING SOMEONE (generally someone you don't like) OFF.
The enemy is anything boring. That includes most of America
these days.
You're awfully cynical.
Well, couple years ago I was pretty friendly. I was the
nicest kid you could meet - I always believed that everyone
had something to offer, that everyone somehow cared about
saying intelligent things, witty things, and performing
madcap antics that could possibly lead to crazy stories.
Then,
slowly, I realized that most people do NOT care about these
things. They're totally content with an irrelevant life.
To them, "mattering" means getting laid once in a while,
having kids, making money, feeling cool about screwing the
occasional someone over, and not getting arrested (or some
combination of these). Maybe the occasional "rocking out".
None of these are "wrong", not in the least; shit, I enjoy
every activity on that list. But c'mon, do you find these
goals sufficient? Is this all there is for them? I still
have not come up with a viable reason for so many people
to live such a limited life. I don't think I ever will.
I'm
content to call these limited beings "boring", and leave
it at that until they prove me wrong. Which they may do,
but only on an individual, case by case basis.
Oh, the humanity.
I'm no fan of humanity. There, I said it. Singular individuals
have the potential to be warm, sensual, caring and exciting
people. Humanity in general? It's like a fungus. It lives
in its little corner of the universe. It eats, and eats,
and eats until there's nothing left to eat. Then it dies.
So to you, the universe is a constant struggle between the
"boring", as you call them, and... the rest of us.
Well, that's pretty close. I view the world as a Manichaean
(look it up) struggle between signal and noise. When you
detect "signal" - be it through a great song, a good meal,
the inspiration to write a book or (plug) a quality vinyl
sticker that says something amazingly true in less than
five words - well, you are temporarily TRANSFORMED. You
are not merely a person. People are ONLY worth something
inasmuch as they contribute to the COMMUNICATION of an IDEA.
Ideas are cool, that's true.
Brother, ideas are the ONLY THINGS THAT MATTER. Ideas are
immortal. I'm sure there were people during the Fall of
Rome who were doing similar stuff to what I'm doing - basically
graffitti against the State. I *know* people were doing
this kind of stuff - exactly - in 1968. The name "Unamerican
Activities" is a sarcastic tribute to their experiences
going up against the same enemy I face - yucky, conservative
idiots who think they know what's best for us.
But screw the past. So it's all been done before. This doesn't
take away from what I'm doing in the least - in fact, it
makes me feel a kinship with those people, a feeling of
continuity, of struggle to EGG HISTORY ON, get it out of
the world of Potential and into the world of the Now.
You're losing me here.
Okay, okay, that's not important. What I care about most
in the world is that magic moment when you sort of LEARN
something, when a new idea crosses your mind - whether it's
original or not. Kapiche?
So far, so good.
Right. Without those moments, and this is speaking for myself
but I believe for many of us, without those moments life
would be totally shit. Let's just say those moments ROCK
and leave it at that. Now, maybe all of us experience these
moments. I'm not one to say, or pass judgement on those
who I don't sense doing so. That's a waste of time. But
I'll tell you another waste of time - trying to squeeze
interestingness out of something (or someone) who BORES
you.
Hear, hear.
So what I'm out to do
is turn the heat up a little. Think about that metaphor
for just a second. American society as we know it
is like
a pot of lukewarm, noncommittal water. There's so little
chaos out there. Most of it is in a state of media-mediated
stasis. People don't meet each other, transact ideas
in
a meaningful way, because there's no PRESSURE to do so!
Television is a medium that seems to have all the answers.
It takes up all of your senses - there's no room left to
do anything at all. And television is THE defining information
technology of our time.
Well, what about computers?
You know where the money is with the future of computers?
In the computer industry? It's in turning the computer -
which is fundamentally a TOOL - and turning it into a television!
A place where people talk to YOU (through a website or what-have-you)
and try to sell you things.
That is how they aim to get a computer in every home - get
the price down by stripping it of its creative functionality
and turning into a Web terminal. TERMINAL. You, the "consumer"
of entertainment, are the END of the information that an
industry of professionals seeks to sell to you. Game over
for interactivity, i guess!
Wait a second. The Web is basically "free", or will be soon.
Information wants to be free.
You know who pays for your "free" television, don't you?
It's advertisers. YOUR ATTENTION IS THE MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY
THERE IS, especially in the media industry. A "cool" website
seeks to deliver to its sponsors what is commonly termed
as "eyeballs". Why are they willing to pay for your attention?
It is because the ugly truth behind the advertising industry,
behind the marketing profession, is that MOST PEOPLE ARE
CLAY and are sometimes even GLAD to be manipulated!
There's a function in advertising - advising someone on
the existence of a new or different product or service.
But advertising as we know it is not just dedicated to telling
you about a product - it's there to MAKE YOU WANT IT. It's
basically pollution, and we tolerate it because it subsidizes
the rest of our "entertainment".
Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but we're WAY off the topic
of selling stickers now.
I beg to differ! What our stickers are designed to do is
create a brand new medium - out of our customers' car bumper,
for christ's sake. And
the product we are pushing is NEW IDEAS. Ideas that everyone
sort of knows (or fears) are true, or at least actually
believed by the owner of the sticker. Ideas that, if promoted
through society as successfully as, say, the mystique of
Coke is, would perhaps highlight the decay of this pitiable
society to the point of its dissolution.
Don't you think that's a little, well, unrealistic?
Well, listen, even IF we're headed towards peace and prosperity
and the defeat of boredom in these here so-called USA,
it
is CONVENIENT and EMPOWERING to ACT as if the end is near.
It gives my actions a sort of existential urgency,
one that
I think helps me keep my edge.
What
about the money?
I care about
my ideas, and your ideas and
my customers' ideas, more than I could ever care about
money. Money would be great, but only inasmuch as
it helps me grow
my business. Yes, I went to school, I vote, I don't mind
my job, and I don't care if that makes me a hypocrite
for
continuing with some of my designs.
Remember, I create TOOLS. These tools are not for me, but
for my customers. I just want them to be able to speak THEIR
version of the truth on the only stage they own - their
appearance.
So if you're a "band", what are your "influences"?
My inspirations are as follows: the Yippies, RE-SEARCH's
book "Pranks", the Nation of Ulysses for rhetoric, the Minutemen
for economy of words, the Gang of Four for situationist
politics you can dance to, the Mission of Burma for sheer
genius, Cometbus, conservative dips everywhere who help
get me motivated, this little record store (Subterranean)
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where I first came up with the idea
of unamerican activities, um um um, girls and punk rock
and Epicenter Zone and Gilman Street and my friends and
all that. Catch-22. Every single one of my customers. Operation
Ivy. The Macintosh, of course, and Gibson guitars.
You play guitar?
I'm in an alcoholic surf band called the
Aquamen - I'm the Hindu Elvis!
Hey, I gotta split and check out the rest of your site.
Any parting shots?
Only my motto: "if there's a God, YOU are an AUTHORIZED
REPRESENTATIVE." Do whatever you deem necessary and appropriate,
and just DON'T GET CAUGHT. Peace.
