>>PREVIEW
WARREN KINSELLA
Thursday, September 29
Pages on Kensington
Thirty years ago this spring, the Ramones released their explosive self-titled debut album on an unsuspecting world, helping to usher in the punk era. The last few years have seen a spate of books published to help celebrate this milestone, including Fury’s Hour by Warren Kinsella, the frontman of one of Calgary’s earliest punk bands, the Hot Nasties.
Unlike a lot of books on punk, Kinsella avoids retracing the history of the movement, nor does he descend into a simple glorification of its albums. Instead, Fury’s Hour provides an honest assessment of where punk has gone in the last 30 years. In subtitling his book A (Sort Of) Manifesto, Kinsella bravely attempts to give purpose to a counterculture fraught with disagreements over its basic forms and identity. In fact, the book came about in part from a desire to offer a new generation of punk fans examples like Ian MacKeye as counterpoints to the nihilism of Sid Vicious.
"Punk to me was a very positive force, and this is a youth subculture that has existed for generations," says Kinsella, who is giving a reading in Calgary on Thursday, September 29. "I hope that the book communicates to audiences that youth cultures can help you get to the other side of adulthood and encourage you to change your world. This makes (punk) quite unlike a lot of other youth culture. Not at all like Sid Vicious."
Growing up in suburban Calgary may not seem like the ideal beginnings from which to turn punk, but Kinsella disagrees. He says that, as a school kid listening to the first Ramones album, he found the freedom to be different. It’s something that still occurs today with bands like Green Day.
"When you’re young, you have a bit of a bullshit detector. It’s about finding what’s real," he says. "There’s so much bullshit out there and you’re looking for something authentic. And that’s what punk was about – stripping it down to the varnish and finding out what it’s really like. But it required (punks) to be courageous, to want to non-conform."
Different people find different things in punk, which is why it’s hard to write a cohesive book about it. Recent interviews with the Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock and Johnny Rotten give contrasting impressions as to what it meant to be punk in 1976. Matlock was in it for the fun and music, Rotten was in it for the politics. Kinsella follows this theme throughout Fury’s Hour, juxtaposing chapters on the politics of the Clash with the free-for-all-rock of the Ramones.
Along the way, he tries to deal with punk’s awkward relationship with neo-Nazi movements and racism. The interview with MacKeye and subsequent discussion of the DIY ethic go a long way to helping Kinsella make his argument that punk is a youth culture of empowerment. He argues that if people really understand punk, regardless of where they live or why they got into it, they’ll be drawn to the do-it-yourself ethic eventually.
When asked what punk ought to be about, Kinsella is quick to answer. "Engaging young people with democratic institutions," he says. "But that’s just my background coming through. Democratic institutions are losing all their legitimacy and guys like George W. Bush get elected in the United States. Young people there ought to be worried. Watch for the draft in a few years and limited reproductive rights for women…. Look at the House of Commons here. It’s overwhelmingly white and male and old and totally unrepresentative of Canada."
Kinsella pauses for breath. "Others might say I can write a totally amazing song and change the world that way," he continues. "That’s the beauty of punk – it encourages people to think that they can change the world in all sorts of ways."
As a former speechwriter to Jean Chrétien and author of Web of Hate, a look at the neo-Nazi movement in Canada, Kinsella is not the first person you’d expect to write a critical book on punk. And, generally, punk has not been kind to those who have traded their spiky hair and Doc Martens for a suit and tie.
"I got involved in the establishment, but I guess my defence is I’m a democratic (punk)," he says. "The essence of democracy – and if you’re a real punk you have to agree with this – is consensus. I’ve had an impact on the things I care about, like racism."
When asked if there’s room for older guys like himself in a counterculture that is dominated by youth, Kinsella recounts a similar conversation with D.O.A.’s Joey Shithead. "We’ve made room by continuing to be punks," he says. "We both love the music and want to shake up the world. And get in fights – mostly philosophical, but that’s punk, too. Maybe not in the same way as when we were 17. It’s just silly to think you’ve lost all relevance by the time you’re 20." |
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