ABOUT even the best writers have crappy bios. Instead of trying to break the cycle, I posted this interview.

This interview was conducted over the phone by Dale Nixon on October 14, 2024, and edited by Anthony Pappalardo.

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What got you interested in writing?

Reading copies of Rolling Stone that smelled like weed when I was really young. I grew up in a two-family home and I would go to the first floor to hang out with my aunt and uncle. Their friends would come through hang out and watch kung fu movies–real ‘70s shit. When they took off I'd listen to their records and read my uncle's copies of Rolling Stone.​ My dad saw that I liked reading about rock ‘n roll and explained to me that writing about music was a “job.” Being told by an adult that work could be creative was mind-blowing.

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Wait, how old were you when you started reading Rolling Stone?

Damn, I don’t know… six or seven? I wasn't reading long-form pieces about politics or anything. I started copying the mag and wrote reviews of a few records in my dad's collection. I read them to my parents before dinner and they probably said they were “wonderful."  That’s all you need to hear when you’re a kid. My parents encouraged me to read and be creative. We went to museums and the library often but it wasn’t a super intellectual upbringing–we had music mags around not The New Yorker.

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Do you remember any books early on that made an impression on you?

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. I was so hyped to find a sequel to Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory but it sucked. I checked out a book about making complicated airplanes the same day and was more psyched on that. I learned how to make a match rocket. You made a plane out of tin foil and molded it around a paper clip then you heated the base and the shit flew in the air. 

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I recently heard an interview with Jeff Tweedy from Wilco and he mentioned his mom would drag him to the supermarket and he’d spend all his time reading music magazines. I relate to that but I’d also read BMX Action, wrestling mags, and CARtoons. I was super into drawing custom cars, like a jacked-up station wagon filled with trash and Mad Max type dudes… not sure what that was about.

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So were you more interested in reading and writing or drawing?

They felt connected. I had a copy of How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way and was blown away to learn that comics had someone whose entire job was to write the stories. I thought the artist did it all. Even though I spent a lot of time drawing, my sketches were never as good as what was in my head. My brain was dreaming of a hero navigating a psychedelic world where amazing shit happens but they were always flat.

 

​I loved comics but magazines were my obsession because they felt alive. Think about Ozzy Osbourne in the '80s. Yeah, he was a rocker but he was also a character. One month Hit Parader is reporting that he's working on a new album and the next issue you read that he bit the head off a dove. 

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​So were you a full-on metal kid?

Wasn’t every ‘80s latchkey kid into metal? Metal wasn’t mainstream but you knew Priest, Maiden, and Sabbath existed. I would see t-shirts or a logo written on a desk and wondered what those bands sounded like. They had to be evil. As soon as I discovered underground metal everything else seemed soft. Then when I got into punk, metal instantly seemed corny. Later you circle back and realize it was you that was changing not the music and genres don't matter.

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For a lot of people, metal is a gateway into punk. Do you agree?

Sort of. The metal magazines gave me some intel but it was a combination of meeting kids through skating and reading Thrasher. I got a subscription in 1987 and was addicted to Pushead’s Pus-Zone column. He had a very interesting way of describing sounds without referencing other bands directly. When I was 13 I started hanging out with older skaters who were going to Boston regularly to see shows and that was a game changer. The way they talked about Boston hardcore didn't seem real. The bands had cool names, the members had cool names, and the visuals were a mix of bold typography and graffiti. None of it seemed real until you experienced it firsthand. The singer of Slapshot was named ​Choke and ran around on stage with a sawed-off hockey stick… are you kidding me? Sign me up!

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A lot of people talk about how hardcore or punk introduced them to DIY…

It's become overstated. If you see a techbro® with tattoos, he's going to tell you about his DIY disruptor ethos. When I started getting into the hardcore scene, it was mostly run by young people by necessity. You booked a show to see bands you liked or made a zine to share your interests. The career aspect wasn't even a thing for most people. I met this kid who just made flyers for shows he had nothing to do with. He’d get a flyer at a show, then draw his version by hand, make copies, and hand them out for no reason other than to get more people to show up. How amazing is that?

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​You went to Massachusetts College of Art to study printmaking, so why didn’t you choose visual art over journalism?

My guidance counselor told me graphic designers get paid more than journalists. That’s messed up, right? Mass Art is a state school and my mom was a professor at a college in Massachusetts which meant I didn’t have to pay tuition. That was a big factor. The second thing was that they had a printmaking and graphic design major, so my “thinking” was that I’d learn how to make cool illustrations and shit and also understand typography… maybe work for a magazine after college. 

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​So how does a printmaking student end up writing for magazines?

I was going down to Philadelphia to skate pretty often and staying with Vern Laird. One of Vern’s roommates was Sergei Trudnowski who was pro for Zoo York and we became friends. Serge introduced me to Lance Dawes, the original editor of Slap Magazine, and mentioned Lance was an old (funny term for someone in their 20s at the time) D.C. Hardcore kid. I called Lance and told him I wanted to write for Slap. He was down and there was also a big skate event happening in New Jersey so I also pitched him a piece on that. It ended up being a five or six-page spread in the mag. When I got paid for that piece the check arrived in an envelope with the Thrasher logo printed on it. It made me feel like I was sponsored.

 

Because I was mainly writing about music for Slap, I got some attention from music publications and eventually wrote for Alternative Press and Magnet along with some local entertainment magazines which allowed me to not have a “real job.” I still don’t, according to many people. 

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So were you living off freelancing by that point?

I wrote for Slap consistently into the 2000s but despite the opportunities it afforded me, I didn’t become a “writer” or “journalist,” in the full-time sense because I was also playing in a band and working on random projects. Having a band taught me how to delegate. At first, I was making all the flyers, booking shows, and designing t-shirts but as things became more serious, I saw an opportunity to bring my friends into the mix. I knew some incredible graphic designers so why not have them design our albums and get paid? I had no idea but I was learning production skills that would help me later.

 

How does Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music come into the picture?

I moved to New York City in 2002 and felt some urgency to do more creativity. I blew through my savings quickly but found some random writing gigs before linking up with Nathan Nedorostek, who I knew from the hardcore scene, around 2004. Nathan was working at Complex and mentioned that we should do a book about hardcore and graphic design. At the time there wasn’t anything out there like that… at least that we were aware of. We spent years working on what would become Radio Silence. It eventually came out in 2008 on MTV Press/powerHouse and is being reprinted by Revelation Records in 2025.

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And that led to publishing more books and other writing opportunities?

It was a slow burn. Radio Silence helped a lot but it took about four years before I had a steady writing gig. VICE hired me as their first “Weekend Editor.” I quickly learned that I wasn’t a very good editor. I had contacts and ideas but I didn't have the chops. VICE was my first exposure to sponsored content and advertorial which helped me later. Simultaneously, I dusted off my copy of Strunk & White because I wanted to become a better editor. 

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While I was at VICE, Ernie Parada (Token Entry and Black Train Jack) called me unexpectedly. Ernie was so helpful and supportive when we were putting Radio Silence together but hearing from him was still a surprise. A colleague of his was hired to run an agency and needed a senior copywriter... ASAP. I had worked on ad copy before but didn’t know much about advertising as an industry other than what I had gleaned from Nathan and my time at VICE. Ernie told me not to worry about it and a week later I had a full-time gig at Naked Communications. I had to fake my way through meetings and all the corpo jargon but the real challenge was learning how to self-edit and be succinct.

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Outside of learning on the job, what was the transition to advertising like?

Everywhere I worked was a mix of people who came from advertising, were fresh out of school, or didn't have a specific background in the industry but had some skills that translated to advertising. That made things less intimidating. ​Digital was becoming so important and prominent that almost everyone was learning on the job.

 

Because I had experience producing events, doing photoshoots, and with design, I found that I was able to be a bit more independent--I could push something along and get it over to the design team or project manager in better shape than someone who was frustrated by PDFs. Having relationships with people through music, art, and skateboarding was an asset for projects. A lot of the people I'd bring in for projects were used to working on lean budgets and they always had a "get it done," attitude, so that helped, especially when I moved into strategy.

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​Were you writing outside of your day gig as well?
Yeah, I never stopped. I met Taji Ameen of "One Star Reviews" fame through VICE and we started producing videos for ESPN, Bedford + Bowery, and Jenkem. Having the opportunity to work with Jenkem was huge. It gave me the freedom and platform to tell stories that were different than most of what I was reading in skateboarding. Ian (Michna) and Jenkem are open to pushing the medium so I appreciate having the opportunity to work with them to this day. We produced three hardcover books together in less than seven years. I trip out on that.

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What sparked you to go all-in on freelance and ditch the ad agency grind?

The word “grind.” Seriously. I’d look around the office and see cubicles decorated with Baron Von Fancy posters that read, “Let’s Get This Bread,” or something else that was mad depressing.

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Having worked for several agencies, it can feel as if you're climbing up a ladder only to get priced out. That’s when most people start an agency but I wasn’t interested in that. I remember throwing the idea around for a minute and being like ‘I’ll call my agency Better because no matter what, we’re BETTER!’ Terrible idea. Instead, I focused on freelance gigs. Without an agency structure or keeping track of "billable hours," I could be more productive and not in a gross "optimization" way. 

 

That being said, I enjoy collaborating with people and I met so many great people during my time working at agencies. It’s fake work "culture” that bums me out. Sure, we’re all in the same place five days a week but we don’t need to “brand” being in an office as something other than a job. You hired me to sell things and you’re trying to “sell” me on the work environment? Save it. I’m going to come in and kick ass because I like working. I don’t need free snacks or a craft beer fridge to motivate me. 

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​Working in so many different mediums and areas, is there any type of project you enjoy the most?

Interviewing people will always be one of my favorite things in the world but I don't have a favorite type of project. Like I said, I like to collaborate--even an interview is a collaboration. The best projects are ones where you have a solid crew and everyone has the same goal for it. Whether it's a site or piece going live or getting printed media in the mail, it's always exciting to see something come together... and a little nerve-racking.

I want to ask what’s next but that might date the interview…

Nah, it’s cool. I have a base of great people and brands that I work with. Outside of that, I’m always looking for a new story to tell. Not much has changed. The only difference is that instead of getting beaten up or harassed, all the stuff I liked as a teenager became a "career."

 

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