David Ensminger and his book.

If local punk band reunions have shown anything, it’s that the genre that started as a culture and music of rebellious youth is no longer just a youth movement and, that despite its best efforts, the culture and the music has actually aged gracefully.  One thing that happens with maturity is the ability to look back and contextualize what at the time seemed chaotic, anarchistic, and  fleeting.  Local scribe David Ensminger, has been doing just that for quite some time.  His Ozone City Outrage blog has been a treasure trove of old and not so old Punk flyers and his Left of The Dial zine has proved an invaluable resource to me on various occasions.  This week he is releasing a book, Visual Vitriol: The Street Art and Subcultures of the Punk and Hardcore Generation (University Press of Mississippi),  that examines Punk flyers and other visual works as urban folk art.  I could go on about it but I think it’s better to step out of the way and let Ensinger do the talking…

FPH – First of all lets tell us about the book – what it is about, how  did the book come together, and what inspired you to make it?

Ensminger – I started making and collecting flyers as a teenager for shows that took place in Rockford, IL, the home town of Cheap Trick. Friends of mine set up DIY shows at roller skating rinks, VHW halls, and sometimes bars. I grabbed flyers all the time, including early gigs I witnessed, like Capitol Punishment and Life Sentence in the mid-1980s. The Adolescents show was my first flyer, then I also constructed them for others, like Youth of Today, which ended up being cancelled. I played drummed in bands that opened for Kingface and 7 Seconds, I edited a ‘zine named after a Henry Rollins’ spoken word piece called No Deposit No Return, and I invited bands stay at my house, like Swiz, Government Issue, and Moral Crux.

My brother, who is ten years older than me, introduced me to punk rock when I was 10 years old.  He was very adamant that I should make art and music and disconnect from corporate culture, which surrounded me as a kid, like Star Wars. So, in fifth grade a wrote a biography of Johnny Rotten for a school assignment, and I have never stopped.  My book, which examines punk street art (flyers, graffiti, and stencils) and the subcultures of punk (Hispanic, gay and lesbian, and black punk), is simply an extension of those early efforts. The book is an ode to the diverse movement that empowered me.

FPH – A lot of these flyers were made before the days of Photoshop. What do you think we lost in that digital transition?

Ensminger – I miss one main thing: the human touch. I actually enjoy the mistakes, the crudeness, the off-kilter, the instant art, the naivety, and the imperfection of the early flyers, which amounted to a mass democratic movement in the arts. As my friend Welly from Artcore zine notes, punk posters de-gentrified gig posters in the wake of the 1960s and 1970s, when posters had become limited edition, finely wrought objets d’art. Punk was more about splatters, splotches, ugliness, torn and ripped qualities, which fractured the visual terrain of modernity. This approach was more in tune with my sensibilities living in a cookie cutter suburb. I felt caged in by stadium rock blaring from ranch home windows and miles of boredom in every flat direction. Punk rock connected me to a vein of resistance. Posters and flyers used to be traded by mail, purchased, or used as letter heads. They represented a museum in the mailbox, made by and for the people.

FPH – Are there people who still keep that Xerox aesthetic alive these days?

Ensminger – I certainly do. All the posters I make for shows are made via copy machine, and others in town do so as well, like Born Liars, whose flyers have a direct link to the aesthetic. Though Hatetank Production designers don’t employ cut’n'paste methods so much, they still distribute tons of small handbills for shows, which I still collect. Houston doesn’t have the ongoing poster traditions that a town like Portland exudes, but in small pockets, like Montrose, the posters remain alive and well in small batches. Street art, however, continues to blaze across neighborhoods. This scene is a fascinating, and some say disturbing, epoch.

FPH – Give us some of your favorite flyers and why they speak to you?

Ensminger – Let me zero in on one as an example. The TSOL gig flyer represents many cultural facets. It was made in 1982 by Jaime Hernandez, a hugely important Hispanic artist who later penned the Love and Rockets comic. It offers the iconic logo for the band Agression, from Oxnard, who represented part of the core of skate punk, plus it demonstrates a sense of territoriality (Locals only, Dick!), which foreshadows the gang issue in punk as well. Plus, JFA was a diverse skate punk band too, including black bass player Michael Cornelius; meanwhile, Articles of Faith were on tour from Chicago, near where I grew up. I interviewed singer Vic Bondi for MaximumRocknRoll just a few months ago. Lastly, the gig took place at T-Bird Rollerdrome, a Hispanic-owned rundown roller derby track that looked entirely seedy. This highlights the marginal venues and locales of punk gigs, which were not welcome at fine clubs. Roller derby has a made a stunning comeback among women and feminists, which shows the cycle of sports and venues as well.

FPH – This is for an academic press. Is there a sudden academic interest in punk and hardcore as a social and cultural movement lately or has this been going on for a while? Also, how do you and others approach the narrative of the movement?

Ensminger – I am an academic that has taught English, composition, and folklore for fifteen years. Currently, I work for Lee College in Baytown, but I have also worked at universities in Oregon. As a community college teacher, I am usually shrugged off by elite academics. Academia is very biased and territorial, just like the punk scene. Two sections of this book — the section on black punk and queer punk — were featured in The Journal of Popular Music Studies and Postmodern Culture, both respected journals. The text concerning black punks is now being used in classrooms and has inspired researchers in both in Germany and Malaysia, where I am guiding some younger scholars. The first academic book with a huge impact was Dick Hebdige’s Subculture the Meaning of Style in 1979. We all work in that long heavy shadow. Yes, punk does percolate throughout academic research and publishing, but I argue it has scant attention compared to hip-hop, which has really seized the imagination of professors.On the other hand, punk has become a huge market for popular press books. I just reviewed both Spraypaint the Walls, about Black Flag, and the Illustrated History of DOA, which chronicles the visual history of the notorious Canadian punk band. Some authors, like Jon Savage and Simon Reynolds — nuanced writers and intellectuals — straddle both worlds.

UK Subs

FPH – You also have done a lot of photography. How long have you been doing this and why do you feel it’s important?

Ensminger – Recently, I realized that I recall very little from most shows I attend, unless significant moments occurred, like hearing damage in my left ear from Black Flag in 1986. When I snap photos, even though it does distance me from the action and rhythm of the show to a degree, it does document and preserve the moment, even more so than the flyer. I can relive the smell, the sweat, the pulse, and the rippling energy. I have always been at the mercy of low grade cameras, so my 1980’s photographs can’t compare with the work of local heroes like Ken Hoge and Ben DeSoto, who captured some defining moments of bands like the Dicks, Big Boys, Really Red and others.

Peter Case

Still, my work from the last ten years, featuring the likes of UK Subs, Adolescents, MDC and others, does mean much to me, even if the bands are not in their prime. This past week, I shot Peter Case, proto-punker from the Nerves and Plimsouls and singer-songwriter extraordinaire at row houses in Lightnin’ Hopkins’s old neighborhood. Case saw him years ago, as did members of Anarchitex, Really Red, and Party Owls, so to capture this moment was Zen-like to me. Photographs may not have the same folkloric meaning that flyers provide, but they offer another kind of wealth and insight.

FPH – You also ran Left of The Dial magazine if I am not mistaken. What happened to that zine and what do you feel you accomplished with that zine?

Ensminger – First, I need to thank all the local contributors, like Brando, Dixon, Jason, and many others, especially Russell Etchen, who now manages Domy Books, who made Left of the Dial possible. I had leftover material from my journalism at Thirsty Ear, out of New Mexico, so we said, “Let’s start a perfect bound fanzine featuring all interviews, no reviews, no filler, that crosses genres and style.” That’s what we did. Etchen focused like a machine, while the others made their aesthetic and writerly marks as well, and I tried my best to steer the venture, pay the bills, interview at length, and create momentum. We had distro all over the globe and respect from members in the community. Ian MacKaye, for instance, sent me a postcard exclaiming how much he enjoyed my interview with Tony Kinman of the Dils. Robert Earl Keen’s wife bought several subscriptions because we covered her husband, Peter Case, Jason and the Scorchers, and Tom Russell, not just punk, hardcore, and indie bands. In 2024, the zine also featured a 17 page version of what became my book, replete with photos and flyers. The best result: I owed no money when my distros — Tower Records and Desert Moon — bit the dust. We printed for five years, I switched on-line for five years, and now I focus on blogs dedicated to regional scenes like Washington DC, the Midwest, Florida, Austin, Houston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. My local one (www.houstonpunkart.wordpress.com) features over 900 graphics and is updated almost daily. I hope to build the largest on-line flyer library in the world — a museum without walls.

FPH – You are not just an observer but you also have played in various punk bands. Why don’t you go into that and tell us how that shapes how you approach the material?

Ensminger – Those times spent behind the drum set, and now the microphone, are part of the same DIY trend of my early life. As my friend and drum guru Bijan will tell you, I am not a “musician” who knows equipment and jargon. I play like a punk rock version of the Who’s madman, which means you either love or hate my style. I am unbound behind the set. To me, drumming is about physicality, like dancing, and it is intuitive, like taking a photograph. Playing drums for the Mydolls, Biscuit of the Big Boys, Peter Case, or singing back-up vocals with Bob Weber of Really Red and Anarchitex behind me on drums represents sublime moments — a full circle — in which the bands that introduced me to the lifestyle, movement, and culture become close friends. Punk rock was always about connecting to people, not connecting to product, unless you are an adamant collector with a fetish for objects. Punk rock was a human-scaled enterprise, not a corporate branding of the impersonal.

FPH – It seems that a lot of elders of the scene have returned into the spotlight now with the Mydolls and the Anarchitex. What do you think that says about punk rock as it has matured over the years.

Ensminger – Both bands, and please don’t neglect ever-present titans The Hates, represent the intelligence and continuum of content that really underscores punk. Their lyrics transcend time, place, and person. People like John Reen Davis and Trish Herrera are provocative poets linked to deeper conduits in history. I just saw Christian yesterday on his moped, with a T-shirt emblazoned with the word England (on July 4th!), mohawk stiff and ablaze in color, and I thought, this guy is a bedrock. Newer bands often lack that kind of longterm vitality and commitment. They are “here today, gone tomorrow.” The older ones push through the years, more dignified than ever.

FPH – How do you feel about how punk has been absorbed into the mainstream? Do you feel that Punk Rock has been narrowed in its focus now from what it once was?

Ensminger – I think punk has become an unstable term that borders on meaninglessness at times. It has become overly scattershot, fractured, and self-obsessed with narrower definitions of style. I can’t even keep up with the new terminology, from d-beat, discrust, and discore to all the other myriad newer variations. In the late 1970s, bands were lumped into punk, and no one really cared to categorize The Mutants, Weirdos, and X into subdivisions, which have become a folklore topic of their own (terminology, slang, and nomenclature). I prefer the big umbrella version of punk. In terms of punk being incorporated by international media conglomerates, that has always been true, since the Clash and Sex Pistols. Green Day are simply a corporate punk model, as was Bad Religion for awhile, and that doesn’t mean the meaning of the music lacks potency. True, the product is mediated on a whole other level, but a market is a market, whether or not its Facebook, Wal-Mart, or the ma and pa store. What concerns many older punks is the wholesale commodification of youth, the buying and selling of youth culture, as alternative spaces are squeezed during economic down times. Houston has anarchist book stores, Super Happy Funland, and indie record stores like Sound Exchange and Sig’s Lagoon. Many Americans lack those options, and on-line access is not the same. Physical space is important: would you buy your hot cup of coffee on-line?

FPH – OK here is a question that might show your (our age). Remember the Quincy Punk Rock episode?  (with tongue-in-cheek)  On a scale of 1 – 10, how awesome was that? But on a more serious note, do you miss punk rock being so completely misunderstood by mainstream society and do you think punk lost a lot by no longer being so misunderstood and outcast?

Ensminger – Well, not very awesome since it portrays punks as demented and destructive psychopaths, just like 21 Jump Street did too. I think punks are still misunderstood and miscast in this age in which ‘difference’ means having different APPs, not different ideas. Facebook updates are deemed more crucial than critical thinking. Punk rock still has much work to accomplish. I was telling Dianna of the Mydolls that punk rock failed in many aspects: it did not build an alternative society, though certainly many of us raised on punk rock feel that our ideology, food habits, and lifestyles have been indelibly shaped by punk lore and experience. I feel Europe succeeded on a different level than America, due to the network of squats and alternative spaces. I proposed to my wife from one in Milan, Italy when touring with punk posters, made possible by the band Retisonic and the French label Modern City in 2024. Some places do thrive, and bands like MDC have not abandoned any of their thrust, but when I see punks like Biscuit of the Big Boys die alone, broke, and without proper medical treatment, I know the community could have shaped a different outcome, possibly.

FPH – Lastly complete this sentence; “Punk rock still lives because…”

Ensminger - …a counter-balance to hegemony, mainstream culture, and corporate values will always thrive. Punk rock is the people’s music and cuts across races, economics, and regions.

Join David as he  celebrates the publication of his book with three events:

Friday July 8 @ Rudyards Pub Featuring: The Kimonos, Biscuit Bombs, Jealous Creatures, Zipperneck

The Anarchitex (Photo Jay Lee)

Punk Rock has been so commercialized, commoditized, and tamed that these days you can likely turn on Disney channel and find some teen sitcom with a character that superficially swipes from the genre. But it wasn’t always that way. Punk actually had something to say and that made a lot of society antsy and given the political turmoil of the Reagan 80’s the genre was filled with biting social commentary and youthful angst. Houston’s scene was no exception and so music and art flourished in the ”scary” Montrose where all the stoners, hippies, faggots, and other walks of society shunned by suburbia resided. It was a place where cheap rent  gave way to an explosion of music and art.

One band that rose from that era was the much beloved Anarchitex.  The band – which boasts members of Really Red, Happy Fingers Institute, and The Pain Teens – reunited a couple of years ago and this weekend they celebrate the release of a new album.  It’s an album that, despite the band’s elder statesmen status, is brimming with youthful fire, scrap, and angst.  Hell, it’s why yourPunk Rock Card application was rejected. Clearly, age hasn’t dulled their knives. We contacted vocalist John Reen Davis and drummer Bob Weber to discuss the band, the CD, and Punk rock.

FPH – For the uninitiated why don’t you give a brief history of the band. Some people may not realize that the Anarchitex have been around for a while.

Davis – When I met Torry he was in a band called the Beatless. We were involved with a group of poets and Torry wrote music to some of my poetry which turned out very well, When the Beatless broke up Torry asked me to join his new project called Anarchitex, Originally Torry did most of the songwriting and vocals I just came on for a few songs toward the end of the set. In fact we still do a couple of Beatless tunes.

Come to think of it, he may have just wanted help carrying his instruments. By the way, Anarchitex is still Torry’s band. He’s cool about everybody having input but Torry makes the final decisions. I’m just the guy he asked to do vocals. Even the reunion was his idea. HFI was my project in the same way.

FPH – Tell us about the new record, where it was recorded, how the material came together, the writing, production and everything else?

Davis – The basic tracks were done at Sugar Hill Studios with Andy Bradley on the board. This was primarily so we could get a professional sound on the rhythm tracks. We did that part on reel-to-reel. The rest was done in Scott’s home studio.

FPH – (With tongue firmly in cheek) Why are a bunch of old coots still playing punk rock? Why don’t you just leave punk to the kids?

Davis -At one point we did sort of give up punk rock for a while. After Anarchitex broke up in the 80’s Torry and I went on to bands like Naked Amerika and Happy Fingers Institute, which used really complex arrangements and included a lot of technical wizardry. And of course Scott moved on to the Pain Teens and a couple of hundred other bands. We got back together in 2024 for the Axiom reunion show and had such a good time we decided to keep going. I forgot how much I liked the simplicity of just one bass, one guitar with drums and vocals. After about 10 minutes we decided to drop the idea of mimicking ourselves from the ’80s (there was initially some talk of getting a saxophone.) Instead we reformed as a living, breathing band, creating in the moment. We loved the old material but discovered we had become better musicians and performers over the years.

Weber – I quit playing drums almost 20 years before because I couldn’t handle the disorganized unit that was the Anarchitex of the 80’s. Plus, I desperately needed a break from the scene. Torry called me about playing the Axiom reunion and wooed me back. Dianna Ray (Mydolls) gave me an old drum set that was in up in her attic. I’ve been rebuilding and repairing that old set for almost four years now. My time may be up when it completely disintegrates. Oh yeah – the real answer to your question is that I still don’t know how to tango.

FPH – When I listen to the tracks on the album I’m reminded how broad Punk was as a genre. Many people now tend to reduce it to Pop Punk or hardcore but there was a lot more going on back then. Why do you think the genre was such an open field and why do you think – some people see it defined so narrowly?

Davis – When I started listening to Punk there were no rules and I just soaked it up like a sponge. I always wanted to have a band and I wanted to just like the clash and the jam. Like the ButtholeSurfers and Really Red. And the Patti Smith Group and Suicide and The Stranglers and the Cramps and the Crass and the Stranglers and Tom Robinson Band and…like that. Originally whether you were a punk or not was an intangible. If other punks thought you were cool you were a punk (even if other punks thought you weren’t.) It’s kind of like Calvinists being in the Elect. Some people can’t deal with intangibles. If you can quantify the problem as a set of rules to follow in the right sequence than yes you can conclusively prove whether you’re a punk or not And I think punks have been charactered in the media and some people approach the music with that stereotype in mind. Of course the music industry likes to define musical genres narrowly, because it makes it easier to target you to a particular audience.

Weber – Punk evolved from the destruction of rules about what music should be. One of my favorite albums of all time is “20 Jazz-Funk Greats” by Throbbing Gristle. It’s beautiful….and sometimes nearly unbearable. It’s not anywhere close to MDC, but in my book it is hardcore. If you don’t define punk as punk, then it gets lost in the vast universe of sound, the no-rules chaos that is one definition of anarchy.

FPH – John, your lyrics are rife with pointed and biting social commentaries with this nice flow that’s like you’re reading poetry. Can you elaborate on how you approach lyric writing, where you get your inspiration, and how lyrics and the music inform and shape each other?

Davis – I’m a real fucking poet I’ll have you know! Been to the university and read Chaucer in the Middle English, I have. When I was writing free verse I tried to approach it intellectually like Eliot or Auden rather than being the guy working out his childhood trauma on Open Mic Nite so i dissected language to understand its structure so I could use language as an artistic tool. Of course I forgot all that years ago. Now I just stand on my head and try to get some shit to rhyme. I think some of the best songs happen when Torry and I work out the music and lyrics separately and sync them up. That way you have two complete ideas going into the thing. Sometimes Torry will write music to something I’ve already written or vice versa. I should also point out there are about 4 songs on the CD Torry wrote completely on his own. As far as inspiration, sometimes I’ll take on some subject that’s on my mind which is sometimes successful but can be a little linear. Sometimes little bits of poetry will bounce around in my mind and eventually these will congeal into something. I think that gets better results, although it can sometimes be slow going. “Mean and Bitter” and “More Intelligent” each took about 7 years. Seriously.

This would probably be a good time to mention I’m working on a new version of Gilgamesh. It’s about 2/3 written.

FPH – I didn’t mean to suggest that you weren’t a poet simply that you approached vocalist duties more like a poet than they typical vocalist.

Davis – I was meaning to be a bit humorous with my answer. I wasn’t offended but did mean to emphasize my didactic approach to the problem. Have you ever watched bands on TV with the closed captions on? It’s amazing to see how many well respected bands have really stupid lyrics. I don’t know how you can write a song that doesn’t mean anything. From a poetic point of view punk rock is a challenge. You really have to simplify. Bob recently read some lyrics I’m working on and noticed I write in 4/4 time. See, he thinks like a drummer. I’ve gotten so used to it I sometimes do it without thinking. Punk Rock and Rock music in general is similar to Anglo-Saxon poetry. So are most genres that evolved from blues. No matter what you call it, it’s all the same damn music,

FPH – Back in the 80’s when I first heard of the Anarchitex there was this free flow of ideas between musicians, artists, and writers. Do you find that interconnection is still there between disciplines in Houston or not. Why is that important if at all?

Davis -I think we lost a lot of synergy when Montrose became and occupied territory. When I was starting out all the poets and musicians and actors and sculptors lived in closer proximity. Or it may be I’m so old no one cool will talk to me. I think it’s great when that kind of synergy happens. It’s nice to see a visual representation of your musical ideas, for instance. I’m especially impressed, for instance, by the undeservedly great artwork Catherine Bendig did for the CD. We got to get that on a T Shirt which is another artistic discipline.

Weber – People are so wrapped up in the digital, how can they find the time to mingle with other creators? (That word reminds me of the Mingle Brothers’ parties.) I’m guilty of that too, so I know that it reenergizes me to get out to live performance or openings of any kind. Mary Hayslip’s recent shows were a blast! If you avoid the interaction, you can lose inspiration or become lost in a canyon of your own thoughts.

FPH – On a similar note, how do you think that music is informed and made better by other disciplines both within the arts and outside of the arts?

Davis – I think the more information the better; the more tools you have to work with. It’s even better if it’s from a source outside your normal range of experience, something you would never have thought of otherwise.

FPH – Why go through the effort, time, and cost to make music when you know that you will, in all probability, never see the wide popularity, riches, or fame of a Justin Beiber?

Davis – Whenever I get jealous of Justin Beiber I just remind myself I’m way cuter. What. else would I be doing with my time? After HFI broke up I was without a band and it got really boring.

Weber - It’s more difficult for a snail to get through your minds eye than for race car driver to find peace in the monotony of last year’s 4th of July fireworks.

FPH – Time to play elder statesmen. Houston has a lot of talented musicians out there, why don’t you toss them one small piece of wisdom that you’ve learned after all these years of making music?

Davis – Never piss off the sound man and get offstage before you start boring people.

Here is an Anarchitex film from 1984…

Here’s are Anarchitex in live 1984 (Yes, that is a very young JR Delgado on Bass)…

And here is the band today…

The Anarchitex perform Saturday May28, 2024 @ Cactus 5pm, all ages, refreshments provided by St. Arnold’s

OK ladies and gentlemen let me say this right now – Room 101 is likely the best shit you can possibly check out right now! Holy crap! Here I was muddling over whether to go-out a second night and I figured, yeah I’d been wanting to go see the Anarchitex, why not just go for a bit and make it an early night. I’m sure glad I got off my ass – thick yellow phlegm or not – because the second I walked past the Rudz curtains I was hit with a rush of “Holy shit! What the fuck is that?!!!!” On stage was this one guy playing with a drum machine, backing tracks, and projections. He shook and jerked in fits while he played some of the most refreshing aggressive post-punk angular guitar lines I’d heard in ages. Holy crap this stuff was good! My first thought was “Hey remember when Steve Albini didn’t suck? You know, before he became predictable and boring?” Sure, Room 101 borrows from the Big Black/Gang Of Four model but it’s clearly its own thing which is always the sign of anything good – take the old and reinvent it in your own image. And this guy performs like he’s in some eternal battle against his instruments with little hint of which may be winning the struggle. It’s noisy in-your-face shit that you need to see. In a city with a list of brilliant solo musicians with an affinity for drum machines and backing tracks like the Wiggins and Hearts of Animals, I say add another to that list! Room 101 will surely be on my list of best new bands in Houston for this year if not the best! *

Following Room 101 was the Anarchitex who I’d actually seen ages ago back in the day. But unlike Room 101 – I knew what to expect from them – great songs, clever lyrics, and sharp performance. And their set was indeed great. Tory Mercer’s guitarwork was excellent, Scott Ayers on bass for most of the show reminded me just how freaking good a player he is regardless of what instrument he touches, Bob Weber’s rock-solid drums sent me as many goosebumps as when he played with the seminal Really Red, and John Reen Davis’ always weird stage presence, as he delivers his lyrics with a nasally Jello Biafra snarl, is always brilliant. It immediately reminded me of how truly weird Houston’s independent music was at one point and it’s nice to see that weirdness raise it’s head again in the bayou like a punky smart assy Nessie. I bow to the masters.

Links:
More Pictures on my Flickr (Link)

Room 101 on myspace (Link)
Anarchitex on myspace (Link)