Left of the Dial: Conversations with Punk Icons

by David Ensminger

Featuring interviews with leading figures of the punk underground, including Ian MacKaye, from Minor Threat and Fugazi; Jello Biafra, from Dead Kennedys; and Dave Dictor, from MDC, this book probes the legacy of punk's sometimes fuzzy political ideology, its homegrown traditions, and its rupturing of social norms. Passionate, far-reaching, and fresh, these conversations illuminate punk's oral history with candor and humor by focusing on the history of ideologies and values as understood by performers, instead of as represented by discographies or gig memories. The book also features rare photographs shot during the heyday of punk and hardcore, and a massive punk flyer collection that celebrates a visual history of the bands represented.

Genres: Music, Punk, Nonfiction, Memoir

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jessie McMains · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Good idea, poor execution. Most of the questions were pretty dull, and so were most of the answers. I really liked the Peter Case, El Vez, Ian MacKaye, Gary Floyd, Dave Dictor, and Thomas Barnett interviews: the rest of them, for the most part, seemed like old dudes talking smack about other old dudes, and/or talking about how the scene was better/different/more 'punk' back in their day. Ugh.

[Scott Butki · Rating 4 out of 5]

good thorough book with interviews from some of my punk music idols

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection of interviews. It leans a bit too heavily, perhaps, on American punk icons (there's only one non-American in the entire collection), and west coast Americans at at that, but the content of the interviews, intelligent and in-depth, makes up for these shortcomings.

[Bill Sassenberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

David does a stellar job documenting punk history. There was a time when a sense of community existed between like-minded, near starving bands such as Minor Threat and Black Flag. They would support each other with floors to sleep on, bagels, beer and camaraderie.

[Kayla Greet · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full of leading questions and hero worship.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting observations and nostalgic discussions from the usual and not so usual punk rock suspects.

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very oddly curated, edited and contextualised; but some terrific primary material.

[Elliot Chalom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esminger is not a good interviewer, nor is he a good story-teller. There is no link made between the personalities covered in his book. Not only does the book not have a singular theme about punk music, it’s missing a basic portrayal of the scene which – coming from these insiders – would have been fascinating and is otherwise untold. The book is nothing more than the ramblings of random musicians from a particular time – very few of them essential to that time period – printed on consecutive pages (without any direction or cohesion from the book’s author), bound together to be called a “book.”

That said, a few of these interviews are extremely interesting – if you sample any random assortment of people and let them all speak pretty much extemporaneously, a few will have something really smart to say.

Check out my full review over at http://2bitmonkey.wordpress.com/2013/...

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 2 out of 5]

The five star rating system doesn't allow a way to properly evaluate a collection like this. On the one hand, I find the presentation of punk "icons" distasteful and counter to one of the most common core beliefs of punk rock: that we're all participants and performers aren't special. On the other hand, interviewing bands is the most common literary practice in punk rock and some of the history, thoughts, and experiences presented here are valuable.

I would have dropped the "icon" thing and interviewed some regular punks (or at least some zine editors, not just musicians). Also, lots of these interviews are pretty old.

[River · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really thought this book was going to delve more into the underlying ideology (or lack there of) of punk rock. On that level, I was looking forward to this book and while a few interviews did an alright job of bringing that up, they tended to be from relatively predictable sources (i.e. Ian MacKaye or Dave Dictor). I was hoping for a more comprehensive exploration of that topic (and related ideas), instead this was more of just a collection of interviews of people talking about their old punk bands. A lot of the interviews and questions just really weren't that interesting.

[Gerry LaFemina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of interviews of punk rock heroes (Mike Watt, Captain Sensible, Charlie Harper, Jello Biafra...) could break new ground, but it doesn't--probably because they are the collected interviews by Ensminger from various 'zines as opposed to an envisioned and thought out book.

[Avis Black · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wildly uneven. It has some good interviews, but not enough of them.