Photos by David Hsu.
Backstage at the Black N Blue Bowl, I got a chance to talk with John Joseph, best known as the singer of New York hardcore/crossover legends the Cro-Mags, who was playing with his new band Bloodclot. Joseph talked about everything from health and fitness to screenwriting projects and his recently released autobiography, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon.
--On his book, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon:
JJ: The book's doing really well, we're almost sold out of the first pressing. It chronicles how I grew up, me and my brothers, in foster homes, on the street at a young age. How I got into music, roadying with the Bad Brains. A lotta' crazy shit. I just finished two screenplays and got an agent in Hollywood, so it's starting to manifest into other stuff.
The book took me seven years. I started working on it about 15 years ago, but I was using the material for screenplays. Then at the urging of my screenwriting partner, I chose to make it a book instead. I had memoirs and diaries from 20 years ago and I just finally put it all in a book and then I got an editor. Then we just decided to get a publisher and self-publish. It's just like music, you get ripped off in the publishing world. The movie business. Everything. So now when I come with something, I wanna' do it grassroots. Now I'm getting into the whole independent film shit, trying to work that whole angle in there where you're not selling out, selling out your life. My writing teacher told me you gotta' know about the business, because otherwise you'll get ripped off.
I work hard, I write everyday. Whether it's a screenplay or whatever the fuck, I'm constantly writing, I'm constantly training, working on music. And I'm ready to tour the fucking world with these guys.
--On his screenplays:
JJ: One's a comedy about a religious cult, and the other one's a drama, a boxing film. I studied under Robert McKee, he's one of the most sought after screenwriting teachers. I've been working about seven or eight years on films now.
I started writing with Morgan Spurlock who did Super Size Me--it was me, him and his wife--and they knew about Robert McKee and I took the course, applied his techniques to my scripts. They were like, 'We'd love to work with you, but you'd have to go to school.' So that's what I did.
Bassist Rick Lopez (Merauder) and Joseph perform with Bloodclot.--On Bloodclot:
JJ: The band features members of Cro-Mags, Biohazard, Merauder, Pro-Pain, so it's the new shit. We just dropped a record called Burn Babylon Burn. Going on tour, South America, Europe. It's just starting to kick up now.
We know the record business is not what it used to be. Everybody downloads. We don't give a fuck. I put out my book on audio first and everybody downloaded it. So we don't care about selling a billion records because nobody does anymore. But you'll be able to get it on iTunes soon.
--On the state of the scene, and the world:
JJ: If ever there was a time for revolutionary attitude in punk rock and hardcore, now's the time, with what's going on in the world. That seems to be the aspect of this music that's been taken out of it. I've been going to punk shows since '77, when I was 15. I'm 45 years old. So I saw the whole evolution of punk rock, hardcore, the whole shit. The metal, the crossover, whatever. We don't sing about our relationship problems, or how tough we are, or how many tattoos we got. The message is conscious and we're out there to make people think about what's going on. I'm way behind zeitgeist, [radio host] Alex Jones and his film Endgame, and what's really going on with the Illuminati and the families that are taking over this planet. They're taking advantage of the people and milking this fucking planet dry of all its resources.
--On health:
JJ: I'm against meat. I got another book coming out called Meat Is For Pussies and it's a health book. It's the brother book to Skinny Bitch, number one on the New York Times bestseller list. People just don't know about health. I've been training, I'm a competitive triathlete now. I'm doing an iron man and the whole book is about health, nutrition, training, the vegetarian aspect. It's not about a quick burnout and take a bunch of fucking steroids and then you're getting your balls cut off 10 years later. I'm for longevity in training, I want to be racing when I'm 60 years old. And rocking the stage. I've been playing since 1981. 26 years, bro. And we bring it every night, it's like boom. High energy. What you put into health is what you get out of it.
--On playing the Superbowl in '05 with Fearless Vampire Killers:
JJ: It was the Cro-Mag reunion, the 20 year thing, but with all the politics and people talking shit, I just didn't wanna' call it Cro-Mags. I'm over all that bullshit, I never slam any of those dudes in interviews. It is what it is. I choose to remain positive and do my shit like that.
Kids going apeshit during Bloodclot.
No comments:
Post a Comment