Mar 13, 20090

Punk Across the Globe: Ann Arbor, Sao Paulo and Jakarta

‘The punks are alright’

Canadian documentary shows the far-reaching influence of punk music across the world

Published: Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Updated: Saturday, September 6, 2008

Singer Henrike and Guitarist Mauro from the Sao Paulo punk band formerly known as The Blind Pigs circa 2003. Henrike spent a decade growing up in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he frequented the notorious venue that inspired the band’s name.

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In an example of music’s power to transcend arbitrary boundaries like national borders, income level and traditions, Canadian documentary “The Punks Are Alright” (2005) chronicles the influence of punk rock from Canada to Brasil to Indonesia.

First World

Toronto-based Director Douglas Crawford visited the University back in March for a screening at the Gish Theater.

Since he completed the project, he’s been independently promoting the film in his spare time.

The 87-minute piece started as a short documentary idea on the Forgotten Rebels, a lesser-known Hamilton, Ontario, punk band active since 1977.

“They never made it big, but they still have fans all over the world and really hard-core fans at that,” Crawford said. “For a band that’s never had major exposure and to have these rabid, hard-core fans all over the world was, to me, a pretty interesting story in itself.”

What started as a short documentary idea on The Forgotten Rebels evolved into a five-year project that took him to far-flung punk musicians in Brasil and Indonesia.

“I basically posted to their site saying ‘Fans around the world: I’m interested to hear from you’ because I wanted to show their international appeal,” he said. “This band hadn’t necessarily traveled to these places but the music still did somehow, without any support from major labels or any of that stuff … the power of music went across international borders.”

Goin’ South, Viva la Revolucion

It was from that World Wide Web appeal that a São Paulo band, The Blind Pigs, contacted him, with heaps of praise to the Rebels as a major source of inspiration.

Researching the band on the Web inspired Crawford enough to actually want to go there.

“I heard a 15-minute interview with Henrike (their lead singer) from an American punk radio show,” he said. “He was so charismatic, so passionate and so into what he was doing.”

“After listening to him speak I was like ‘I have to go and meet this guy’,” Crawford said.

This particular Brazilian punk band may never have been were it not for well-known Midwestern college town Ann Arbor, Mich.

Born in a well-to-do family as the son of a nuclear engineer, Henrike spent a decade of his youth in Ann Arbor.

His father, an unlikely punk music fan, took him to see bands like The Forgotten Rebels at the town’s classic venue, The Blind Pig. The spot and bands passing through inspired Enrique to become a musician and social worker/activist back in his native São Paulo.

Crawford found all of this fascinating, but before he could start filming, he needed money, and getting funding was never easy.

He applied for various grants from public and private sectors, but found out his idea did not really fit with others’ notions of what deserves financial backing.

“No one believed in it,” he said. “The artistic community that gives grants thought punk was not artistic and the commercial world - like broadcasters, television and film.”

“They didn’t think there was a buck in it … so I was getting it from both sides,” Crawford said.

Without support from the wider community, Crawford drew from family and friends, as well as his jobs working on documentaries and television shows with producers such as Alex Gibney and Joel Surnow.

São Paulo is not known as a friendly, peaceful place. In addition to being much poorer than either Canada or the U.S., it is also much more violent, which was a constant anxiety as Crawford captured scenes of punk shows and Henrike’s social work in the poorer communities of the city.

“‘Paranoia’ is a big thing there because it’s valid,” Crawford said. “You bring the camera out to get a shot, then you quickly put it back in the knapsack and someone else was always with me, watching around to make sure nobody saw or was following us.”

“It was like living in a police state or something,” he said.

Third World Punks

But it was in Brazil that Crawford learned of The Blind Pigs’ own far-flung fan, Dolly in Jarkarta, Indonesia.

In place of paying money for records, Dolly began making patches for the band in his spare time away from a factory job that did not pay much.

While there, Crawford documented the growing local punk scene. Bands such as Superman Is Dead from cosmopolitan Bali could draw thousands to outdoor concerts, but Crawford’s interviews with the band members revealed something of a “rock star” mentality developing under the “punk” label.

However, in an age that has made multi-millionaires out of artists marketed as “punk”, it can be difficult to gauge what all the term means in a mass world market. Apparently one purchasable punk product successfully transmitted from the first world to the third is fashion.

“I see nowadays kids here are using punk style just for fashion, scaring people with their ‘punk look’ to intimidate,” Dolly said over Internet conversations. “And some [jerks], they just use it to make a profit.”

“I see mainstream Indonesians and most people who don’t know what punk means only think we’re scumbags, filthy, bad boys, etc.,” Dolly said. “They didn’t know that actually we’re just humans who love peace.”

“At first my parents and family thought that I’m weird, hearing that music and seeing my mohawk hair, but I think now they understand punk is not only about hair,” he said.

Since the filming, Dolly quit his factory job and has expanded his patchwork production, doing orders for bands around the world who request them, but most are from Europe. Bands e-mail him a design and he prints them, charging roughly 50 cents per patch.

The Blind Pigs have also changed their name to Pecos Cegos, the literal Portuguese translation.

Crawford currently has two new projects in the works, including a film on the Pirahã people of Brazil, a dwindling Amazonian tribe that has no concept of numbers and a film on Cambodia, which has been an interest of his since the Dead Kennedy’s song “Holiday In Cambodia”.

“It was the first I heard about Cambodia and the genocide (by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge),” Crawford said. “I had to find out through the music, there was nothing in books or school or movies or anything that I knew of.”

“It came to me through the music so that was like the CNN to me,” he said. “You know, when you’re a kid you hear the songs and you want to know what the lyrics mean and you ask people, do the research and it opens your mind to other worlds.”

“The Punks Are Alright” cannot be purchased from any major retailer. Video clips can be found on YouTube at youtube.com/thepunksarealright. MySpace profiles for the movie, the bands and individuals involved can be found at myspace.com/thepunksarealright.

(Peace, Love & Anarchy: Dolly used to work in a factory. He quit and now makes patches for bands as well as starting and quitting bands with some frequency. From Print edition).

Jun 1, 20080

Mark Miller Interview

Q:: Why do you call yourself G Clef G Note?

G Clef G Note was my name way back in the day when we first started Group Home (ex-rap group).

Q:: What started the Do-It-Yourself shoe design idea?

Actually it was my girlfriend Bri’s idea. She really loved my drawings so she went out to Wal-Mart and bought some piece-of-sh*t white shoes. I bought some markers and that’s how it started. All her idea.

Q:: When was that?

I’m gonna give it six months. I have no idea really, I don’t have a specific date. It was spur of the moment.

Q:: How many people have you designed shoes for? Is it just word of mouth? What’s the process?

Just six as of now. It has been pretty word of mouth, just through friends.

Q:: Pretty cheap?

I haven’t been trying to figure out an actual price. It just depends on the amount of work I have to put into it. The most I’ve charged is $35 and I don’t want to charge anyone anymore than that.

Q:: For the very detailed [shoes] you’ve done, how do you start? Is it stencil-work?

I do stencil, pencil everything on the shoe before I start it. The first pair I mostly did freehand but everything else has been laid out before. I haven’t found a better way yet.

Q:: Is there a specific type of marker you use?

I’ve been getting the thin-line fabric markers from Jo-Ann Fabrics and they’re perfect. When they’re fresh I can get some of the finest detail and that’s perfect. I’m all about the detail and I love the intricacy.

Q:: Is there something you use to coat it or waterproof it?

I’ve been using the waterproofing for shoes. It’s a spray and it seems to hold up great. The more coats you use the better it brightens the color. So far I haven’t had a problem with blending at all. The marker hasn’t bled anywhere but they do fade over time, it just depends on how much you wear them. It ages with the shoe.

Q:: How will you spend your summer?

Working. For these arts and crafts-type stuff we’re spreading into other areas, not just shoes. She had an idea for a lamp shade and I thought that’d be sweet. We can do anything.

Q:: How about this table?

Absolutely. I love to paint. I love any medium of art, anything I can throw some color on and design. Sh*t, I’d paint your stove if I could. Everything in my house will be loaded like a canvas.

Q:: Are there any boundaries?

No, there really isn’t. It’s right along the lines of what a lot of kids in town are thinking, especially downtown. Absolutely everything is a medium. Anything blank is a canvas and every item you own can be customized if you want it to be. It’s definitely the age that we’re in, an independent/everybody’s gotta have there own thing … Everybody needs to have that artistic connection, whether you’re wearing it or putting it on something. It’s the Black Swamp and we need to have that.

This story also featured on the jist http://thejist.org/2008/06/g-clef-g-note-shoesg-clef-g-note-shoes

Apr 29, 20081

PBR: marketing indie subculture

DANGER LIVE
VOLTAGE- taught him better
than to deface public
property. Choke
hold. Keep
NEW YOKE
CITY Clean.
Give those men a PABST BLUE
RIBBON, a slap
on the wrist
a meddle
of honor…
-From ‘Defacement’, Kevin Young (1983).

Americans love their beer. Despite a history of temperance and prohibition movements, there has always been a sanctioned space for drinking alcohol in mainstream culture. Innovations and technological advance through the repeal of Prohibition created a national brewing market with several large corporate competitors . Today, Anheuser-Busch, SAB-Miller, Coors and Pabst brands dominate the macro-brewery market with an estimated 98% share. Through their marketing strategies initiated by The Sawtooth Group, an advertising agency with a reputation of doing business with a ‘bite’ , Pabst Brewing Co. has utilized cheap ‘anti-advertising’ techniques such as consumer-created ‘guerilla art’ to expand Columbus, OH and Nashville, TN sales for their anchor product Pabst Blue Ribbon.

‘Emblazoned with that beautiful blue ribbon’ , a testament to their 1893 win against Budweiser in a competition, the modern PBR brand enjoys a growing reputation of being ‘non-mainstream’ and ‘counter-cultural’ through its sponsorships and associations with modern indie music and culture. This modern re-branding is interesting when it is noted that, as the historical myth goes, PBR was one of the top brand-recognized beers throughout the twentieth century, only dropping in sales and market share steadily from the 1970s through the early 2000s (Tremblay, et al. 2005).

Judging Pabst’s market share is difficult, the company is privately-owned and research yields confusing and contradictory reports. Writing in the Review of Industrial Organization, Tremblay, et al of the Oregon State University economics department assert that as of 2003 ‘Anheuser-Busch (A-B), (SAB-)Miller, Coors, and Pabst, accounted for over 98% in the macro sector of the market.’ P.310. Writing in the same issue, Pennsylvania State University economics professor Jon P. Nelson charts that as of 2003, A-B accounted for 49.6% of the domestic macro-brew market, SAB-Miller had 18.4% and Coors had 10.9% totaling 78.9% (P.278). Given that and Tremblay’s statistic, Pabst-owned brands make up 19.1%, which would make it the second rather than fourth largest brewing company. Pabst quit producing its products altogether in 1996, contracting or ‘outsourcing’ all brand production to SAB-Miller, which Tremblay rightfully considers, may distort the depth of consolidation. It also may distort the understanding of the actual percent of the Pabst brand’s market-share as it could be that SAB-Miller’s market share includes Pabst-brand products.

Writing on subcultures through the lens of the British ‘mod’ and later ‘punk’ movements, Dick Hebdige cautions that ‘The relationship between spectacular subculture and the various industries which service and exploit it is notoriously ambiguous.’ As such, he argues that it is difficult to absolutely distinguish between ‘commercial exploitation’ and ‘creativity/originality’ P.155. Contemporary issues such as corporate sponsorship of cultural events with ‘sub-cultural’ associations or connotations can lead to strong opinions regarding the concepts of individual/artist’s ‘integrity’, addressed in author Anne Elizabeth Moore’s ‘Unmarketable’ as well as concepts of creativity or originality addressed by Hebdige. Borrowing from Henry Jenkins’ Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars?: Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture, if we are entering an increasingly networked, democratic ‘participatory culture’ while at the same time witnessing an unprecedented ‘media convergence’ and consolidation of industry ownership, then what is meant by labels such as ‘indie’, ‘rebel’, or ‘punk’? How do they oversimplify or distort our understanding of the relationship between sub-cultural groups and the corporations that market to them?

Pabst Brewing Co. provides an interesting case study due to their recent uncertain financial situation. As recently as November 2003, The New York Times reported that the company, owned by the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation, was looking into the feasibility of selling as federal tax law required the foundation sell the company by mid-2005 (Company News, 2003). Without a suitable buyer, the foundation’s ownership could be extended the article reports. The company is still owned by the foundation.

‘Death to Pabst?’

Tremblay, et al. did not see a bright future for the Pabst brand in their report. ‘It is likely that Pabst, which no longer produces its own beer, will continue to decline, and its remaining brands will eventually be absorbed by Miller, Coors, or a foreign brewer .’ P.319. This is noteworthy because as of late 2007, the company was quoted as saying it had ‘more than doubled PBR production in the past eight years (Deaton, E. 2007). The brand first turned a modern profit in 2002, and began advertising again after several years without any substantial campaigns (P.32. Moore, 2005). Beginning in 2005, Pabst became the exclusive sponsor of National Public Radio’s (NPR) All Songs Considered and its live concert series podcasts. Through these free digital downloads, listeners can acquire half hour music programs or one to two hour, full length concerts from a host of modern indie rock favorites. 2008 notables included Kate Nash, Nada Surf, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Vampire Weekend and My Morning Jacket. Some of the 2005 artists featured were The White Stripes, Wilco, Sigur Ros, and Death Cab For Cutie.

Pabst foray into indie subculture is reported to have begun earlier this decade in Portland, OR, where the company began sponsoring ‘art shows, snowboarding contests and concerts that appealed to its target consumer.’ (Deaton, E. 2007). This new-demographic targeting expanded in early 2007 when it hired the Sawtooth Group to devise new marketing schemes. A February 14 Adweek article by Laura Blum quoted Brad Hittle, the Chief Marketing Officer, as saying that they chose the relatively small and obscure group because they had ‘fully immersed themselves in understanding our brand’. Their research on 21 to 28 year old male drinkers around New York bars found the Pabst demographic to be ‘open-minded and unpretentious’, ‘organic’ and ‘authentic’ with a ‘grass-roots cult following’ according to Sawtooth partner and creative director Kristi Bridges. On the brand, she was quoted as saying that it is ‘historic but also modern’.

The article reported Pabst’s 2006 marketing budget a mere $500,000, down by one-sixth from the previous year and paling in comparison to its top rivals. In the words of Beer Marketer’s Insights executive editor Eric Shepard ‘Pabst operates under the radar…They have an anti-marketing stance…Now they’re figuring out how to market without marketing, how to appeal to more drinkers without turning them off.’ (Deaton, E. 2007).

Sawtooth Group’s first major marketing campaign for PBR began with cheap, ‘anti-marketing’ strategies to hone in their demographic type, associated with ‘dive bars, punk rock clubs and independent restaurants’ (Deaton, E. 2007). In test markets of Columbus, OH and Nashville, TN, PBR promoted a fan art contest in ‘Pabst Blue Ribbon-solid bars’. They received over 100 submissions between the two cities, and turned many of their customer-generated artwork into corporate brand advertisements, from more traditional large downtown wall murals to unconventional spots such as newspaper boxes and bar coasters. The company reported that Columbus bar sales were up 15 to 20 percent after the campaign.

The PBR case represents an intimate relationship between the corporate brand and the consumer, on par with the appeal and marketing or co-optation strategies incorporated by Jones Soda in the 1990s (P.34-35. Moore, A. 2005). In addition to other major factors that influence beer preference and purchase, like percent alcohol-content, taste and cost, many of these consumers have a particular reverence enough for the Pabst brand to freely and effectively advertise on behalf of it. In effect, PBR had its dedicated and unpaid customers advertise for them by creating ‘their own’ artwork that incorporated the PBR brand logo. These consumer-created, ‘participatory’ art-advertisements were then simply placed where traditional advertisements are not found to help bolster its ‘non-mainstream’ image.

What other mechanisms or structures were in place that correlate to this very localized case of an intimate brand relationship? Web culture. Jenkins argues that the ‘pervasiveness of popular culture content has made it a particularly rich basis for forming social ties within the geographically dispersed population.’ Much like Jenkins’ documentation of the emergence of media/Web fan culture with regards to the epic Star Wars media narrative, the Web and social networking sites in particular serve as a forum for fans of the Pabst brand. A Myspace.com profile search yielded over 50 ‘Pabst’ profiles, one of note was ‘The PBR Fan Club’ which is listed as a 22 year old female from Columbus, OH. In addition to being a member of numerous groups dedicated to Pabst and drinking alcohol in general, the profile page is filled with original or digitally-altered pictures involving the logo, historic or vintage advertisements and unflattering photographs of intoxicated Columbus crews sporting the beer. One of the last of her 511 friends to leave a comment was the ‘Hank (Williams) 3 Fan Page Midwest Chapter’, which left a .jpeg poster for the ‘Reinstate Hank Williams’ campaign, a long-standing effort to persuade the Grand Ole Opry to officially un-ban Williams, who was kicked out for drug and alcohol abuse in 1952. Here user/fan/consumer-generated profiles are being used to link and advertise associations that breach different traditional mediums, like the beer product and the music (and cause?) of beer-swilling, pill-popping ‘outlaw’ country musicians like Hank III and his grand-pappy.

Through multiple mediums and consumer co-optation, is Pabst Blue Ribbon blurring the boundary between what is understood as ‘art’ and ‘advertising’? What does this evidence of a participatory culture in the midst of media convergence mean for the individual and collective labels like ‘indie’, ‘rebel’ or ‘punk’? Is this commercial exploitation or individual creativity/originality?, as Hebdige would ask.
In ‘Subculture: The Meaning of Style”, Hebdige asserts that ‘the creation and diffusion of new styles is inextricably bound up with the process of production, publicity and packaging which must inevitably lead to the defusion of the subculture’s subversive power…Each new subculture establishes new trends, generates new looks and sounds which feed back into the appropriate industries.’ P.155. Jenkins would perhaps, embrace this relationship as the pairing of the so-called indie youth culture with the fourth largest beer brand corporation, but there is no shiny medal for fourth place. Despite PBR’s ‘under the radar’ image, Moore no doubt sees their solicitation of hip subculture as an erosion of integrity and delicately places its mentality from a mock-corporate perspective ‘To the underground, you’re the enemy, antithetical to its purpose. If you can break in, though, it’s worth your marketing team’s effort, because when the underground’s abuzz over your movie, your soda, your footwear, your drug of choice, it sells like hotcakes.’ P.31. As Hebdige cautions, this relationship is notoriously ambiguous. The commodity form of subcultural incorporation is perhaps easier to document on the surface but the ideological form is harder to decipher. In terms of ‘ideology’, one could argue that Pabst has adopted or tapped into the mentality of its subcultural ‘anti-market’ market – utilizing carefully-calculated ‘participatory’ strategies to cheaply advertise while also attempting to not dampen the brand’s integrity and image – laden with ‘historic but also modern’ associations. Preliminary (and now five months dated) reports indicated that Pabst’s test market strategies successfully boosted bar sales 15 to 20 percent, while they’re quoted as saying that sales have grown by an average of 3 to 5 percent in the last three years. If their ‘under the radar’ and ‘anti-marketing’ to hip youth strategies pay off in more regional metro-markets, Pabst may well position itself to become the exclusive corporate beer sponsor and ‘spokesco.’ for whatever is wrapped around the ‘indie’ cultural label. Perhaps Moore puts it best when she cites a poem by the group ‘Anti-Marketing’:

People are becoming smarter,
They don’t like to be deceived, or have their intelligence insulted…
People either ignore ads, or become annoyed by them…
It’s easy to get lost in the crowd.
Everybody is selling something.

And yes, it can be found on their Web site.