Interview with "But I Like It" writer/artist Joe Sacco
Just about everyone reading this has dreamed of somehow being involved in the music industry. American Book Award-winning cartoonist/journalist Joe Sacco (Palestine, Safe Area Goražde ) has, and it wasn't all it's cracked up to be! Fortunately for us, he's compiled his early comics work about the industry into a new hardcover book published by Fantagraphics. From Joes experience touring with psychedelic punk rockers The Miracle Workers, to his scathing crtiques of the various scoundrels in the indie rock scene. Sacco shines a light on all facets of the industry....and it isn't a pretty site. But it is well drawn, and funny as hell, and a must-read for anyone who wants to be a part of the music business. It even comes with a live cd from The Miracle Workers! I had the pleasure of interviewing Joe Sacco about his experience, so sit back and enjoy, as your starry-eyed dreams of rock n roll stardom come crashing down before you.
The centerpiece of the book is devoted to your experience touring with The Miracle Workers. Tell me about your connection with them and what led to your decision to document their European tour as a comic.
I went to high school and college with Gerry Mohr, the lead singer. I
suddenly got it in my head that it would be amusing to join the Miracle
Workers' upcoming European tour -- this is in 1988 -- and do a comic
about the experience, and so I called Gerry up to see if the band would
mind my presence on the road. He said I could join the tour, if I sold
T-shirts at the gigs. And, of course, I had to pay my airfare. I was
living in Portland, Oregon, at the time, and the band was in LA, so I
quit my job, got rid of my apartment, and headed south to join up with
the band just before they left for Europe.
For people who haven't read the book yet, encapsulate what it was like for someone who wasn't in band to step in and be a part of the experience: the groupies, the rigors of the road, etc.
Well, frankly, I was jealous of all their girlie action. The Miracle
Workers were a band that attracted women. I've hung out with other
bands that seem to draw earnest young men in shorts to their earnest
shows, but the Miracle Workers were a sexy band in that classic,
Rolling Stones sense. The Miracle Workers had a lot of charisma on
stage. Their hair was incredibly long. They seemed indifferent. Girls
were all over the place. I document all that, of course, along with my
own pathetic attempts to pick up their leftovers. Spending six weeks on
the road with a band is a pretty grueling, even boring experience, and
I saw each of their personalities up close. (I also got an insight into
my own.) But it was a load of fun, too, and when they hit the stage I
never ceased to be amazed at their transformation into rock stars.
Are there similarities between being a Do-It-Yourself punk band and being an indie cartoonist? Both seem to go against the more established ways of their respective industries.
Yeah, both garage-type rock bands and independent cartoonists go
against the grain, but I'd say cartoonists work about ten times harder
without any immediate reward. I can understand why so many cartoonists
harbor fantasies of chucking it all in to start a band. The immediate
gratification of being on stage and loved is a pretty appealing thing,
I guess.
A recurring theme through the books short stories is a displeasure with the music industry. From the labels and managers all the way down to the friends of bandmembers. Some of these hit home with me becuase I've actually seen these things happening. Was there one thing in particular that bothered you or was there a favorite target for your stories?
You've got to understand that I was doing one of those short strips a
month, and at a certain point I felt I was running out of obvious ideas
so I began to reach deeper into my experience with rockers. So everyone
and everything became a target at some point. Sure, I was bitter at the
whole music industry. I mean, I've always loved the best of the music,
but the whole support structure that both supports and sucks blood from
musicians is pretty repellant, and often the musicians are repellant,
too. It never seems to take an individual a long time to think he's hot
shit, and the whole industry is about taking that self-belief and
making it into a sort of mass-belief and even hysteria.
You also dedicate a portion of the book to some of the promo art you did for bands like Soundgarden The Flaming Lips, Mudhoney, The Lemonheads and more. Tell me about the creative process behind that. Did you
listen to the bands music for ideas, or were the bands receptive to whatever your mind came up with for the shows? What led to you leaving that part of your career behind?
I seldom discussed my ideas for posters with bands beforehand. I was
living in Berlin, and the band would be coming through in, say, a
couple of months. I'm sure they would have been too busy to concern
themselves with their posters in Germany, for example. In any case, I'd
listen to a band's latest records to get a feeling for what they were
about. The Flaming Lips were trippy so I tried to incorporate that into
my art. Soundgarden had this big and heavy sound, and I wanted the art
to reflect their Zeppelin-like thunder, or whatever you want to call
it. I'd listen to the music and sketch until an idea seemed
appropriate.
There are two stories about your experiences at Rolling Stones concerts, and its pretty obvious that you were a huge fan. What was it about the Stones that clicked with you so much and are you still as big of a fan now?
I suppose I'm still a fan, but I consider myself a student of the
Stones. In other words, I listen to even the stuff that is
considered rubbish to figure them out more. Of course I enjoy Exile on
Main Street and Beggars Banquet and Some Girls primarily but I have a soft spot
for Bridges to Babylon and Dirty Work and half the stuff that is on
Metamorphosis, too. How could one not be impressed by a band that has
been around for more than 40 years? I can't understand why people think
they should have quit a long time ago. What else are they going to do?
Become record label executives scouting around for the next Built To
Spill? I love the way they keep doing it; it strikes a chord with my
own world view and my belief in longetivity and persistence. Long live
the fucking Rolling Stones!
You eventually went on another tour, this time with several blues artists. What do you recall most about the men you traveled with? Bluesmen tend to be known for their hard living.
Well, that was a marvelous experience because I really appreciate
their music. I think those old bluesmen were a little surprised to get
so much attention so late in life. I enjoyed their stories quite a
bit, of course. RL Burnside seemed to have his interview banter down
pretty solidly. He told me things I'd read in other interviews in
almost the same way. I didn't blame him. It gets tiring answering the
same questions over and over. T-Model Ford and Paul Jones, on the
other hand, were hungrier and more off the cuff. They liked me.
Perhaps they thought my story would help their career somewhat.
Perhaps they just liked the attention. Yeah, they were hard-living
guys. It was hard for them to keep up with their reputations as my
comic indicates.
In addition to music, you have used cartooning and the comic book format to cover wars and events in the Middle East. Do you feel that comic books allow you to provide a deeper or unique look at the world? And is it a goal of yours to attempt to reach beyond the publics perspective of comic books just being about superheroes?
I'm not so interested in elevating comics beyond their superhero
antecedents. I couldn't care less about superheroes, frankly, so that
isn't an issue with me. I think of myself as relatively sophisticated
and deeply interested in and affected by the world I live in, and I
want my work to reflect that. It just so happens that I'm a cartoonist
and that's the medium by which I make my thoughts known. Of course,
all that said, I feel obligated to use comics as best I can to tell the
stories I want to tell. That's a learning process. It comes with
experience. I have a long way to go.
This is a music site, and many of our readers don't read comics, what would you say to them to inspire them to pick up copy of "But I Like It" or comics in general?
Give it a shot. You might have a laugh. For god's sake, cartoonists
spend a lot of time listening to all that music crap. Time for you to
take a look at OUR crap.