DAHC: It must be a headtrip to talk to so many people who were around 30 years ago and who are still around today. What's it like looking back on Touch & Go and the people involved like Rollins and Mackaye?
TV: Well I guess I'm still pinching myself that the book is coming out! Its been a dream for some time..it did allow me to re-connect with folks, like Ian, and it also showed me that some have moved on..trying to get some of the old bands back on stage for the book release party has been daunting!
DAHC: How long has the project been in the works and what sort of help have you gotten from others? Has it been more difficult than you expected?
TV: Ya selling the book took awhile..Steve Miller (Fix singer) and Chris Fuller my attorney never gave up..we had some verbal agreements that fell thru when people saw it..ha! Too much I guess...Ian at Bazillion Points has been great all the way!
DAHC: Do you have a favorite issue or part of the book?
TV: Theres a run of the mags probably in the mid to late teens where we were in our element, our punk rock wheelhouse...loaded to the 9's with American Hardcore...its amazing how many of these bands still resonate with the younguns...
DAHC: How did you and Dave go about creating an issue back in the day? How'd you construct it, how'd you print it, how many would press, how would you distro it, etc?
TV: I did my pages, he did his and then we would get together..have some cocktails and swap our handiwork...make some final; adjustments and we were off to press!
DAHC: How much of your punk life do your co-workers or non-punk friends know about? Has it ever caused any big issues in the "real world"?
TV: Nah..back when I was a teacher I worried about it but now I'm a Telecom Engineer it aint an issue..everyone digs it....even if its a bit out there for the average joe..they think its boss that an old geezer such as myself is still plying the punk rock waters
DAHC:What interests are you absorbed in outside of music?
TV: Collecting old Toys! Robots, anything related to TV shows like Munsters...why just yesterday I got up and 5:30 AM drove to Toledo, dropped $300 on a Munsters board game, then vamoosed it to Detroit to spend the day recording a couple Germs and a Seeds track for tribute CD's with my boss new line up of Tesco Vee's Hate Police...great day all the way around! I still like riding my big bore crotch rocket...
DAHC:Who are some of your favorite bands/musicians?
TV: Hellmouth! Hey listen I REALLY try and get out and keep up with the happening bands but I needed Tony Rettman out there in Soprano-land to tell me about this great fuckin band in my own back yard! There are many great Detroit bands going..Chapstik, Wolf Bait, Electric 6(for shakin the post punk booty) of course ABBA! I am busy re-discovering all my old prog rock faves via all the box sets..still love collecting vinyl at yard sales..I love Lewis Black the comedian..he's the middle aged stand up version of me..but what I love about bein a goofball funny man onstage is when the joke bombs..crank up a tune!
DAHC: What are your favorite books or who are your favorite authors?
TV: Mostly I red rock bio's...Thin Lizzy, T Rex, Black Sabbath, Roxy Music, Motorhead and the Dimebag Darrel book are my most recent reads...
DAHC: Favorite films or directors?
TV: John Waters! The old stuff mostly..Night of The Hunter from the 1950's with Robert Mitchum is my second favorite move..Rocky is the first! I've seen it at least 50 times..I love gangster films..love Turner Classic Movies..the old George Raft type Noir films...
DAHC: What inspires you?
TV: Being able to go out on stage with some young bucks and not suck..still feel the surge of adrenaline and still pump out some heartfelt vitriol and see kids in their 20's get wide eyed and a grinnin'..love to shock and offend people...tell em how fuckin stupid organized religion is, tossing back a Bombay Saphire or 2.... hopping in a van with a bunch of dudes and tour America's back alley punk rock shitholes...getting paid for playing music...never quite figure out how that works..if it were the other way around I'd still do it..
We're playing Friday with the State in Ann Arbor and Saturday with H2O at the Magic Stick in Detroit (check the sidebar calendar for full details). Then we're recording the LP in April and May, so these are probably our last two shows until June. Make it out if you can...
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THE DREAM WAS DEAD
As the DIY gigs continued on into the summer at the Clubhouse, gigs at Clutch Cargos (now known as the City Club) went on. July saw San Francisco’s Dead Kennedys finally make it to Detroit with the Necros, Negative Approach and the Cruicfucks as the openers. Also on the bill were Blight, the latest post-Fix project of Mike Achtenberg, Steve Miller and roadie Pat Clark. Mike stuck to bass while Miller tried his hand at guitar and Clark played drums. Rounding out their line-up was none other than Tesco Vee on lead vocals and electric trumpet. Blight’s sound was a disturbing merger of the art damaged plod of Northern California’s Flipper and the abrasive, abstract industrial sounds of U.K. troublemakers like Throbbing Gristle or Whitehouse. As expected, the new breed of Detroit hardcore punkers were slightly confused by the sets of Blight and Crucifucks while they gleefully beat the tar out of one another during the Necros, Negative Approach and Dead Kennedys.
Steve Miller – Mike and I were living in a house in Sterling when we formed Blight. Pat had a guitar and an amp, so we’re like, “Let’s drink beer and get in the basement,” and that was it; we started playing twice a week. I remember the practices being very spirited and alcohol fueled; just get as drunk as you could and carry on. I stole the song "Blight" from the theme song to “Guiding Light.” Tesco was coming to hang out once in awhile and he started to join in. It was such a pleasant music experience. There wasn’t pressure, we were just playing music for ourselves. The next thing I know it was "Hey, you want to play a gig with the Dead Kennedys?” and were recording demos on a four track. As far as that gig went, I remember Jello [Biafra, vocalist for the Dead Kennedys] was a real pretentious dude. He gave The Fix its due, I will say that, but he was more about himself – always played the star, not showing up for sound check, etc. The band seemed to dislike him. That night, Darren Peligro [drummer for Dead Kennedys] and I drank all the backstage beer, which miffed Jello in a priceless way. This was when the Detroit punk contingent was still under the straight edge spell, which made it all the more of a pleasure to indulge.
Tim King - I worked the stage for that Dead Kennedys show. They had this jerk-off manager who made us have a band meeting behind the stage before they started. He was like a drill sergeant, saying shit like ‘No one touches Jello. If anything happens, let Jello take care of it. If Jello drops the microphone, no one touches it but me. I was like ‘Fuck you dude, you’re in Detroit!’ I made a point that when Jello dropped his fucking microphone to run out in the middle of the stage and pick it up and look at the manager like ‘Look! I’m touching Jello’s microphone!’
Steve Shelley – Through either Timmy Yohannon [editor of Northern Californian fanzine Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll] or the M.D.C. guys, Jello heard that tape we did in Corey’s basement. He invited us to play with them at the City Club that summer. I think Jello saw something of himself in Doc and wanted to take us under his wing. He invited us to do a northwest tour with them and asked if we wanted to do a record on [Jello's label] Alternative Tentacles. To all those Detroit punkers, the Dead Kennedys were already something that was totally passé. Being involved with them was not cool at all, but they provided us with opportunities that didn’t exist for us in Michigan.
Blight did not last for long as a live band as Tesco’s interest in the Midwest was waning. When the grade school he was working for kindly asked him not to come back the next year, he took that as an opportunity to head out of Michigan and start anew in Washington D.C. Tesco’s co-conspirator in Touch & Go magazine D.S. had already moved there a year ago and it seemed like a decent idea. Vee decided to leave the record company entity of the Touch & Go empire to Corey Rusk and went D.C. bound in the late summer. Tesco would continue on for another year producing Touch & Go fanzine by himself while forming a new version of the Meatmen with former members of Minor Threat that continued on until 1987.
Tesco Vee – The last day of school of 1982 literally became the last day of school for me! I told my girlfriend “We’re getting married and moving to D.C.” I always thought we were somewhat insulated in the Midwest. When I got there in September of ’82 in D.C. there was still lots of shows and I made a lot of friends and lost some friends as well.
Steve Miller – Blight continued on for a little while without Tesco. We released a cassette with some drunk guy singing on it. We were all pretty drunk around that time.
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