Talking punk
Punk rock meets stand-up comedy in Joe Sib’s one-man, broken word show, “California Calling,” which comes to Johnny’s Dive next Thursday. Photo by Christopher Doneez
by Andrea Ruse
Few people can pinpoint a single day that changed their lives.
Ask Joe Sib and he will tell you immediately — December 27, 1981.
He was 13 years old and living in Santa Cruz when his dad took him for the first time to the famed Winchester Skatepark in San Jose.
Sib discovered two things that day that forever altered his path: skateboarding and, perhaps more importantly, punk rock music.
The fast, hard-edged, stripped-down sounds of Sex Pistols, Descendants and The Clash came as a refreshing shock to a kid used to listening to Elton John, Ray Charles and The Eagles.
“All of a sudden at 13, I go to this skateboard park and it was like, ‘Wow. What’s this music?’” said Sib, who now lives in Glendale. “Music took over everything at that point and I wanted to find out more about it.”
While many bewildered parents espoused the supposed evils of the new genre during its emergence in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s — anarchy, sex, drugs, aggression and filthy, ripped, second-hand clothing — in punk rock Sib found his salvation.
“For me, growing up in Santa Cruz and San Jose, if I wouldn’t have discovered punk rock and wanted to be in a band, I would’ve ended up hanging at the Point smoking weed and drinking forties,” he said. “Punk gave me a purpose and a direction.”
A latch-key kid of divorced parents, Sib spent the majority of his after-school adolescence obsessing over his newfound love.
“With no parents in the house, you have lots of time to research something you’re into,” Sib said. “And all I wanted to do was skateboard and listen to punk.
But back in the pre-Google days of the ‘80s, Sib had to find creative ways to get his hands and ears on everything punk.
“I’d have to get a magazine from a kid who brought it back from vacation with his parents,” he recalled. “Sometimes by the time you got the magazine, you didn’t even know if the band you were looking for was together anymore.”
By 1985, Sib was sporting a foot-long mohawk and throwing elbows and getting to know the punk pioneers.
Over the next 30 years, Sib, 42, entrenched himself in that world, forming bands, a record label and a nationally syndicated radio show, as well as hanging and working with a slew of punk icons. In 2004, Sib was the last person to interview legend Johnny Ramone of The Ramones before he died of cancer.
At 15, Sib formed his first punk band, Frontline, of which he was the lead singer. Soon, he was casually jamming and becoming friends with some of the biggest names in the biz.
Bad Religion. Pennywise. The Adolescents. The list goes on, with tons of stories that go with it.
In 1991, Sib formed punk band Wax, best known for its song “California,” which signed with Interscope Records and later Virgin Records. Wax’s music was featured on several major films during the ‘90s, including Mallrats. In 1995, Sib and longtime friend Bill Armstrong started the record label Side-One Dummy, which has represented such artists as Suicidal Tendencies and Flogging Molly. That same year, Wax fizzled, prompting Sib to form the band 22 Jacks with an all-star cast: Steve Soto and Sandy Hansen from The Adolescents, Scott Shiflett from Face to Face and Jason Cropper from Weezer. The group officially disbanded in 2001, but still performs periodically throughout California.
In 2004, Sib started hosting Complete Control Radio, a late night punk rock radio show that was originally broadcast on L.A.’s now extinct Indie 103.1 FM station. The show now airs on 98.7 FM from 10 p.m. to midnight every Saturday and is syndicated throughout California, Austin, Denver, Portland and Phoenix.
“I have no method to the show except a cup of coffee and trying to play as much music as I can in two hours,” Sib said on Complete Control’s website.
Listeners tune in to hear old and new school punk, as well as interviews with big name bands, including NOFX, Rancid, X, Bouncing Souls, Bad Religion and Tiger Army.
As Sib started sharing stories from the punk archives of his own life, the show started to also take on a personal flavor.
“I would tell lots of stories when people would come in to the studio,” he said. “This one band that was touring said they wished they could leave with my stories.”
The request prompted Sib to make a rough CD with him recounting 30 years worth of stories on discovering punk, the characters he’s met and how music saved his life. The CD was casually handed out to friends, concert goers and people who passed through Complete Control’s studio.
“Everybody loved it,” Sib said. “So last summer, I started writing it down.”
By last October, Sib, along with actress/director Sydney Walsh, had fleshed out the stories into a one-man, broken word performance called “California Calling,” which comes to Johnny’s Dive in Redondo Beach next Thursday.
Think stand-up comedy meets punk rock.
“I call it ‘broken word’ because ‘spoken word’ sounds way too serious,” Sib said.
The one-hour show features Sib recounting tales of growing up punk, accompanied by 45 photos and, of course, lots of music.
“The whole show centers around one day,” Sib said. “The day that shaped me and put me on course for the rest of my life.”
With a mix of poignancy and humor, Sib also explains how music pulled him through the rough years of adolescence. In one story, he talks about his fears of buying his first Sex Pistols album.
“God was a factor in my life,” he said. “I didn’t want to do anything to piss him off. I thought, ‘I hope he’s cool with this.’”
Sib started performing the show in October twice a month all over the U.S., including L.A., New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. Earlier this year, he opened for Bad Religion at the Hollywood House of Blues with a 20 minute version of his set in front of 1,500 people.
“I didn’t know if the younger kids would like it, but they loved it,” Sib said. “These are the bands they grew up listening to too and connect with.”
Sib also did an interview on a London radio station and the promoter invited him to bring his act to Britain, the birthplace of punk rock.
“It’s a fun show,” he said. “Not too heavy and with lots of music. And it’s different every time.”
In September, Sib will release an album version of California Calling entitled “True Stories and Bad Ideas,” produced by Side-One Dummy Records.
“Every time I do the show, so many people say, ‘Your story is exactly like mine except with a different band or type of music.’” Sib said. “It’s really about how music in general is such an important force in people’s lives. I really didn’t know it would be something that connects so much with people.”
Joe Sib will perform California Calling at Johnny’s Dive in Redondo Beach at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 15. Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.californiacalling.net. ER