In this introductory episode Sully is interviewed by his songwriting partner Ryan Black (aka Blizzle from Black's Backbone) about why he is making the What the PUNK?! (WTP?!) podcast and what he hopes to accomplish through it. Listeners will get a good feel for who Sully is and how his mind works. This episode also plays more like a radio show- chock full of songs from bands and artists that Sully really likes and respects and hopes to turn you on to as well.
Sully talks about punk music not as a genre but as a lifestyle. A movement toward original thought and creativity fueled by a Do-it-yourself attitude. At almost 50 years old Sully is extremely candid about his failures and successes as a songwriter, tennis pro, and father of three. He struggles paycheck to paycheck to make ends meat yet still finds the time to write songs and be creative. Much in the vein of Andrew Savage's book, EVERY TOOL IS A HAMMER and Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi's pivotal works on FLOW and CREATIVITY, Sully not only looks to inspire but to explore these proposed concepts through listening and discussion and how they pertain to happiness, fulfillment, and purpose. Using Please Kill Me (the uncensored oral history of punk) by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain as his bible he reads passages from the book to shed light on the artists and mindsets that got the movement moving.
Ryan Black/Blizzle raises questions about musical fads like EMO with such bands as Dashboard Confessional and The Spill Canvas while Sully provides historical and cultural context for those fads. Sully and Black, both fans of Jazz, talk about it's influence on other musical art forms. From jazz great Ornette Coleman's song, Focus on Sanity from his album, The Shape of Jazz to Come to the Swedish hardcore punk band REFUSED's song Liberation Frequency from their album, The Shape of Punk to Come nothing is left off the table. Black's thoughtful questioning reveals his own curiosity and also shows the respect him and Sully have for music as well as one another. Much like their songwriting process for Theft To The Gallows and Black's Backbone the give and take between them is obvious and authentic.
List of songs in this episode and songs that almost made this episode:
batman theme, scrape away, mr. pharmacist, surfin' bird, night of the phantom, dirty red, we want the airwaves, kung fu girls, horizontal twist, I want to know, growing concern, old new york, rape me, francis farmer will get her revenge on seattle, fake my own death, king of contradiction, ma poubelle, rock and roll, foggy notion, friction, foxhole, turnover, waiting room, one more time, guns on the roof, focus on sanity, the shape of punk to come, liberation frequency, double dare you, magnet, rebel girl, uncle bob, scatter the rats, I am a poseur, oh, bondage! up yours!, typical girls, walkabout