The Who Cares Anyway Podcast, Episode 1: Joe Carducci

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Who Cares Anyway Podcast, a series of interviews with musicians, writers, artists, and other creative figures on topics related to the book Who Cares Anyway: Post-Punk San Francisco and the End of the Analog Age on Headpress Books.

My guest on this first episode is writer, producer, and all-around underground music veteran Joe Carducci. Topics include his experiences in Portland (circa 1977-1979) and the Bay Area (circa 1980) and his first-hand impressions of SF bands such as Flipper, the Sleepers, Toiling Midgets, and Minimal Man. He also elaborates on the central thesis of Rock and the Pop Narcotic and connects a lot of dots in terms of West Coast “underground music infrastructure” in those days, from Renaissance Records (in Portland) to Rough Trade, Systematic, and Subterranean in the Bay Area and then of course SST in Southern California.

Links

• Redoubt Press (Joe Carducci’s publishing imprint)
• “Radio Programmer Tip #1: (3 Tunes, 2 Segues, 1 Story)” by Joe Carducci (musings on Flipper, Negative Trend, and Toiling Midgets)
• New Vulgate (webzine) issue on Rough Trade US and Systematic
• Order Who Cares Anyway: Post-Punk San Francisco and the End of the Analog Age
• Podcast links: Podcast Addict | Apple

Music credits

• The Three Doctors Band, “Leaving Has Hurt”
• G.O.D., “Nuthouse“
• Flipper, “Earthworm”
• Toiling Midgets, “If You Choose“
• Negative Trend, “Black & Red“
• The Sleepers, “Forever”
• Tuxedomoon, “Waterfront Seat“
• Rik L. Rik, “Meathouse”

Cover art adapted from The Blasting Concept, Vol. 2 on SST Records.