Categories
Arts & Culture Music

The Other F Word: From Punk Rocker to Father

This revealing and touching film asks what happens when a generation’s ultimate anti-authoritarians — punk rockers — become society’s ultimate authorities — dads.

As a new dad and as someone whose soundtrack to their adolescence consisted of Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Shower with Goats, etc., this is a documentary — The Other F Word — I’d like to see. Sure, I’m 30-years-old now. I don’t look wild, dress wild, act wild, or bang away on my bass guitar loud in an attempt to master the “Maxwell Murder” bass solo from Rancid’s third album anymore, but I but I am a dad and gosh darn it, I’m still a punk rocker at heart and in head. Safety pins, I’ve learned, actually serve a purpose now.

Brett Gurewitz (Bad Religion) on punk rock:

“Maybe punk rock wasn’t supposed to grow up… but it did.”

Flea (RHCP) on parenthood:

“It’s funny how you always hear people saying that classic parent attitude of, ‘I brought you into this word, I gave you life!’ You know, it’s just, I think, completely the opposite. My kids gave me life. They gave me a reason.”

Andrew Barker of Variety describes The Other F Word as,

“A raucous, eye-opening, sad and unexpectedly wise look at veteran punk rockers [Brett Gurewitz, Ron Reyes, Lars Frederiksen] as they adapt to the challenges of fatherhood.”

Starring:

  • Tony Adolescent
  • Art Alexakis
  • Rob Chaos
  • Joe Escalante
  • Josh Freese
  • Fat Mike
  • Flea
  • Lars Frederiksen
  • Matt Freeman
  • Jack Grisham
  • Brett Gurewitz
  • Tony Hawk
  • Greg Hetson
  • Mark Hoppus
  • Jim Lindberg
  • Mike McDermott
  • Tim McIlrath
  • Mark Mothersbaugh
  • Duane Peters
  • Joe Sib
  • Ron Reyes
  • Rick Thorne

With music by The Adolescents, Bad Religion, Black Flag, Bouncing Souls, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Fear, Rancid, US Bombs, and more.

I don’t consider myself a former punk rocker either because that would imply that I’ve moved on from punk rock, and I haven’t. I never thought of punk rock as just music. To me, it’s an ethos; it is a way of life and a way of thinking more so than it ever was about music; and that still runs through my veins though the blood has slowed quite a bit.

By Jeffrey Pillow

Jeffrey Pillow is an American short story writer, memoirist, and poet. He is the author of The Lady Next Door. His writing has been published in Urge Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, 16 Blocks, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, TheBody.com, New York Times, Washington Post, and Richmond Times-Dispatch.

He grew up in the small town of Phenix, Virginia, population: 200, and now lives in Charlottesville with his wife, two kids, and a dog named Mozzarella Cheese. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia where he was a Rainey Scholar. This is his blog.

%d bloggers like this: