Left of the Dial: Conversations With Punk Icons

by David Ensminger
PM Press, 296 pp., $20 (paper)

Sad and bloody day when Houston historian and educator David Ensminger, drummer for Randy “Biscuit” Turner’s final outfit the Texas Biscuit Bombs, nailed the door shut on Left of the Dial in 2005. The most intelligent punk fanzine this side of S.F.’s Search and Destroy, the meat of the mag was Ensminger’s penetrating interviews, wherein he confronted the cream of the subculture’s history to ask questions no one had thought to ask. To a man, everyone save for Jello Biafra, whom I can testify is tough to steer off-script, was so disarmed by Ensminger that they spilled all. Anthologized here, those conversations stack up an impressive body of work, encompassing punk’s founding fathers (Damned, Dils, UK Subs), hardcore heroes (Ian MacKaye, Gary Floyd, Mike Watt), and label-owning visionaries like Frontier Records’ Lisa Fancher. Some of the most revealing and candid words spoken from inside punk rock can be found in Left of the Dial, the book. (David Ensminger appears Sunday, 1pm, at the Capitol Extension, Rm. E2.014.)

This article appears in October 25 • 2013.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Tim Stegall contributed to The Austin Chronicle 1991-1995, and was a staff writer 1995-1997. He returned as a contributor in 2013. He has also freelanced for publications ranging from Flipside to Alternative Press to Guitar World. He plays punk rock guitar and sings in the Hormones.