Punkast

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: "I make zines and jokes and have thoughts." Jessica Schwartz is joined by zinester, archivist, and independent scholar Liz Mason for a conversation exploring DIY publishing, archi...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: "Fulfill your purpose, do what you love…" Jessica Schwartz and co-host Tequila Mockingbird are joined by Johnny Indovina, singer, songwriter, and founder of Human Drama, in a conv...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: Experimental composer, improviser, and educator Si Paton joins Jessica Schwartz for a live conversation with UCLA students exploring listening, neurodivergence, improvisation, and...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: ICE OUT OF LOS ANGELES 'Fear literally controls people. It ruins ...it runs people's lives...the stuff of nightmares.' 'We can't really make progress without solidarity from men,...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: ‘There's no future unless you try and change it.’ Jessica Schwartz is joined by Sex Pistols bassist and songwriter Glen Matlock in a conversation recorded in London at Oxford Circ...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: “I didn’t feel judgment. I felt more acceptance that I could be my strange self.” Jessica Schwartz is joined by filmmaker Corbett Redford and professor John Goshert to reflect on...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: “Distinguish themselves within Japanese society as being not part of the kind of mainstream.” Jessica Schwartz is joined by historians Ran Zwigenberg and Mahon Murphy in a convers...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: “Like making something permanent, from impermanent to permanent. We managed to do that.” Jessica Schwartz is joined by musician, scholar, and educator Pavla Jonssonová in a conver...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: “... Show the kind of global nature of punk… retranslated or rearticulated.” Jessica Schwartz is joined by historian Jeff Hayton in a conversation exploring punk in East and West...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: “ You’re like a horror movie on stage… Said “Oh yeah? Look at us!”... The media delegitimizes subcultures.” Jessica Schwartz and Tequila Mockingbird are joined by Lesli Spivey fro...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: “Anything goes kind of club… We had all kinds of different kinds of music… In order to promote shows, you had to go to shows.” Jessica Schwartz and Tequila Mockingbird are joined...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. “This record that just was so amazing that it's stood the test of time… and, and it's influenced so many people in so many bands… You know, bookshelf full of music history books that all mentioned...

Punkast is a weekly podcast exploring punk in the historical present through critical conversations, inquiry, and collaboration. >>> Follow the show to stay tapped in. New episodes every Friday. In this episode: “Everything was just really based on music... Punk, ska, goth, New Wave... being powered by the music.”  Retail Slut wasn’t just a store; it was a site where punk, fashion, a...

Punkast is back—weekly. After years of building, recording, and collaborating, Punkast returns with a growing archive of conversations and a new rhythm: weekly episodes exploring punk in the historical present through critical inquiry, dialogue, and experimentation. We’re kicking things off this Friday with our first new episode, and new episodes will drop every Friday. >>> Subscribe and...

PUNKAST BACK TO SCHOOL MINISERIES SPECIAL! “SoCal music spaces: Scene, Emo, and EDM” (part 3 of 3).  “There’s more to us.. We all want to be seen, heard, and exist… The art you are creating is part of your soul.”  Returning from spring break, we are back with the third and final part of our Back to School mini-series with guest host Kristy Martinez, a PHD Candidate in Musicology at UCLA....

PUNKAST BACK TO SCHOOL MINISERIES SPECIAL! “SoCal music spaces: Scene, Emo, and EDM ” (part 2 of 3) Here at the Punkast, we're continuing our special summer-to-fall mini-series with guest host Kristy Martinez, a PhD Candidate in Musicology at UCLA , bringing special guests - per Kristy's introduction: 'In these interviews, we meet with some of the early 2000s scene and emo kids in SoCal. This epis...

PUNKAST BACK TO SCHOOL MINISERIES SPECIAL! “Alternative in the I.E. 2000s and more in the Inland Empire” (part 1 of 3) If you couldn't already tell by the title for Part 1, we, here at the Punkast, have a REALLY special summer mini-series for you! Your regular host, Jessica Schwartz, is handing the mic over to Kristy Martinez, a PhD Candidate in Musicology at UCLA and the OG TA for UCLA's "Punk" o...

'[Punk] is a music genre and a subculture and a whole way of living that is full of contradictions, hypocrisy…’  Does punk promote inclusion or exclusion? Violence or protection? And what about health, accessibility, self- and communal care? Join Jessica Schwartz and PAUL FIELDS for this special interview in three parts as they discuss his research on punk and the sometimes contradictory...

“For me punk rock is really the song.” For some, punk means destruction and revolt; for others, it means DIY and community. In this episode, Jessica Schwartz and Tequila Mockingbird are joined by HUDLEY FLIPSIDE to explore her perspective on punk garnered from her formative Flipside zine-and-scene building experiences in the early LA scene. Guest Bio.  Hudley Flipside 'HUD' is a versatile art...

“Make festival, not war. Soul Beat Asia. In which what doesn't exist, we recreate together.” Join Jessica Schwartz in conversation with guest Dr. Kounosuke (Ko) Kawakami from Kurashiki University (Japan) that began as a talk, “The Punk Scene in Japan Today: Soul Beat Asia (World Music Festival Under the Bridge)” and wove its way into an inspired contemplation on belonging and misfitting, DIY punk...

"In 1967, Robby Krieger, the guitarist for L.A. band the Doors, wrote the hit single “Light My Fire” in the living room of his parents’ Pacific Palisades home. This week, nearly six decades later, the lyrics took on a disturbing resonance as the structure where the music originated burned to the ground." (Amy Kaufman, LA Times , 1/11/2025) Recent LA Times headlines: "The Doors’ hit ‘Light My Fire’...

“The music of which there was supposed to be no rule book, suddenly had a rule book…” So, what are these rules, how do they impact creativity, and how do musicians, producers, and artists, more broadly, continue to push the limits in Los Angeles’ dynamic DIY musical subculture? Join Jessica Schwartz and Tequila Mockingbird as they speak with BRUCE DUFF about his experiences as he addresses student...

This “Behind the Scenes” episode is the final episode in the PUNKAST/ Adobe Punk: the concert Mini-Session Interview series. It features Jessica Schwartz in conversation with Theresa Chavez , Gabriel Garza , Dorothy Hoover , and Sage Lewis , who discuss their inspirations and contributions to Adobe Punk’s creation and production. Theresa Chavez highlights About Productions' collaborative approach,...

Jimmy Alvarado has been active in East L.A.’s underground music scene since 1981 as a musician, backyard gig promoter, writer, poet, bouncer, flier artist, photographer, podcaster, and historian. He has authored numerous interviews, articles, and shorts spotlighting the East Side scene, and an episode of his  Eastside Punks  documentary series about first-wave East L.A. punk band The Bra...

Teresa Covarrubias was born and raised in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles and became the lead singer for The Brat, a Chicano punk rock ensemble (lead guitarist Rudy Medina, and alternate lead and rhythm guitarist Sidney Medina) originating from the barrios of East Los Angeles, California. From their conception in late 1978, to their eventual break-up in1985, The Brat contributed to t...