We Got Power: An Interview With Legendary Los Angeles Punk Filmmaker David Markey
By Mish Way
You may not know who David Markey is, but you definitely know his work.The Southern California-born self-taught musician and filmmaker is the man behind the acclaimed 90s documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke, Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (1984), The Slog Movie (1982), and most recently, Cut Shorts (2006) and a documentary about The Circle Jerks, My Career As A Jerk. During his younger years, he started a fanzine called We Got Power! with his best friend Jordan Schwatz to document the dynamic LA punk scene they were living. Now, that fanzine has inspired a new photography and essay memoir We Got Power!: Hardcore Punk From 1980s Southern California. Featuring essays by Keith Morris (Circle Jerks), Dez Cadena, Henry Rollins, Chuck Dewoski (all of Black Flag), Steve Human (Vandals), Tony Reflex (Adolescents) and photos from Jennifer Finch (L7), plus so many more, this collection is an oral and visual history of the inner workings of LA punk. In other words, this book makes me very sad that I was born in Canada in 1985.
Markey has worked with every important punk band from Black Flag to Circle Jerks to Ramones to X to Nirvana to Sonic Youth to Ramones to Mudhoney—it’s a laundry list of my record collection. Even when we were talking and his computer crashed, he blamed it on “The Spirit of Darby,” which he is totally allowed to say since he was friends with The Germs. Darby probably was haunting his computer. I’m surprised the spirit of Kurt didn’t revive his modem.
(Spoiler Alert: I nerd out about Courtney Love during this interview. Don’t act so surprised.)
Hop over to Noisey to read the interview.
