Punk rock style has been so integrated into popular culture that I can honestly say I have only met a few “true” punks. The ones I have met are usually musicians who came from broken homes and have immersed themselves in the true anarchist lifestyle. Most of these punks find each other and usually end up living together because they live so far outside our materialistic culture that they have to band together in order to survive. When they do get together, a “punk dwelling” is born.
In the new photography book “Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy,” photographer Abby Banks and editor Thurston Moore give America an inside view into the places some punks call home.
This coffee table book is 267 pages worth of houses from all over the United States that showcase the true DIY culture that influences ultra-punks’ lives. There are kitchens cluttered enough to make a mother die if she saw them, silkscreen concert posters plastered on the walls, thrift store treasures and more musical equipment than a high school marching band.
The introduction to the book was written by Moore, who is one of the founding members of the influential New York band Sonic Youth. When punk rock was young and broke, most punk bands would stay at these types of houses because they barely made enough to fill their gas tanks, let alone ride in the fancy buses and stay in the swank hotels the more successful so-called punkers get to enjoy today. After 25 years, punks are still living together and building communities.
“What differentiates punk in regard to communal living is not a policy of escapism and devotion to nature but a destruction/construction process as a learning period for genuine adult survival – which makes punk in all its adjunctive factions (straight-edge, riot grrl, et al.) an organic success in the lineage of collective-living countercultures,” Moore wrote in the book’s intro.
Most of these houses have served as homes to punks for decades and sport names such as The Pirate’s Cove, Flying Brick and The Twitch House. Each house has its own unique identity and personality.
It helps to have an open mind while looking at these pictures. While one person might consider one of the featured houses a dump, another would probably call it “home sweet home.”
“Punk House” would make an excellent present for any interior designer, old school punker or just anyone who enjoys looking at alternative culture. The book runs for $27.50, but you can find it cheaper at online bookstores such as Amazon.com. So check out “Punk House” and get inspired to live out of the box.
