“For 12 hours I am the horror story,” exclaims Jack Grisham in his jovial manner.
“I’m the guy knocking someone’s teeth out with a hammer and stuffing them into the floorboards.”
Before anyone calls the cops, it would be good to explain that Grisham—a novelist and singer for the seminal Southern California punk band T.S.O.L.—is talking about the new book he’s writing, a murder story from the killer’s perspective.
Our interview was supposed to be about T.S.O.L. headlining the Blue Lagoon on Nov. 8 with Give You Nothing, Since We Were Young, Mokosos and F.U.X. However, Grisham is a powerhouse of personality who’s able to talk in-depth about his life (“I’m a fucking idiot,” he laughs), political beliefs (America has “never stood accountable for the wrongs we have done”), his alcohol and drug recovery (“I’ve been sober for over 35 years”) and the current state of the punk scene (“I don’t like playing with a lot of these big punk rock bands because they’ve turned into what we fought against”).
For the uninitiated, T.S.O.L.—an acronym which has fluctuated between a couple of different meanings before they settled on “True Sounds of Liberty”—is one of the first Southern California punk bands, formed in Long Beach in 1978. They emerged on the scene with a bang, literally. To acquire their first instruments, the band cased a music shop and then did a smash-and-grab after it closed.
“That’s how we got most of our stuff,” Grisham admits. “Smash-and-grabs, churches and restaurants.”
Their formative self-titled EP came out in 1981, putting the band on the map outside of their hometown. It’s a heavily politically charged five songs about the state of America at that time, anarchism and the looming specter of World War III. Later that year, the band released its debut full-length, Dance With Me, a must-have for any punk record collection. It’s still a huge fan favorite today that blends political messages with dark humor in songs like the title track, “Sounds of Laughter” and “Code Blue.”
“Back then you could borrow from people but you couldn’t be an exact copy,” he says. “Everybody had their own sound, and I enjoyed that.”
Over the years T.S.O.L. went through several lineup changes (with Grisham in and out of the band), broke up twice, and would change their sound to everything from synth rock to hair metal. During that period other members of the band were able to get the rights to the name, one of the very few regrets Grisham carries today (the original members won back the rights in a 1999 legal case).
“I should’ve said ‘no,’” he says of selling the name. “That caused unlimited problems and was such a fucking bummer.”
Today, the band consists of Grisham, original guitarist Ron Emery, original bassist Mike Roche, keyboardist Greg Kuehn and drummer Antonio Val Hernandez.
This year was a big one for Grisham and the band.
He released his sixth book, The Coffee Maker—about a man in recovery who questions the methods—and the band put out their 11th studio album, A-Side Graffiti. True to their anarchist roots, A-Side Graffiti is a mix of original and, surprisingly, cover songs. However, even the covers have a special T.S.O.L. twist. On Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” Grisham sings the chorus as a question, “And I say to myself/Is this a wonderful world?” as he brings up topics of war and the ugliness of humanity.
Then there’s the cover of “1 Thing” by R&B singer Amerie.
“I loved the beat of the song! And then I was listening and thought, ‘What if she was singing to a government instead of a boyfriend?’”
Now 63 years old, Grisham says the band will no longer do lengthy tours, partly because original bassist Mike Roche was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease earlier this year (Brandon Reza has stepped up to fill in). However, that won’t stop them from doing what they want, like they’ve always done. In fact, T.S.O.L. already has their first tour of China planned for next year.
“I’ve gone all over the world and met so many wonderful people,” he says. “I don’t want to use the same fucking tired cliche, but people aren’t the problem, the government is.”
T.S.O.L plays at 8pm on Nov. 8 at the Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, 831-423-7117. $25/adv, $35/door.
