Too Old for a Punk Phase?

Hey Phil,

Honest question: am I too old to have a punk phase? Could having a punk phase in my mid-20s potentially be considered the most punk thing ever? Is it uncool to have a punk phase now? Does worrying about what other people think disqualify me from having a punk phase?

These existential punk questions are all in jest, but the past few months I realized I never went through a punk phase, or really any music-genre-defined “phase.” (Emo phase, goth phase, etc.) Those genres comprised the majority of my iPod library, but at no point did I look or live the part.

Which brings me to the day we decided to call our podcast/creative collective the Pop Culture Punks. I remember us spending days honing our mission statement and what we wanted the podcast to be:

“A media collective drawing from a combination of pop culture fandom and a fresh punk attitude. Our goal is to talk about pop culture in a way that celebrates, critiques, and questions all of our favorite media, while at the end of the day acknowledging it is intended to be fun. Even if we knock each other down in the mosh pit of discussion, we'll be the first ones to pick you up, dust you off, and have a good laugh.”

That was the moment I realized if anyone ever asked me the name of my favorite punk band, or about the first time I got punched in a mosh pit, I wouldn’t have an answer. We named our collective after a music genre and worldview I never associated myself with. I never listened to punk music, my wardrobe never screamed punk either, and at the time of writing the above paragraph, the existential weight became all too real. I was a 24 year old dude now shackled to the man and forced to pay taxes instead of spending my being a scene kid. My chance to be a rebel bent on fighting against the grain had passed.

Or had it?

Recently, I have been enjoying a band I just found called FEVER 333 from California. With an aggressive sound, heavy distortion, and punchy breakdowns, lead singer Jason Aalon Butler sings about his worldview and experiencing injustice with the classic authority-challenging punk grit. I would have loved their music as a high schooler no doubt, but in honesty, not out of empathy for their message. Because of the challenges I have faced in college and the working world, today I hear Butler’s and other punk bands’ lyrics with a nuanced perspective an inexperienced, angst-filled teenager wouldn’t have.

So, more or less, I think I’m going through a punk phase.

I don’t agree with every bands’ political, social, or religious views, but the main concept behind their attitude resonates with me deeper in this stage of life more than ever. I don’t like some of the things going on in our world, I am frustrated with the decisions that some of our leaders make, and the only way I feel empowered to deal with those frustrations is through my faith, art, and actions to embody the change I want to see, even if no other human being alive is with me.

And for a while, no one else was, until we met and started the Pop Culture Punks journey.

The podcast has been one of the wildest ways I have grown as a thinker and as a creative. Our consistent hour long talks have taught me how to ask better questions, the flow of conversation, and ways that I can be more selfless when interacting with others, especially when talking about something I have a lot of passion for. It has been this project that pushed me to make our content better, because it wasn’t just for us anymore. It was this podcast that functioned as my personal catalyst to finally feel like a true punk:

By standing against the current grain of discussion by listening and asking questions, by pouring my emotions into my art instead of trend-chasing, and by wanting to bring people together with pop culture instead of pushing them away.

Thanks for weathering this crazy ride with me, my guy. I have no idea where this bus will take us, but I’m sure it will be awesome.

Forever rocking, no longer moshing,

Josh