Left of the Dial: Conversations with Punk Icons
"While there is much history packed into these interviews, ... it is less a history lesson in the strictest sense than an attempt to document the threads of punk’s ideological framework, its common core motivations, and its unspoken philosophies." —Jimmy Alvarado,Razorcake"Some of the most revealing and candid words spoken from inside punk rock can be found inLeft of the Dial, the book." —Tim Stegall,Austin Chronicle"Despite my familiarity with the interviewees, in these pages I'm getting to hear them say things I've never heard from them before."  —Roctober"Left of the Dialoffers a fascinating range of experiences from such subjects as The Dils’ Tony Kinman and Minuteman Mike Watt. The diversity is impressive too as we get perspectives beyond the white, hetero dudes who constitute the prevailing punk stereotype..."  —Mike Segretto,Psychobabble“In these interviews, David Ensminger goes beyond questions of biography and discography to explore some of these artists’ more unlikely influences and their philosophies on not just punk, but life.”  —Adam Ellsworth,The Arts Fuse"Left of the Dialprovides a fitting tribute to punk’s intellectual and political energy, harnessed to a friendlier, if assaultive, approach that invites in all to play and listen. Better yet, it encourages audiences to become activists, to participate for principled change."  —John L. Murphy, popmatters.com"The conversations inLeft of the Dialspeak to much more than the longevity of a particular sound or style, they speak to the very existence of a culture that has outlived those who declared it dead decades ago."  —Blake Underwood,Indypendent Reader