PunkTV.ca exclusive interview by Dixon Christie with Susan Dynner, director of Punk's Not Dead.

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Dixon: We are talking to Susan Dynner of the movie Punk's Not Dead. Hi Susan!

Susan: Hey, how are you?

I am wonderful, how are you?

Good.

So you have been a photographer all your life, and you started at fifteen shooting photos of a lot of the punk bands. Let's talk about how that formulated your creative direction for your life.

I was taking photography class when I went to my first show and just thought it was a great scene to take photos of; I was just completely intrigued with it, and fell in love with it, so I started photographing it, but I had no aspirations of being a professional photographer. I kind of always knew I wanted to be a filmmaker, but what I learned back then I guess helped me make it into film because I just went out and did it; we have people who wanted to give us money, but I didn't want them to tell me how I should make this film, or what we should say, or that we should have this band in the film and we shouldn't have this band because they're not big enough. So, what I learned back then from the punk scene, the whole DIY ethic, really helped to shape what I did with Punk's Not Dead, even to an extent with Brick because we tried to make Brick outside the system as well.

Tell us about the philosophy and the vision for making this movie, what your main goal was and basically what the story is.

Well, I got the idea because I saw there was an ad for this show out in LA called Inland Invasion. That was the second year that they were doing it and it was about 25 years of punk rock: they had bands like the Buzzcocks, The Damned, and The [Sex] Pistols with bands like Circle Jerks, TSOL, and GBH alongside Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and the Offspring, alongside these new pop punk bands like Blink 182 and New Found Glory and it was all under the umbrella of punk rock; it was sponsored by Levi's and Budweiser and it was in a 80,000 seat arena which sold out in under 10 minutes, so I thought this has become really huge. This is not like the punk rock I saw back in the day where 300 people would go and that would be considered a big show.

I would have liked to have been at that show.

It was actually a great show and it was a lot of fun, but it was weird because there were all these different levels of security. I was there with GBH and I only got to a certain level, whereas if you had the wristbands to get to the Sex Pistols that was another level of security so it was really bizarre. Even bands that were friends with each other [couldn't get through]. Like, you couldn't get to see The Damned even if you are friends with them because you didn't have that wristband to get back there. So, in that sense, it was kind of off-putting, plus it was weird because a lot of the older bands like TSOL, Circle Jerks, GBH, and even bands like The Distillers were on the dirt on the side stage and then the bigger bands started playing in the seated arenas. Pennywise was really pissed because they wanted to be in the dirt and everyone was sitting down watching them, but way in the back there were these kids that had their own little pits going. So it was kind of a weird show but it was great music-wise.

That's where dogma and politic come into the play of things.

Exactly. So, anyway, bands have been telling me for years and years that I should do something with my photos because I have these huge photo albums that they like to look at every time they are in town and staying with me; I thought this is a great opportunity to kind of show how far punk has come and how it has evolved and how it has changed but is still, in many ways, the same. Just to do something about punk today because there have been so many films about the history of punk and the nostalgic look at punk rock. Of course, we have some of that in this, but I wanted to really look at punk today and how it is very much alive, just in different incarnations.

So you got to talk to people like Fat Mike and...did I see Tim Armstrong in there?

Tim is actually an associate producer on the film as well.

He's got his hand in everything!

He's a busy guy.

So tell me about these guys; are you friends with all the Fat Mikes and the Rancids and the Billy Idols? How did you get those guys interested in the project on top of your friends like the Germs and GBH?

I was good friends with the UK Subs and they stay at my house when they are in town. Stiff Little Fingers... The Subhumans... those guys have been good friends for years and years, since I was like 15 or 16 years old. One of the first people I called was Ian Mackaye, because obviously I am from D.C. and I am part of that scene; they are one of the bands that I have photographed and Ian was like "Of course I am in, and here is Bryan Baker's phone number." GBH was in because the first day I filmed was at that Inland Invasion and they said "Of course, yes". The UK Subs were staying at my house the following week so they had to say yes, plus they have been filmed over the years at my house anyways. Because Ian gave me Brian Baker's phone number Bad Religion was in, and from there it just kind of spiraled; had taken photos for a lot of the bands back in the day, like Exploited, Circle Jerks, and Black Flag, so they all said yes. Social D took a little longer.

Did you get Mike Ness?

Yeah, I got Mike Ness and he is great. He is actually one of the main voices in the film; I had been trying to get Rancid forever. Well, I hadn't really been trying to get NOFX yet but I was intending to get NOFX. Billy Idol was great and said yes right away because I had the Damned and I had Sham 69 [already on board]. I think because I was part of the scene, I wasn't an outsider, and I did have a film background people were more OK with me coming in: I wasn't infiltrating a scene I wasn't a part of it. The Green Day [interview] took like a year and a half to get, they were tougher. Tim became involved after a couple of years of me trying to get them; I guess he actually did some research and found out who I was and what I have done so they ended up meeting with us because Kim from Channel 3 set it up. It was like we were old friends: we got involved, and when we needed some money he helped us out so he has been great and a great friend of the project. Fat Mike came in and we interviewed him and we became friends right away, we filmed him several times and we are actually really good friends right now; Fat Mike did our soundtrack. So, it has been really fun because not only did I get to reconnect with all my old friends and just have a great time hanging out with them but meet all these new friends that I'm sure I'll have for life.

Well congrats on being able to assemble this. I am just searching my mind to think of another cast and I think you really nailed it.

I hope so. I got most of the people that I would want to see interviewed, but the bummer was Joe Strummer. I was suppose to interview him, I was going to England and it was all set up, but then Epitaph called me and they are like "Hey, can you just wait a couple months because they are still in the studio finishing up the album, but he will be here in a couple months" and I said "Sure, no problem," but unfortunately he passed away in between that time. So that was a drag because The Clash was huge for me.

Were the Clash a big part of your musical development?

Oh yeah, definitely. I saw them back in the day; The Clash and the Damned were really big in D.C. but I'm sure the Clash was big everywhere.

So tell us about the model that you used in telling your story. Obviously you had all these photos, but they are just photos. How did you start planning some of these interviews and everything? Tell us about how you set forth to make your movie?

Well, it's funny...it actually changed a bunch of times. We were going to go more into the history of it but then Punk Attitude and American Hardcore came out so we didn't want to concentrate too much on the history, but we obviously have to show what it was in order to show what it has become so we tried to take a more humorous approach and we showed clips from Chips and Quincy and Donahue and a lot of those things that sort of tied the history together; we kind of did it in segments, each one with a different song title. It doesn't follow the traditional story arc that a documentary might follow because it is more about just punk than it's about punk through the years. So, first, we showed the opening credits as the 70's and we start with the early 80's and go up through how punk broke through the mainstream with Green Day and Rancid and Offspring and how in some ways it has become commercialized with Hot Topic and Warped tour. Then, we go into all these old school bands that have been keeping it going all these years, bands from 30 years ago that are still touring like The Damned, UK Subs, Sham 69, all these bands that are still going strong. We mostly concentrate on the UK Subs, The Addicts and the Subhumans in that section; we kind of get into them a lot so it is a little more in depth in that respect. Then we go into the pop punk and [the question of] "is it pop or is it punk?". We have [people with] both opinions and show both sides, let people draw their own conclusions. You get to hear from the pop punk bands themselves and what they have encountered, what their backgrounds are, and people who think they are or they aren't. We go back to show that The Clash and The [Sex] Pistols were signed to major labels; The Ramones thought that they were hugely commercial back in the day. They thought that they were selling out... but then is it or isn't it selling out? Then we go into the underground today and how there is still a vital scene happening, how politics are still a big part of punk rock for some people. We sort of then go on a journey around the world, showing different scenes from all over. We actually opened up the film to let bands send in tapes with answers to certain questions or them playing live, and we put a lot of these bands into the film. People had an opportunity to get into the film, which is cool because I don't think there are very many other films that have done that and we so we wanted to show how punk is very much alive and it's all just different incarnations.

That sounds great! So do you think that overall you were able to achieve a single message, or is the message the same as the premise: that it is impossible to really define this thing and the further you get into making the definition the farther away from the true punk ethic you are actually traveling?

I definitely don't think that punk is definable because it's something very personal to each individual; it means something different to everybody and I just really wanted to make a film that people would enjoy. If they got something from it, then that's great too, but I know from even doing the festival circuit that a lot of people that aren't into punk rock have seen the film and really have a much better understanding of what it is all about, and I think they enjoyed it. So that's been exciting and, obviously, the people that are into punk rock are hopefully going to like the film because I have got all these great bands, so how could you not?

Exactly, you have bands that you don't usually get see in that light; you don't get to see Fat Mike shot the way that you shot them and even Tim, it's wonderful to see Tim talking on camera.

Yeah, I mean, again, I think it's just great because we were friends so they were really open and gave me such tremendous access to them and to their lives.

Kids can be brutally frank, I mean, if you read some of the threats on YouTube about what kids are thinking about Punk's Not Dead where kids were just going nuts on each other and saying "you can't define punk", or "all the bands after 1973 are commercial rock and they aren't punk".

That's hilarious because we do read those postings and we do read what people say through IMDB or different message boards. It's funny because it's mostly the people who haven't seen the film, so because obviously you see we have bands like My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, and Good Charlotte in the film that is a big thing right away. But they haven't seen the film so they don't know how they are portrayed.

It is still as hotly debated and discussed as ever isn't it?

Sure but it's kind of funny because the kids that are just getting into it are the ones usually that are the ones saying those comments.

You're right, it's always those kids.

They don't even realize that's not what punk was about. Punk was about being an individual and being open minded and expressing an opinion once you have actually seen something or heard something, not just ranting about something that you have no idea about. It was a reaction to what was going on in the world at the time; people didn't like and they had something to say. Now when people say "that's not punk because that band is in the film" without ever having seen it, or mock for you interviewing a band they don't consider to be punk rock, they haven't even heard [those bands'] view points; actually, if you talk to Frank from My Chemical Romance, he is very influenced by punk rock and it's really important to him, so and who am I to tell him what he should or shouldn't listen to or whether he is or isn't punk? It's kind of funny that it's all the kids that are just getting into it and they don't care about the fact that I have been into it for 25 years: that means nothing.

Isn't that what we are here? To celebrate today and be empowered by the fact that punk rock has survived for so long and now it has crossed so many boundaries, so many cultures, so many colors, broken down so many of these barriers so that you now have millions and million of people being able to use it? Obviously, if you get all these bands that bring 80,000 people to a show it's a real statement that punk is everything to so many different people.

Absolutely, and nobody can tell me it's dead because, for me, it's still very much alive. Therefore it's not dead; alive for one person is still alive.

I thought that the title of the film was a reference to that Exploited song.

Actually it's such a common thing with punk now, Punk's Not Dead. You see the Exploited album and the songs and you also see kids spray paint it on their jackets. It's funny because I get two responses either one: the reviews say it's a needlessly defensive title, which I think is funny because they don't realize it's a common phrase, or two: Wattie [frontman for the Exploited] is going to be so mad at you. It's like Wattie is in the film and he know about it.

Oh you got Wattie in the film? Does he still have that massive Mohawk?

Not in the film, but I saw him last year and he had it back again. In the film he still has bright red hair but it's all braided and long; it's a braided down Mohawk.

So obviously he's happy about it.

I told him he's subtitled in the film and he loved that.

We like to ask filmmakers what they shot it on and what they edited it on.

We shot with a Sony TRV950 and TRV900. Of course, over the course of filming for four and a half years I got camera envy as I saw these other great camera coming up, but we had what we had and they worked well for us in many respects because a lot of times, because they are small camera, 3 chip cameras, we could film places that didn't realize we were filming a film.

Those Sony cameras are good for low light, too.

It was great and it worked out really well for us. We edited on Final Cut Pro.

So when you got the camera envy? Was one of the Panasonic HD cameras one of the ones you would have liked to gone to?

If I could get one now I would want Red. It's been threatening to come out for a while now and it looks amazing. It's supposed to look just like film.

How many hours of footage did you shoot versus the end running time?

Wow...over four and a half years we shot probably around 500 hours of footage. Mind you, a lot of that was full live concerts with two cameras, so we did shoot a lot. Every interview was at least an hour pretty much. The actual running time of the film was 97 minutes, five minutes being credits.

Didn't you love that Fat Mike comment at the end where he's talking about how poorly quoted he was or how he felt he could have been better spoken?

Oh yeah, when he's being interviewed at the San Francisco film festival and he says what he said wasn't very interesting, and generic compared to the Subhumans. He said Dick is so prolific that [Mike] sounds totally generic, but he actually says a lot of good stuff and we have some great DVD extras for when the DVD comes out. We have a tour of Fat Mike's house in the DVD extras so, it's kind of fun.

Ok and we generally like to know what would surprise people to learn about you, but instead of that why don't I ask you this: what would surprise people most to learn about the movie/the process or what surprised you most/what did you learn that you didn't already know about punk rock?

Well, what actually surprised me most was probably the pop punk bands. I initially thought I was just going to stick it to them, but, whenever I interviewed them, they were really sincere and punk rock really helped them through some hard times or had a huge impact on them. That's when I decided punk is about thinking for yourself and drawing your own conclusions, that I am going to let people draw their own conclusions and show them both sides, let them figure it out for themselves. I was really impressed with what a lot of them had to say and I actually like some of the music a lot so that was what surprised me I think.

I caught My Chemical Romance with Green Day and I went prepared to not like them and, you know what, they killed me, they killed. Sometimes these bands surpass your ability to not like them just because the music is outside of what you would normally listen to.

Yeah, and I don't necessarily think they are playing punk, but I think the music is really good; their last album, especially, is definitely further from punk than their first one, but it is really a good album. Musically I think they are really terrific. You don't just have to like only punk rock music, you can like a lot of different kinds of music. Everybody thinks because I did a doc about punk rock that's all that I listen to.

Let me ask you this: what is the most surprising album that you like to listen to regularly?

Oh God, there are so many. I love Billy Bragg, I love Elvis Costello, I love Bob Schneider. He's kind of a bit funky singer songwriter guy from Boston and is really good, he was also in a band called The Scabs and a band called the Ugly Americans.

Do you like the new Tim Armstrong album A Poets Life?

Yeah it's good, I do like it.

Do you like the Aggrolites?

Of course I do. How could you not like the Aggrolites? They are so fun.

I can tell that punk rock and music is still very much an integral part of your day to day existence, eh?

Oh, absolutely, even in the way that we are did this whole film and the fact that we self financed it so that no one could tell us what to say; now we are self distributing it because we thought we could do it better than the studios could even though we got offers from studios. I saw what some of them did with some other films that came out and I thought they are not reaching the audience that they should or that they are not marketing it to the people that they should. Unfortunately, it's really hard to self distribute.

What about putting the DVD up on MySpace and letting the kids buy it off there?

Oh, we definitely will; that will be after its theatrical run, which will probably be around late November through January. When we do sell the DVD's we are going to have some really cool prizes that people could win if they buy them, everything from signed guitars by Bad Religion, Sum 41, and Pennywise to signed vinyl by Henry Rollins and signed hats by Mike Ness. We have all kind of great stuff that bands have been giving us.

Will you be doing the festival circuit or are you kind of rounding the end of it?

We have been doing the festival circuit and are rounding the end of it. We premiered it at AFI Silver Docs last June, we have gone to Melbourne, and we have been in Copenhagen and Barcelona and all over the place. We have been to the AFI Dallas film festival, San Francisco...it's been great. Tons of festivals and we still have some more coming up, but the film is opening in Japan and Australia in September so it will be out in theatres there and that will be fun.

It must have been really exciting to see this film that you have been basically looking at through computer screens for so many years; this is finally the first time you got to see it on a big movie screen eh?

Oh yeah, the first screening was the best because it was at the AFI Silver Docs film festival which is in DC, which is my hometown. It was great because it was sold out with a line around the block and Ian Mackaye and the guys from Government Issue and Black Market Baby came, and then it just so happened that since Warped Tour was in town the next day Fat Mike and Erick Melvin flew in a day early, so the guys from NOFX were there and Brian Baker came from Bad Religion. It was great and a lot of fun.

We have a question that we ask all of our rock star interviewees, and that is which of the following experiences have you had: have you seen the face of God, have you had an alien encounter, or have you seen a ghost?

None of the above, but I wish all. I've had friends that have seen ghosts, but I haven't seen them yet.

Because we are all searching for something to believe in, we ask that question to try to humanize everybody and bring them all together and it has been wonderful the kind of responses that we've gotten.

Well, if you want something to believe in, I would say believe in yourself because we have the ability to do anything we set our minds to I think.

Well, you are living proof.

Exactly, nobody should make excuses they should just go do it.

Interview by: Dixon Christie, PunkTV.ca
Visit Dixon on Nexopia!

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Punk's Not Dead - Teaser

Punk's Not Dead - Trailer