While December 27th, 1981 meant little more than a day home from school for most children, in Northern California it would be the biggest day of young Joe Sib’s life. On that date Sib’s father would convince his son to spend 15 minutes inside the gates of Winchester Skate Park. The experience lead the future founder of SideOneDummy Records to discover the music that would influence the rest of his life, and the series of events that followed that first trip—the rowdy mosh pits, questionable hairstyles, and backstage encounters with some of the biggest names in punk rock—are the subject of Sib’s broken word show, California Calling: A Story of Growing Up Punk Rock. The show was opened by the new SideOne Dummy artist Audra Mae. If you have not heard this girl yet you are already missing out.
From the moment Sib took the stage, I felt like I’d been invited into his inner circle, the place most of us usually reserve for family members, close friends, and those people who see us naked. - Continue reading this article…
Did you miss your chance to grow up as a part of the punk rock subculture because your parents wouldn’t sign for a tattoo and you’ve never really had the facial symmetry necessary to pull off a mohawk? Heck, even if you were the kid voted most likely to skip class for a mosh pit, chances are your adolescence wasn’t half as cool as Joe Sib’s. In addition to co-founding Sideonedummy Records—home to Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag, the Casualties, 7 Seconds, and a slew of other punk rock noisemakers—Sib has been all over the music scene since age 14, performing in bands, hosting a weekly radio show, and participating in the most noble of pastimes, blogging about music (you can read his musings here).
