Jesse Michaels Teaches Us Life Lessons at the Punk Rock Museum
When I saw the Punk Rock Museum’s post on Instagram that Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy would be giving tours the weekend of BFF Fest, I might have released a few bodily fluids. After taking a viral video of Jesse and Tim Armstrong reuniting to play “Take Warning” last year, I’ve been on a quest to have more JM time in my life. Tickets bought, and fluids contained, I counted down the minutes until the tour.
Calling all Op Ivy fans—the reunion could happen, friends! All photos courtesy of kim moenich
We all arrived early, and there were a few gasps when Jesse walked in. He gathered us all into a side room of the Museum and gave a rundown of what to expect, making sure we knew that he welcomed all questions. At that point, someone said, “Including the obvious one?!” Jesse laughed, replying, “About the possibility of a reunion, you mean?” We all laughed, too, but inside I know everyone was nervous about the answer. “It’s a possibility,” he said. “It was going to happen a couple years ago, then someone in the band had a family emergency and we had to shut it down. But we’re still open to it and talk about it. Tim and I have this new project we’re working on (Doom Regulator). We’re back in the studio with that. So we’ll see what happens. But we’re not saying no [reunion].” That’s a definite maybe, kids!
Hanging on his every word. kim moenich
The tour got underway, with Jesse regaling us with stories of old and providing some interesting history about his beginnings in the scene, the creation of punk and the LA scene in particular, the makings of Op Ivy , and more. He began by crediting his beginnings to his “running buddy," Aaron Cometbus. They became friends when Jesse was 12 years old, bonded by a love of all things punk, especially The Ramones. “We really wanted to see them live, so we showed up at this radio show they were doing, and we wrote notes to them backwards on pieces of paper and held them up to the window. We made up a fake zine and said we were writing for it.” The band must have been amused by the teens and invited them to what would be Jesse’s first live punk show.
You don’t have to be a musician to start a punk band! kim moenich
The two went on to form their first band, S.A.G., which were literally letters they pulled out of a hat. Inspiration for the union had come from San Francisco punk band Flipper; only the boys had basically zero musical talent at the time, according to Jesse. “I couldn’t play any chords, so I just kinda did this,” imitating a poorly played air guitar with what looked like a broken thumb. “My voice hadn’t even broken yet, so it was hilarious,” he said. Jesse would soon get asked to leave the band, which later became Crimpshrine, but would still hang around their practice space daily.
Receiving life lessons from the man himself. kim moenich
“One day at the practice space, Tim turned to me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to sing for a band?’ We sorta knew Dave and knew he could drum. There’s a kind of synchronicity that happens. Things mostly kind of happened organically, so I can’t take too much credit for all of it,” Jesse said, recounting the start of what would become one of the biggest bands in punk rock.
Talking of idols and inspirations… photo courtesy of kim moenich
Jesse went on to tell numerous stories about his inspirations and his time at Gilman Street. “For me, all roads lead to the Clash. They are probably my favorite band. A lot of my songwriting was influenced by them. I’d read their lyrics and not really understand it, but I loved it. So in my own lyrics, I always try to talk about things that are real, not necessarily ideological, like voting for this person, but a personal take on social politics that can be universally applied,” he noted. Pointing at the case in front of him, Jesse said,
“Strummer’s guitar is like the Holy Grail of punk artifacts. I met Joe Strummer as a fan and I’m glad of that. I went to a Mescaleros show with my guitar, as a true fan boy. I knew you had to wait out back for an hour after they finished, if you wanted to see them. So I did. He came out and signed my guitar. Not where I asked him too, of course, because he was too punk for that, but he was very real and warm and funny.”
“Contained in my music is somehow more than just sound. This inspiration coming and twistin' things around.” photo by kim moenich
Jesse talked about how certain songs came to be, like a riot that started during a show with The Offspring and Ill Repute. “Ill Repute was trying to go in a new direction, and the crowd wanted their classic repertoire. The audience started yelling ‘Fuck you’ and Ill Repute started yelling it back. Gang members were in the crowd and someone got stabbed (Not Noodles! That was another time!). The next day, Tim wrote a song about it that became Bad Town. It was the only time Tim wrote a whole song at once.”
Walking through the many rooms of the Punk Rock Museum, each packed full of amazing memorabilia, Jesse gave personal anecdotes and explanations of the history of punk. One wall is an iconic photo of Op Ivy playing, and Jesse stopped there, standing beside his younger self. As he began to speak, “Sound System” started playing, and he couldn’t help but laugh along with all of us. “Major Imposter Syndrome,” he said, looking at his photo. “I can’t believe this is gonna last. I’m never going to think of myself in the third person, as something famous, that’s fucking cringe, ya know? I try not to get too far away from how I felt when I was doing it [playing in Op Ivy]. Especially if you are too close to the anxiety and depression side of things, it can really fuck you up. I also think, how the hell did all of this happen?” It happened because you created something that we could all believe in, Jesse. You created something that changed us all.
You never know who might be around when you show up at the
thepunkrockmuseum.com
We met nofxjunkie at the last NOFX show and a week later we met again at the Punk Rock Museum. kim moenich