'Fans like that we're not a party band'
An interview with Johnny Temple
by Camille Colatosti

Johnny Temple is a 34-year-old musician living in Brooklyn. He plays the bass in two rock bands, New Wet Kojak (Temple is at right in facing photo) and Girls Against Boys. Collectively, the bands have seven albums to their credit. Temple also runs Akashic Books, a Brooklyn-based independent publishing company that, he explains, is "dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political non-fiction by authors who are either ignored by the mainstream, or who have no interest in working within the ever-consolidating ranks of the major corporate publishers."

We asked Temple to talk with us about the important role that music plays for young adults as they work to figure out their values, their politics and their spirituality.

Sidebars: In Search of Peace A new and spiritual form of music

Camille Colatosti: Could you describe your bands?

Johnny Temple: New Wet Kojak is a strictly creative project. The music is avant-garde. It is rock, but the saxophone is a strong instrument in the mix. The rock is a little jazzy and moody.

Girls Against Boys is both a creative and a social or political project. The music is discordant as far as loud rock music goes. Our musical roots are in the punk rock tradition, but we are not a punk rock band. Still, the passion and aggressiveness of punk informs the band. Girls Against Boys is rhythm-based; we don't focus so much on melodies the way a lot of bands do. We like a wide variety of music, including funk music and hip-hop and rhythm-and-blues.

We have a guitarist, a bass player, a drummer, a keyboard player and a vocalist. We write the music collaboratively. The singer writes the lyrics.

C.C.: Why Girls Against Boys?

J.T.: When the band started in the early 1990s -- our first album was in 1991 -- there was a boys' club mentality in rock music. There are so many more women in rock now than there were 10 years ago, and this is good. But back then we wanted to make a statement about the boys' club. We wanted to say that, even though the band is all men, we aren't part of the boys' club. We are Girls Against Boys.

C.C.: How does your music challenge the boys' club of rock 'n' roll?

J.T.: We put out our first three records on Touch & Goan independent label in Chicago. There is a wonderful community of musicians in the independent music world. Now we've signed a contract with Geffen Records. This is not an independent company. It is a major recording corporation. This has helped us get some things that we couldn't get before, like more money so that we can all afford health insurance. But now we have to struggle to stay part of the independent music community. Geffen, and other major corporations, aren't really part of a music community. They are just trying to make money. Working with them means that we are associated with a business that focuses on the bottom line, and not with an independent label that is interested just in producing good music.

The music industry is corrupt, market-driven and it is getting worse. It is disillusioning to work with a company that should be about promoting creativity but isn't. This is not what major record companies are about.

C.C.: This issue of The Witness looks at young people as they make a transition into adulthood. What role do you think music plays for young people?

J.T.: I want first to talk about myself. I've always been inspired by music, but it was really important to me when I was a teenager. When I was a teen, and also when I was in college, music was important in helping me understand issues of social justice. Both my parents were liberals and activists, and I felt fortunate to grow up in Washington, D.C. The bands there saw a connection between music and social justice. The bands would speak out. They would play at rallies or organize rallies.

In D.C., there is a strong underground music scene. This influenced me as a musician. It taught me that if you have a platform, you need to use it responsibly for the greater good.

In college, I was involved in political activism, but I felt that there was a social component missing. You see this throughout the left in America. Since the 1960s, politics and culture seem to have gone on divergent paths. Lots of political movements have become unexciting to young people, who have so much creativity and energy. But this needs to be channeled.

Music can be a wonderful tool to channel young peoples' energy in a constructive direction. This is what Girls Against Boys tries to do in our music.

The left has been very ignorant about what is important to young people. We saw this in the last presidential election where Gore and Lieberman blew the young peoples' vote by this overt moralizing. While moral issues are important, morality has to be expressed in an inclusive manner. Clinton won the 18-25-year-old voting block by 18 points, but Gore won this group by only two points because he didn't extend himself to young people.

Young people need to be engaged in political issues. If they were, then we might not have such an apathetic country. Music can help accomplish this.

C.C.: How does music help create a connection between young people and politics?

J.T.: Music can foster community where values are taught and reinforced and acted upon, so that certain issues, such as domestic violence against women or the AIDS epidemic, can be couched in a way that makes them seem relevant and vital to young people.

C.C.: We hear a lot of reporting on the way that popular music fosters negative values and violence, but we don't hear much about music promoting positive values or a sense of social conscience.

J.T.: If you have a sick society that promotes violence, you will have sick expressions. I don't so much blame the Eminems out there for promoting violence. I blame the politicians and the economy that has created a society that is morally bankrupt, where only the bottom line matters.

Don't misunderstand. I do think that music can inspire violence and abuse, so I don't hold up Eminem as a sort of hero, but I don't think that the solution is to encroach on his freedom of speech. We need instead a society where notions of respect and justice are made real, rather than a society where these are presented just as shallow concepts.

The main critics of the violence in popular music are these politicians who are just grandstanding. They have no higher moral message.

C.C.: How does music help foster a connection between young people and what is positive? Do you see a spiritual component in music?

J.T.: When I was a young adult, music was my own personal religion. I think that a lot of young people feel this way. Music fueled me and made me feel more fulfilled. It drove me to get involved in causes.

There is also a strong spiritual component in music -- perhaps because music allows people to let go of this world, the reality in which we live. Music can be like a dream. It can free you from the drudgery of everyday life. It can provide catharsis. It can provide hope and inspiration. Music can elevate someone's consciousness.

C.C.: How do you see yourself inspiring others?

J.T.: I do this through my music and also through my publishing company, Akashic Books.

All of the members of Girls Against Boys have active lives outside of the band. This is important because rock 'n' roll is not inherently this wonderful thing. Fans come to us to say that it is so cool that we do other things besides play music, that we are active in other aspects of life, that we are all doing things that we think are constructive. We aren't hedonist and music is often portrayed this way. The media shows musicians to be these partiers. Fans like that we're not a party band. Our music is feeling-based and intellectual. We use rock 'n' roll as a vehicle of engagement, to engage fans beyond the music itself.

I play bass but I also publish books. So I read a lot and edit and put out great works. Literature is a wonderful tool to raise consciousness.

Akashic Books publishes mostly novels -- we've put out 11 so far, but we are also branching into nonfiction. We just published Falun Gong's Challenge to China: Spiritual Practice or 'Evil Cult'? by Danny Schechter. Falun Gong is a meditation-based spiritual movement that the Chinese government branded as counter-revolutionary and has vowed to crush. Danny Schechter is a human rights journalist and working with him, and people like him, is the direction I want to take the book company.

Falun Gong has very few advocates in America because the mainstream media has embraced the U.S. government's view of them. Schechter's book has been widely reviewed, so its message is getting out. My dream is to publish books and play music that has an impact on public policy.

Fiction has been the mainstay of Akashic Books so far. I love novels. As editor-in-chief, founder and publisher, I find it exciting to work on novels and to work on non-fiction. One of my goals is to challenge readers, and to take on stereotypes or misconceptions.

For instance, take the idea of political correctness. Some people feel that this has evolved into a kind of censorship. I have always felt funny about this since political correctness comes from notions of social justice. I publish African-American authors, Latin authors, women and gay authors -- those who open up language and dialogue so that you can talk about wanting to end racism without having to fit your language into how someone else wants you to express yourself.

Most of our books -- novels -- are provocative on a number of levels. Being provocative does not have to be heavy-handed. You have a whole book -- 300 pages or so -- to provide a lot of nuanced discussion and dialogue on a topic.

C.C.: Why is this nuanced look at politics important?

J.T.: Sometimes, for young people especially, the nuances of politics can get lost in political dogma. I saw this in college campus activism when I was younger. People can get so vehement in what they believe that they shut others out, or cut themselves off, from others.

We need to allow for differences of opinion, for real discussion and dialogue. This is the only way that we can figure things out. This is especially true for young people. Music helps them look at an issue or topic in a nuanced way. This is for the greater good and it's the way to get something done -- and to try to make the world a better place.

Camille Colatosti is The Witness' staff writer. She lives in Hamtramck, Mich.