Can’t claim any greater knowledge about punk besides the usual. Mohawks, three chords, leather jackets with pins, big ass boots, and interesting hair colours. Granted, most of my punk exposure pre 1994 came from documentaries, movies like Dudes (1987) and that dude that got Spocked in The Voyage Home. Oh, and The Young Ones.

So when MTV aired 21st century (digital boy), I recognised the vocal stylings, but not the music. It was an interesting alternative to the usual punk I expected and I was all for it. Asking the right people at music bazaars and jumble sales proved fruitful. I heard about Dead Boys, PiL, and Dead Kennedys, all different branches of that tree called punk.

Leaders and Followers, included only on the japanese version of Stranger than Fiction (and the Clerks Soundtrack) is my fave Bad Religion track. You’ve got Doctor Greg Graffin’s nearly verbose but exceedingly relevant lyrics accompanied by a catchy riff you can bob your head to. The chorus is singalong in the style The Hold Steady has inspired all of its career on.

I never bought the Japanese edition of Stranger than fiction, I only had a badly dubbed tape a friend gave me and that’s what hold me over the years. The Clerks soundtrack was lent to me by a friend, and he never has picked it up. I’m still waiting for him to drop by but I don’t believe this will ever happen as he is, in his words, exiled forever from Mexico. He had this podcast that overtly political and I think it rubbed some people the wrong way. I didn’t agree with his views most of the times, but I think he was really into something, as he would talk for 1 or 2 hours everyday, just like your five and dime streamers do nowadays. What seemed to radicalise him was (allegedly) the failure of his restaurant due to government red tape. Whether that was truth or another of his ornate lies, that I’ll never know.

Life is strange.

-Sam J. Valdés López