Ryan Bartek

Rock Pulse: Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions, it’s much appreciated. To start off with then, as your latest work ‘The Big Shiny Prison’ begins to circulate around the net, could you give us an idea as to what prompted you to put together such an intriguing work, and embark upon the lengthy process involved in its creation? Did you have a solid idea of what you were seeking to create from the outset, or was it more of a chaotic process? 

“THE BIG SHINY PRISON” is a panoramic study of American Counterculture that combines underground music journalism with the classic autobiographical road novel (i.e. Kerouac, Hunter Thompson, Henry Miller, etc). Having no desire to plagiarize my influences I approached this through multi-genre fusion, and the result is a work many have deemed an “extreme tour diary.” In short, years of experience & influence exploded like a volcano, sending me flying off like a cannonball. I’d reached age 25 and realized that it was “now or never,” since my situation was so hopeless in Detroit. Since I’d secured the gig writing for Metal Maniacs (as well as AMP, Hails & Horns, PIT Magazine + dozens of print/webzines), such exposure had upped my credibility to a staggering degree. I was well aware that digital media was taking over and that this opportunity wasn’t going to last forever, so in December ‘06 I declared via press statement that I’d embark on a non-stop road book throughout 2007. Two frantic weeks later I’d quit my band A.K.A. MABUS and hopped a Greyhound for San Diego where I knew some Michigan expatriates. I then used that “commune” as a base of operations. I’d work a kitchen job two months, horde every penny, then hit the road for months until broke. The campaign lasted from December 21st 2006-October 13th 2007, having traversed 32 states and spending an estimated 606 hours on Greyhounds, all while interviewing hundreds of musicians/artists. I finished the rough draft on March 3rd, 2008 and then headed to Seattle to begin a new life. 

Insofar as creation, I knew I’d have to straddle the twin extremes of total chaos & honed focus – maintain the concrete foundation, yet let the napalm dance… I knew what I was building from Day One, but its form constantly mutated. I organically linked the progression by the relevancy of its unfurling history, like the man who “follows the signs” of fortune cookie messages. When the physical campaign ended, the overall design compacted fluidly. Each chapter is like a self-contained tarot card, per se… 

Rock Pulse: For readers who’re unaware of your work up to this point, would you give us a brief outline of yourself and your career so far? 

As an individual I’ve long been enamoured by punk/metal/industrial/rock/etc – I am DIY to the core, and a cultural radical in full. I view all art/music scenes as a loosely interconnected worldwide movement, and feel very strongly that every subculture represents but a splinter within a larger counterculture framework. True, there are distinctions, but the bottom line is that we are all the black sheep of a herd world that spares little room for the artist. Thus, I am a “Counterculture Internationalist,” not a scenester. This message has always been at the center of my art, and as a journalist I’ve long promoted this idealism. 

Take GG Allin for example – someone that constructed his entire life as perpetual performance art, erasing all personal/social boundaries. I embody that notion as well, even if I’m not rolling around in my own shit. Where he was destructive, I am creative. What some would view as “ridiculous self-absorption,” I instead view as infinite street theatre with tongue firmly in cheek. Therefore, my body of work is autobiographical in nature. As a book “PRISON” is the 3rd saga in a 4 Volume set, though all four manuscripts are radically different. The first book “The Silent Burning” was released by Elitist Publications in 2005 -- a multi-genre anthology presented as one epic poem. I plan to re-release it as a Free PDF this year. Book Two has been complete since 2004, waiting for the right moment. It’s a straight autobiography called “To Live & Die On Zug Island” about my early years. “PRISON” is the obvious road/journalism extension, and the fourth book is in creation right now. It chronicles my life from age 21 until New Years 2009, mixing all previous modes of writing into one mutant strain. It’s called “Anticlimax Leviathan & The Ballad Of Don Juan Quixxxote.” I also have three fictional movie screenplays I’ll be completing this year.

As a journalist my work has appeared in Metal Maniacs, AMP Magazine, Hails & Horns, PIT Magazine, Loud Fast Rules and dozens of web-based & smaller print publications. As a musician I’ve been in many bands, most notably the guitarist of Detroit grindpunk act A.K.A. MABUS and the “everything but drums” mastermind of SASQUATCH AGNOSTIC. I tour under my real name as a spoken word artist (ala Rollins, Bill Hicks) and acoustic under the pseudonym “Jack Cassady.”

Still, for all my effort – and amassing a tiny cult following in the process -- I’ve never had an “official release” besides the miniscule 300 print run of “The Silent Burning.” The above mentioned bands all have low-ball recordings on Myspace, but they are mainly demos. You know, you do the best you can when drowning in poverty, and you stretch yourself too thin for too long then you check your watch and your pushing 30… I plan to buckle down and do a REAL ALBUM the RIGHT WAY in the Northwest, making music my focus from hereon out. I honestly thought someone would put out “THE BIG SHINY PRISON,” yet for all the interest it garnered they unanimously ran screaming. Still, quality trumps all in the end. I feel very strongly that someone will step up in due. When you have the sort of bands I have writing and saying this is a great work of art that is years ahead of its time, I feel total vindication. 

Rock Pulse: ‘The Big Shiny Prison’ features an amazing range of interviews incorporated into the book’s narrative, and the book covers areas of US culture that many would rather ignore... did you attempt to retain objectivity in the face of some of your encounters, and the provocations that you must have faced in the process (such as the views of some of those interviewed, which some might find ‘offensive’)? As such, was there a predominant analytical approach that you took to documenting your journey? 

As even the casual reader will ascertain, I went out on the limb with shock journalism – BDSM power masters, satanic terrorists, LGBT aggressors, street-dwelling crusts, etc. In the words of John Doe: “Wanting people to listen, you can’t just tap them on the shoulder anymore – you have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you’ll notice you’ve got their strict attention.” I cut myself short only by scrapping the interview with the 2008 Nazi Presidential candidate of the United States, mainly because I have no interest in pissing those people off. There were a handful that dropped some racist talk, but I decided to keep that stuff out. Just not down with it…

From the outset there is a theme of propaganda, and it is true that the book itself is propaganda insofar as my framing of character portraits. But I’m having fun with it and being open about it while remaining generally objective. I decidedly attempted to make certain parties “look cool,” when other journalists might have left in more banal or stuttering statements. “THE BIG SHINY PRISON” is a celebration of fringe, not a straight-forward document. 

Rock Pulse: Providing a unique insight into the fringe music scenes of the US, ‘....Prison’ sets itself apart from the vast majority of road novels in tone and style, as well as, indeed, in its focus. What drew you to these areas of the music world in relation to the work that you were looking to create, and have you been able to draw any conclusions about these scenes, informed by your journey? The extreme metal and underground punk communities in particular can afford fascinating insight into western behaviour in general (evolving their distinctive systems of thought and tendency towards insularity,) so did you observe particular patterns of behaviour throughout your travels? 

I wanted to do a road book on America from a very early age, inspired by works like “The Air Conditioned Nightmare,” “On The Road,” and “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.” Those first two books directly led to the 1960’s counterculture revolution, and the Thompson book signified its dystopian death knell. I idealistically saw my generation as the resurrection of such ambience, being one of millions who reached early adulthood watching Fight Club one too many times. The question was how do you take that 60’s radicalism and fuse it with the modern underground, remaining palatable & relevant? How do you write the Great American Novel for a target audience that generally doesn’t read?

In underground journalism, there are a handful of major examples – but they all stop short of something. Keep in mind I’m not knocking any of these books, because I personally enjoy all of them. But what do we have? “Lords of Chaos” is a “true crime” piece. “American Hardcore” is a big punk zine. Mudrain’s “Choosing Death” is a safe-zone love letter. “Sound of The Beast” is a history lesson. Dr. Kahn-Harris’ “Extreme Metal” is so heady it doesn’t translate to 90% of its audience. “Cometbus” is the closest to what I’ve done – but I’d never even heard of it until I was 9 months into “PRISON.” 

I take elements of all the above and combine them with an organic, hyper-tense, edge of your seat thrill ride that translates into a language that is both academically powerful and digestible to its target audience. While “PRISON” is littered with musicians, rarely is music ever the topic of discussion. Of course there is such commentary, but once the basics are established every interview soon heads into more important territory. Being a road book the interviews are meant to be read as the dialogue of a linear narrative, since I’m framing character portraits in a “fictionalized” manner. You are then reading the soliloquy of a “character,” not the divorced input of death metal guitarist A, B or C. 

Rock Pulse: You’ve chosen to make the work available for free download as a PDF, and are actively encouraging the sharing of this download in lieu of a traditional book release. How have you found feedback to the release so far, and have you any designs to further spread the work in the near future? 

I’ve directly emailed it to 10,000, tagged another 10,000, and all I have to show thus far is 1500 downloads & a handful of blog mentions. However, the scant feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. So it’s this weird hushed silence, but I think it’s also safe to say that most are in the middle of reading it. Yet it’s also screamingly clear that many major outlets have outright refused to run any press. “THE BIG SHINY PRISON” openly shits on every sacred scenester principle, so I’m not surprised. Quite frankly -- “fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.” But the real question is do they think I’m a lunatic asshole, or do they just outright fear it? Time will tell. At least you think its cool. 

Rock Pulse: Would you consider ever setting out on a similar project in the years to come? It seems to have been a Herculean labour to get the work completed and released, so do you have a set idea of what constitutes ‘success’ in this process; does ‘success’ even factor in to your thought around the book? 

My plan was to do a European sequel to “BSP” in Summer 2010, and I’ve already been offered asylum in virtually every major European capitol. The problem is no funding. “PRISON” was done by the skin of my teeth, living like a land pyrate. Europe is a different beast altogether, and I’ve never even been there. I just had the humiliating experience of going to Raleigh NC where I had a friend who pledged to team up with me to make it happen. We had no goal but to make it to London by April. Instead I ended up walking around for 4 weeks with a stack of job resumes and McDonalds wouldn’t even hire me. I tried every angle to get duel citizenship in the EU, but every country wants a 4 year college degree and a $3,000 in the bank for a year. We are now literally living in the Neo-Great Depression and fire-walled by a prison state – there’s just no way out... 

Still, there’s been some talk with a few Seattle pals who want to do this with me, but again – no money. I’m currently stuck on a Tropical Island in the South, trying my damndest to make my way back to Portland or Seattle. There is a slight chance I might be able to raise the cash for a scaled-down 2 month expedition in July/August. Pathetically I’m having a hard enough time not starving to death. Being a washed up internationally famous heavy metal journalist guy seems to not even count for a gig washing dishes, even if I’m something of an urban legend in the scene. This was not the future I envisioned. I’m pushing 30, and I have severe back problems. It’s now or never, and I’m completely landlocked. But hey, Henry Miller made it to Paris on $10 right? Where there’s a will… 

Rock Pulse: If our readers read and enjoy/appreciate ‘BSP’ where might you suggest that they go to find more of your work and thought? 

Just Google me, and you’ll get thousands of sites (Ha! I need to start using that as a pick up line). There are a handful of copies left of “The Silent Burning” on Amazon for $3, and all my projects are on Myspace. If you want to dig deep, go through the online archives of www.metal-mayhem.co.uk,www.life4metal.com, www.thegauntlet.com, www.pivotalalliance.com or through back issues of PIT, Metal Maniacs, Hails & Horns, etc. I’m interviewed in the documentaries “It Came From Detroit” and “G-Local,” and I also have a supporting actor role in the indie flick “DADBOT” (aka “The Walt Disney Family Film from Hell”). All three films be posted on YouTube this year, or so I’m told. And I’m in a ton of the Downtown Brown tour videos from 2009, since we did two national 5 week runs together. Again, all on YouTube. 

Rock Pulse: Finally, anything that you’d like to say to/recommend to/ inform those reading this? 

As Americans, we’ve hit a pivotal moment of change. I believe that we are entering a period comparable only to the 1960’s, but confronting all the issues the 60’s dodged in a completely reversed spectrum. Instead of Nixon, we have Obama. Instead of MLK, we have Sarah Palin -- the first major anti-feminist female politician marching endless scores of mullet evangelicals against any health care reform whatsoever. Instead of social revolution, we get the digital revolution. Instead of minority rights, we confront gay rights. The atheist/agnostic movement is coming out of the closet, and the 9/11 Truth Movement is entering mainstream consciousness. Above all, the largest emerging issue will be Neo-Gulf War Syndrome (i.e. the after-effects of Depleted Uranium Munitions). All those Iraq/Afghanistan vets are going to be coming home with radiation poisoning/genetic mutation, multi-form cancer, and an endless rate of “flipper babies” & stillborn children. The “Pandora’s Box” has already been opened, and this “recession” is going to last the rest of our adult primes… So my message to kindred spirits – there is strength in numbers, and that is why I advocate “subculture colonization.” This is not a dangerous or absurd notion, but rather a positive and necessary ideal that will only contribute to the sustained organic growth of the counterculture movement. In short, my message is to quit duking it out in the middle of nowhere and just relocate to one of many major epicenters of activity. I’ve traversed every corner of the nation and the future blueprint is as follows – Seattle/PDX in the Northwest, The Bay Area in California, Albuquerque/Austin in the Southwest, Denver in central, Tampa/Orlando in the tropics, either Chicago or Philly in the Midwest, and somewhere strategic in the Tri-State near NYC. Both Detroit and New Orleans have amazing scenes and the greatest potential for rebirth, but you might as well be walking into Mad Max. If you ask me personally -- hands down – the Seattle/Portland Axis is where it’s at. All you have to do is show up with a backpack, a few bucks, know your etiquette and be ultra-social -- someone somewhere will grant you asylum, guaranteed. Just trust me -- once any serious artist/musician embeds themselves within Seattle/PDX culture, you’ll never look back… And such is my rant. Thanks again for the interview. 

-Dr. Ryan Bartek

Author; “THE BIG SHINY PRISON”

Contact:ryanbartek@hotmail.com

Website: www.myspace.com/bigshinyprison

Book Direct Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?bxmozxt4jom.