Steve Blush
By: James Wright
 Steven Blush came into the spotlight in recent months with the gritty documentary film "American Hardcore." The movie examines the roots of punk rock as they evolved into what is now known as hardcore. Chosen to be a part of the Sundance Film Festival and earning significant critical acclaim, the film was released on DVD by Sony Picture Classics.
While his film accomplishments may have brought Blush into the mainstream, it's his newly published book, “American Hair Metal” (Feral House), that's making long-time rockers break out the leather pants. The book delves into the hair bands that embodied sex, drugs and rock'n’roll while single-handedly dominating the Billboard charts during the '80s. From such mainstream acts as Poison, Motley Crue and Skid Row to more underground bands like Nitro, Tuff and Roxx Gang, “American Hair Metal” leaves no stone unturned in its revealing look at one of the most enjoyable periods of rock. Blistering chatted with Blush at a promotional tour stop in Toronto to discuss all things hardcore and hair metal.
Blistering: Give us some insight into your background and some of the music that inspired you to write these books.
Steven Blush: I grew up in New Jersey as a typical teenager. I saw Led Zeppelin at the Gardens, Pink Floyd and just your typical kid into rock. I was in trouble at home, and my mom got me an exchange in the U.K. for a semester, and that’s when I discovered punk rock. I came back to Jersey where people where still fixing their muscle cars and could care less about punk rock and thought the Sex Pistols were crap. I caught the tail end of that scene, where even in England people were already saying that punk was dead and they were already onto this new thing called post-punk.
When I got back I [stayed] a lot of time in the city, and my girlfriend’s older brothers were hip and had tickets to Joy Division before Ian Curtis killed himself. They were just really clued into club life, and so at like 17 years old I was going to all these edgy rock clubs. I loved all that stuff, but when I went to college in Washington, D.C., that’s where I discovered this new kind of punk called hardcore. That was finally the version of punk that spoke to me, and this was a suburban form of punk rock that I just dove into.
Blistering: When did you decide to create “American Hardcore”?
Blush: It was a very small scene and everyone had to participate, so I became a promoter. Basically I was able to scam some halls, and for about five years this became my life. Flash forward about a decade later and I had never really seen a proper documentation of the era, and that started me on the journey to write the book.
Hardcore had really shaped me as a man. I had this code of ethics that I used for my family, and then I had this other code that I got from hardcore, which was anti-establishment, do it yourself and being unafraid of failure. That’s what I learned from hardcore, so I applied it to the book.
Right as the book was coming out I had come into contact with my old friend Paul Rachman, who had been in Hollywood for 10 years making music videos like Alice In Chains' “Man In The Box” and all the early Pantera videos. I had known him from his hardcore days because he made the Bad Brains and Gang Green videos as well. When he had this idea to turn the book into a movie, it was kind of a no-brainer for us to work together. We filmed the movie, just the two of us on my TV with his laptop, made it to Sundance, and it got picked up by Sony Picture Classics. Hardcore was my life, and it was a very important story for me. These were my heroes.
Blistering: How did you manage to track down all the movers and shakers of the early-'80s scene?
Blush: You can’t really go look up Joey Shithead in the phone book, now can you? It doesn’t work like that. Honestly, when I told you about my past as the kid promoter I had about 20 percent to 30 percent of those bands crashed on my floor during that time. There was no hotels or lighting rigs back then.
Blistering: One of the most moving images I got from the film was a member of the audience antagonizing Black Flag’s Henry Rollins until he snaps and punches the guy in the face . . .
Blush: I also wanted to put that footage in there not only because of the violence, but I really think it explains why Henry Rollins is the person that he is today. He’s kind of this standoffish, harsh, hard-ass guy because people fucked with him night and day. You also have to remember that band was really pushing the boundaries even in the punk scene; they were growing their hair long and playing in a speedo. People would sucker-punch him like they did in that scene or light his balls on fire while he was singing. I really wanted to portray Henry as the defiant singer that he is, even though now people know him as this David Letterman character. He was a true pioneer, and he paved the way for all these tattooed rock guys that never had to pay their dues.
Blistering: What is your take on the current, more mainstream version of hardcore as it exists today?
Blush: On one hand I think it’s awesome that these bands were inspired by the music of my generation, but on the other hand I’m thinking, “Get your own fucking music.” Hardcore might not be the greatest form of music in terms of songwriting or arrangement, but it was its own thing. I don’t want to sound like this old guy that sits at the back of the room and says, “My music was so more intense than yours.” That’s not where I’m coming from, but I do think that bands should try and do something different. I do think there are some good bands though; the last Converge record was pretty hot.
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