Punk Rock Academic

01/01/2025

Video is up for Punk Rock Academic Episode 10!

This time we’re chatting with Jennie Cotterill, MFA. Jennie teaches several courses in the Illustration Department at California State University, Long Beach. In addition to her teaching duties, she also makes album cover art and even has her own custom baking business, aptly named Jennie Bakes.

Jennie’s been active in the punk scene for years, singing and playing guitar in the Fat Wreck Chords punk band Bad Cop/Bad Cop from 2011 to 2022. She recently started the band Reckoner (with Kyle O’Neil of Fireworks, Candace Hanson, and Sven Wallwork), who released their new track ‘She is the Knife’ just prior to this episode’s release.

So stoked that Jennie could fit us in between all her teaching, baking, and shredding. Let’s get into it!

Salutations! Punk Rock Academic Episode 10!This time we’re chatting with Jennie Cotterill, MFA. Jennie teaches several courses in the Illustration Departmen...

12/31/2024

Christmas break is being spent eating tempeh reubens with Dallas' parents.

12/26/2024

Salutations! Punk Rock Academic Episode 10!

This time we are chatting with Jennie Cotterill, MFA. Jennie teaches several courses in the Illustration Department at California State University, Long Beach. In addition to her teaching duties, she also makes album cover art and even makes her own custom cakes as Jennie Bakes.

Jennie’s been active in the punk scene for years, singing and playing guitar in the Fat Wreck Chords punk band Bad Cop / Bad Cop from 2011 to 2022. She recently started the band Reckoner (with Kyle O’Neil of Fireworks, Candace Hansen and Sven Wallwork) who released their new track ‘She is the Knife’ just prior to this episode’s release.

So stoked that Jennie could fit us in between all her teaching, baking, and shredding.

Let’s get into it!

Photo by Leah Castile
Graphic by Dan Moilanen

12/25/2024

Mele kalikimaka from Hawai'i!

Alex has been back in Honolulu for the past couple of weeks to avoid the winter back at Cornell University. He's flying to Michigan for a few days and then back to the grind in Ithaca as he continues doing Agricultural Science nerd stuff.

We'll be back to putting out episodes more regularly once he gets home.

12/24/2024

Wayne State University did a little piece about our very own Dallas McCulloch.

Dallas McCulloch hails from a working class, deindustrialized area in Battle Creek “where people live hard lives, work hard jobs, and get sick and die prematurely as a result of that hard living,” he said. Immersing himself in the punk rock scene was his ticket out once he started booking tours....

12/20/2024

Another new episode recorded with a hardcore legend!

It'll get edited and posted when Alex get bored of eating fresh papaya and watching sunsets from a hammock.

12/12/2024

Alex is en route to Hawai'i for a couple weeks and Dallas is wrapping up finals, but we still recorded a new episode yesterday and have another recording in a few days.

Keep posted, because something awesome should be coming soon.

12/10/2024

Here's the youtube for Punk Rock Academic episode #9 with Dr. Sam Maynard PhD of School Drugs. They're a super rad current band that channels the 80s hardcore spirit of bands like Dead Kennedys & Negative Approach, but the man is also a Political Science professor with a PhD from University of Oxford.

We're talking about the intersection between working in academia and touring in a rad hardcore punk band.

https://youtu.be/wNx3eKOXR28

*links to audio in comments*

Ahoy hoy! Punk Rock Academic Episode 9!This episode features Sam Maynard, PhD. Sam is currently teaching history at a prestigious New Jersey private school. ...

12/09/2024

Ahoy hoy! Punk Rock Academic Episode 9!

This episode features Sam Maynard, PhD. Sam is currently teaching history at a prestigious New Jersey private school. Prior to that he was adjunct faculty in the Political Science department at Monmouth University, teaching courses on International Relations and Latin American Policy, among others.

Prior to serving as faculty, Sam obtained his bachelor’s degree at Monmouth, followed by master’s from Georgetown University and a PhD from University of Oxford, with his research focused on comparative politics and democratization in Latin America.

Dr. Maynard also happens to be the guitarist for the New Jersey-based hardcore band, School Drugs. They have developed a significant following among devotees of that 80s hardcore sound.
School Drugs has toured extensively in the US, UK, and EU.

Sam is a truly punk rock academic. Let’s get into it!

*** Links in comments ***



Graphics by Dan Moilanen
Photo by ALL MY DAYS

12/03/2024

Alex' academic pathway. He took years off between the AS and BS to tour as a drummer in MarchFourth, which is a kinda hippie/ punk rock side show marching band with 20+ weirdos living in a bus around North America for weeks at a time. After his BS he worked as an electrical engineer in Hawai'i for years before starting his hybrid BS/ PhD program at Cornell.

2004 - Gull Lake HS (Diploma 2.1 GPA)
2005 - Kellogg Community College (Did not finish)
2010 - Portland Community College (AS - Liberal Arts *Honors*)
2017 - San Francisco State University (BS - Electrical Engineering 3.67 GPA)
2027? - Cornell University (MS/PhD - Agricultural Science)

Another weird mix of doing terrible in high school, moving away and playing in bands before going to community college in his 20s and doing better. Spending a few years playing music and travelling, and then graduating from college at 31. After working for a few years in a normal job, deciding to get the doctorate from a super prestigious school sometime in his 40s.

12/02/2024

Dallas' academic pathway. He got sober in 2013, which may play a sizable factor in success rates before and after.

2004 - Gull Lake HS (Diploma 1.9 GPA/ 3 months late)
2003 - Kalamazoo Valley CC (Did not finish)
2010 - Grand Rapids CC (Did not finish)
2018 - Honolulu Community College (AA - Liberal Arts 3.51 GPA)
2021 - University of Hawaii at Manoa (BA - Public Health 4.0 GPA)
2024 - Yale (MPH - Social & Behavioral Sciences No GPA)
~2028? - Wayne State (PhD - Sociology of Health & Illness)

Not sure if anybody else has ever gone to the weird combo of Uh Manoa, Yale University & Wayne State University, but it's been an interesting pathway for Dallas leading to starting his current doctoral program in Detroit at the age of 38.

11/29/2024

Black Flag friday specials!
We have shirts for $20 local/ $25 shipped in USA.

-mcculloch on venmo. Include size, and if it's local pickup or delivery, then address if I'm shipping it to you.
.. but message on here first if you have any questions and make sure we have your size and everything.

Bella Canvas soft shirts with sizes running from XS to 3X. Printed in Flint Michigan on US made materials. If you're in or around Detroit we can bring them to you. For $5 we can ship it in the USA. These are actually nice shirts that are comfortable, not some boxy and uncomfortable tees.

If you're foreign, I can look into shipping, but it's probably brutal. Canadians may be fine since Dallas lives 10 minutes from the border, so he may be able to do a duty free/ shipping shirts run in Windsor.

❤️ & 😘,
Alex & Dallas, punk rock academic fashionistas

11/28/2024

Who would you like to see on the podcast? Tag them or their bands and let us know about their bands/ degrees/ high education affiliation, etc.

We need people who have background in some sort of punk adjacent scene and some background in higher education.

Generally we've been doing bands that tour and have some following, but we'd be open to smaller bands we may not know if the person has a cool story. Big tours and albums around the world generally seems more exciting than playing covers at the Holiday Inn bar every other Thursday, but we're open to ideas.

So far everybody has had at least a graduate degree, but we'd be open to dropouts or people with a bachelors or whatever if they're interesting.

We have quite a few episodes lined up and/or recorded, but this will be helpful further down the line to have some ideas.

11/27/2024

Here we go! Punk Rock Academic Episode 8!

Today we’re chatting with John Peck, MA. John is a writer, editor, content manager, and co-owner of Volta Press, a letterpress print studio and underground publisher that he founded with his wife. He has published fiction, essays, and humor in a wide variety of journals and anthologies, and has even spent over a decade lending his talents to the video game industry.

A native of Berkeley, CA, John received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English from Stanford University. His thesis on James Joyce’s Ulysses focused on language as a modernist refiguring of the Christian concept of incarnation, with acclaimed Irish poet Eavan Boland as his advisor.

You may have also heard John as the bassist for the band American Steel since the mid-90s. They released 2 albums with Lookout Records!, then went on hiatus in 2002. During that time, John formed the indie/post-punk band Communiqué, also on Lookout!

American Steel reformed in 2007, putting out two more full lengths on Fat Wreck Chords, and have recently begun performing again after another hiatus during the pandemic.

Without further ado…let’s get into it!

Graphics by Dan Moilanen
Photo by Todd Fixler

*Links in comments*

11/25/2024

Listen to all 7 episodes we've done so far! More coming soon, but catch up on the back episodes.

#7 - Dr. CJ Uy II PhD - (Kill Lincoln/ James Madison University)
#6 - Dr. Greg Chance-Taylor PsyD (ex- MakeWar/ Holy Mountain)
#5 - Toni LaMantia MA (The Abruptors)
#4 - Mark Petz MPNA (Mustard Plug)
#3 - Royce Nunley JD (ex- The Su***de Machines)
#2 - Dr. Michael Bishop PhD (GWAR)
#1 - Dr. Steve Lamos PhD (American Football/ University of Colorado)

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3gMqMKNpQlriNUNseTBdfR?si=b80c8f12c23f4495

Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/punk-rock-academic/id1750556368

Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e26874e2-c22c-4b25-bd83-9bedb69120db/punk-rock-academic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/

11/14/2024

Alex Yore loves five things in life.

1 - Hot sauce
2 - shirts from trucks stops with eagles or wolves or panthers and s**t, possibly with lightning too.
3 - Latin jazz/ Cuban percussion
4 - crossover hardcore/ thrash metal
5 - hot interviews!

Hes all set on the first 4, so we're recording a couple more episodes this Tuesday to fulfill #5, and they will be awesome. One of them is for the fans of 90s/ early 2000s era beardy gruff punk scene, and the other is 80s style hardcore revival from a currently active band.

In the meantime, check out our older episodes and the newest one with Cj Uy from

Academic nerds are all over the world of Punk, hardcore, ska, metal, indie, etc. And we'll keep bringing them to you.

11/13/2024

Here's the video of our interview with Dr. CJ Uy PhD from Kill Lincoln.

https://youtu.be/z6wogGB_73A

(The video for Dallas was messing up, so he has been replaced by a photo for his parts. Deal with it.)

And the audio is always available too at:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TdyMH8G0ItJ57xqbnXzkU?si=ec854f9a02d440e2

Apple Music:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/punk-rock-academic-ep-7-dr-cj-uy-ii-phd-kill-lincoln/id1750556368?i=1000676675832

Amazon Music:
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e26874e2-c22c-4b25-bd83-9bedb69120db/episodes/74f6f3b1-80ca-4112-aec2-c6f259a29317/punk-rock-academic-punk-rock-academic-ep-7-dr-cj-uy-ii-phd-kill-lincoln-james-madison-university

All right! Punk Rock Academic, Episode 7!This time we’re talking with Dr. CJ Uy II, PhD. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Religion at James Madison...

11/12/2024

All right! Punk Rock Academic, Episode 7!

This time we’re talking with Dr. CJ Uy II, PhD. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Religion at James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley.

His work focuses on medieval Sufism and Islamic philosophy, and explores some very deep topics like what it means to “know”.

He has an impressive CV, starting with a BA from Yale University Department of Religious Studies, followed by an M.Phil from University of Cambridge. He also holds an MA degree from Stanford University and a PhD from Brown University Department of Religious studies.

Aside from his academic pursuits, CJ also plays bass in the DC-based Bad Time Records ska-core band, Kill Lincoln. They have developed a strong following through years of touring and recording and have played with the likes of Streetlight Manifesto, The Slackers Band, Less Than Jake, and Reel Big Fish. CJ first started with the band back in 2015 and became a full-fledged member in 2018.

I hope you’re all as stoked to hear from him as we are!
Let’s get into it.
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TdyMH8G0ItJ57xqbnXzkU?si=0b506a2dff3e473e

Apple Music:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/punk-rock-academic-ep-7-dr-cj-uy-ii-phd-kill-lincoln/id1750556368?i=1000676675832

Amazon:
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e26874e2-c22c-4b25-bd83-9bedb69120db/episodes/74f6f3b1-80ca-4112-aec2-c6f259a29317/punk-rock-academic-punk-rock-academic-ep-7-dr-cj-uy-ii-phd-kill-lincoln-james-madison-university

YouTube:
https://youtu.be/z6wogGB_73A

Or listen about anywhere else you enjoy podcasts.



Artwork by Dan Moilanen
Photo by Rae Mystic