Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Tony Adolescent - Punk Rock Dad

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Tony and his family, Photo courtesy of: DadWagon

Nathan Thornburgh over at DadWagon did a cool interview with Tony from The Adolescents and hipped us to it. Check it out and follow the link - thanks Nathan! -Gordo DCXX

He’s not just the lead singer of the Adolescents, the legendary Orange County, California, punk rock band, he’s also a loving husband and father of three children: Mia, 14, Nico, 12, and Dario, 8. Now he’s featured alongside other punks-turned-dads, like Jim Lindberg of Pennywise and Ron Reyes of Black Flag, in the intimate new documentary “The Other F Word”. Tony Brandenburg, aka Tony Adolescent, sat down with DadWagon at South by Southwest last month in Austin–while his daughter Mia, 14, sat nearby–for a conversation about being a good father, surviving the death of a child, and why his seminal song “I Hate Children” doesn’t mean what you think it does.

Q. Thanks so much for speaking with us. Let me start with something that came up a lot in “The Other F Word”: What was your own childhood like?

My father left when I was very young, and my stepfather came with a lot of baggage. The role models that I sought out were my grandfather, and later on in my teen years, my friend Eddie Egan’s father, and [Adolescents bandmate] Steve Soto’s father. I studied these men: how they interacted with children, the way they were nonjudgmental with me. I had a lot of destructive tendencies back then. And these men, instead of berating me, they just did what they did so well, which was to be, you know, parents.

I learned first and foremost that men don’t walk away from their children. I feel very strongly about it to this day. You can dislike a spouse or partner, but it should never be at the expense of the relationship with the child, because the child needs that nurturing, that support...

CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE:
http://www.dadwagon.com

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The Adolescents

By Livewire Records at April 05, 2011

7 comments:

  1. jbanksApril 5, 2011 at 9:22 AM

    I quite enjoyed this entry. Thanks Tony and Double Cross.

    And the Eddie Egan reference. That guy put out the Pig Children EP. Thanks Eddie Egan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 5, 2011 at 9:58 AM

    First CBGB hardcore matinee I ever saw: Underdog, Adolescents, and either Breakdown or Krakdown (can't remember which).

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 5, 2011 at 11:10 AM

    I put on one of the Adolescents Reunion shows in 1986 at the On Broadway in SF and then a show with them in SJ at the One Step Beyond in 1987. Tony was always a great guy!
    Cool to see this interview!

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  4. Jim PittsApril 5, 2011 at 11:11 AM

    Somehow my name didn't come up, but I was the above post...LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 5, 2011 at 1:26 PM

    To anomynos #1

    The CBGB matinee was with Breakdown. The line-up was Breakdown, Sick of it All, Underdog, and The Adolescents.

    ReplyDelete
  6. edgeindustrialphotographyApril 5, 2011 at 3:14 PM

    thanks for posting this
    love the adolescents
    wish they'd play in the uk!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. anomynos #1April 5, 2011 at 6:08 PM

    Hey Anon # 3, thanks for the heads-up about that show. I have no memory of SOIA, but chalk that up to the mild swelling on the brain I probably sustained. God, it was glorious.

    ReplyDelete

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