Jack Terricloth
Jack Terricloth, lead vocalist for New Jersey cabaret-punk band The World/Inferno Friendship Society.
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My favorite wine is usually whatever is right in front of me.
If I am not doing something illicit, I feel absolutely naked.
I know we live in troubled times, my friends, I know things which once stood up suddenly don't stand up anymore. I know that innocent people shopping or buying gas are often shot down, shot down for no reason. And it makes a nation nervous. Now, personally, I like the nation to be nervous. And in these nervous times, sometimes people come up to me, and they say, "Perhaps, Jack, you should tone down your rhetoric a bit. Perhaps, the stuff you say in between songs might be construed as, well, not very patriotic. Well, actually, Jack, you might get yourself in some big trouble." And I say to myself, "Oh! Trouble is my business, friend." In these uncertain times, it's not a good idea to give up on your values, and change your mind about the things you hold dear. It's not. I want to talk about someone who fell pretty damn hard, and this song is called "I Shot President Reagan, and I'm Gonna Do It Again and Again and Again and Again!"
It was great the way we changed the mind of the nation and fascism was defeated and all the troops were home by Christmas.
Where do you hear the songs? In the space between wake and passing out, the hiss down the left of the dial, the faces of the kids when we pull up to the show, in answering machine hang up messages, in glasses colliding, transmissions whining, where the music doesn't belong—where it lives. Everywhere, it's all I hear.
Have you noticed that bank tellers are almost always very attractive? Is it because they're on display back there behind the glass so close and yet so far? Or is it like bartenders they have so much of what we want?
Everything's going to be okay, even though it's all terribly wrong.
People often ask me, "Jack, you're old. How do you manage to get out of the house and be so outraged and hop up and down so very often?" And of course, I respond, "Could you lend me ten bucks so I can buy some drugs?"
You should live your life with an emphasis on accruing experiences and becoming cooler.
My older friends say, "I was in a punk band once, and we used to be pretty outraged. We would get pretty angry, we'd get a stomp going or something, we would rally against Reagan, or other elected officials. But now I am an older man, and I have some responsibilities, so I really cannot be excited. I appreciate Kurt Cobain, and I'm excited about all those bands that seem very angry, but—why would you keep doing this after all these years?" And I say, "Because I still hate you and I'm trying to prove to you that you're wrong." Because, really, if you're bored and you're listless, you just need to get yourself an enemy.
It is every singer's ambition, whether they acknowledge it or not, to croon.
What do you think makes a good rock front man? Shamelessness, I’d imagine.
Interviewer says "How do you become a member of the World/Inferno Friendship Society?"
There's a shop on the next corner, North Six, between Wythe and Berry? I'd like you all to go smash it up. Now, if anyone asks you who told you to do this, I want you to keep mum. It was Franz.
Punk's an attitude. Punk's not three-chord rock. If you want to listen to three chord rock, there's southern rock.
What better place than this? What better choice than us?
Is it better to look classy or act classy? Act. But one follows the other.
Money should never be the reason you ever do or don't do anything. I haven't paid rent in 3 months.
Trouble is a great deal of fun, and crimes committed without malice are usually forgiven among peers.
All you have to do is put all other concerns aside and your fondest desire will come true. Unfortunately, 'all other concerns' includes your health, financial well-being, interpersonal relationships, and often any inkling of why you had this desire in the first place. Good luck!
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