About Greg Ginn: Gregory Regis Ginn is an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer.
The Minutemen were seen as more of an art thing than Black Flag, although I didn't see them that way. It confused people when we put out Saccharine Trust, too.
I didn't want to wait around for some business entity to come around and give me money and tell me what to do. We just started releasing records as best we could.
I still think the best metal bands have a blues feel. The first Black Sabbath album is kind of a bludgeoning of blues. Deep Purple also started out as a blues band.
Putting out the things that I like best hasn't been the easiest way to run a label, and it still isn't because it requires finding an audience for each record.
We aren't as concerned about the live aspect as other labels. The best live bands are the easiest to record.
I had business experience. I had made my living designing and building electronic equipment. Basic business was not new to me, but the music business was completely new to me. I knew nothing about distribution, or any of those things.
The biggest disappointment has been seeing the number of people in this business with very shortsighted views.
You have to keep the business side together as well as the creative side. We have constantly surprised people and stayed with bands until they have grown on people.
There are several books out on punk history, but I haven't read any of them. I was there.
Most good things happen with time; especially music, which needs time to breathe and to find its own way.
The English scene got more media attention with their emphasis on fashion, with the safety pins and all. There were some really good bands over there. The Sex Pistols were great.
We're not good at propping up old carcasses. We want to be on top of what's vital at any particular time, and not just hold onto something because it has a name.
Black Flag was formed in 1977. We first recorded in 1978.
I like a lot of electronica. I like older jazz rather than newer.
I listen to everything that comes in. I'm not real worried about demo sound quality. I can hear through that sort of thing. If a band can play, then they can play.
People from major labels were afraid to go to Black Flag gigs throughout most of the band's existence. They treated our gigs as something threatening. I'm sure that it probably was. They probably had reasons to be scared.
Punk rock really came out of N.Y. as a philosophy before the groups were ever recorded. I had a kind-of intellectual interest in the idea of creating a new scene that could be a grassroots thing.
SST was formed to put out the first Black Flag record. Basically, there wasn't anyone else to do it. I felt that what I was doing with Black Flag was very worthwhile, and I wanted to get it out there.
Stores can be indifferent to something new.
The public is usually slow to catch on to new things, and it's important that musicians stick to their guns and not look for that instant gratification.
