The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds

Black Flag vocalist Max Zanelly shares how she went from waitressing to fronting one of punk's most legendary bands and how the new lineup is carving their own space in legacy of the band.
Australian tour tickets and info here.
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Max Zanelly checks in from Toronto, post-Canada tour
Black Flag heading to Australia: four cities in late May
One year ago, Max had just started rehearsing with Black Flag
Only prior music experience: saxophone in middle school band
A longtime fan, Max attended a Black Flag show in Vancouver
Greg Ginn noticed Max singing every word from the front row
Numbers exchanged; Greg said he wanted to make music someday
A month later: the vocalist left, Greg offered Max the role
Max sent vocal demos and flew to Texas to rehearse
Already knew the full catalog; My War was the gateway album
Side two's slow, sludgy tracks resonated the most deeply
Favourite songs to perform live
New recordings underway, still at early instrumental stages
Max currently writing lyrics for a potential new Black Flag record
Big age gap with Greg, but the band dynamic gels well
Lineup reveal photos triggered massive online backlash before any shows
Live shows quickly won skeptics over, including 80s-era veterans
Henry Rollins is Max's personal favourite past Black Flag vocalist
First rehearsals: nervous and shy about screaming into a mic
Fake-it-till-you-make-it; fully unleashed onstage by the fourth show
Voice conditioned gradually; 24-hour rest between shows is enough
Bassist David sparked Max's interest in record collecting on tour
Grew up religious; told mum she was just selling band merch
Mum eventually came around; Max now inspiring women to start bands
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Filmmaker Dave Markey discusses his documentary "The Secret Lives of Bill Bartell", the punk scene's most fascinating, mysterious, and surprisingly influential behind-the-scenes figure.
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Dave Markey has a large record collection but stopped buying recently.
Vinyl prices have skyrocketed — once cheap records now cost thousands.
Dave bought records directly from band members at punk shows.
Ian MacKaye sold Dave a first press Minor Threat 7".
Dave bought Minutemen and Descendents EPs from D-Boon for a dollar.
Dave made the Bill Bartell documentary for people who don't know him.
Bill Bartell was unknowable — different things to different people.
Dave tried making this film in the 90s; Bill refused to cooperate.
The film was made ten years after Bill passed away.
Bill Bartell faked backstage passes to get into arena rock shows.
Bill named the Iron Maiden live EP Maiden Japan.
Bill gave Steve Harris his outfit, worn in the "Run to the Hills" video.
Bill saw no distinction between the Scorpions, the Germs, and the Beatles.
Bill would tell artists exactly what he thought — no filter whatsoever.
Bill told Steve Perry he was responsible for the worst night of his life.
Bill told Beck "I don't like you" upon their very first meeting.
Bill tried out as guitarist for Public Image Ltd in 1981.
Kiss circulated photos of Bill to security: do not let him in.
Bill befriended Sean Lennon, which led to a friendship with Yoko Ono.
Bill's 1988 Beatlefest noise performance nearly caused a riot.
Bill talked Kiss manager Bill Aucoin into discovering Generation X.
That connection indirectly launched Billy Idol's massive solo career.
Billy Idol himself didn't know Bill Bartell's role until recently.
Bill gave Kurt Cobain Os Mutantes tapes, reviving the band's career.
Pat Smear and Drew Barrymore were sought for the film but unavailable.
Dave's band Painted Willie did Black Flag's final tour in 1986.
Dave preferred Painted Willie's early Spinhead Records releases over SST output.
The Bill Bartell documentary and Love Dolls films are now on Criterion Channel.
Bill Bartell's Flying V guitar now hangs in the Punk Rock Museum, Las Vegas.
Bill's money, connections, and secrets largely died with him — still a mystery.
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The legend himself Jack Douglas (1945-2026) shares stories from five decades of rock history — from producing John Lennon's final album to the memories Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, The Who, and his recent production of Silverplanes.
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Jack Douglas joins Nate from a snowy driveway, cigar in hand.
Silverplanes' debut album Airbus is finally releasing after years of delays.
Jack met Silverplanes' Aaron Smart through his college-age son.
Aaron turned out to own the Sunset Boulevard studio Jack had worked in.
Jeff Emerick mixed the album shortly before his sudden death in 2018.
The pandemic added two more years of delay to the release.
Jack and Aaron are now label partners with New York real estate billionaire Douglas Durst.
Their label operates 50/50 with artists — no standard royalty deals.
Signed artists include Robin Taylor Zander and the Detroit Youth Choir.
Jack builds songs from a single acoustic guitar performance first.
Aerosmith was different — built from the band groove up, lyrics last.
Walk This Way had no lyric until a Young Frankenstein gag unlocked it.
Jack started his career as a TV composer while janitoring at Record Plant.
He worked on sessions that became The Who's Who's Next.
Kit Lambert and Keith Moon were both, politely, out of their minds.
Jack survived eccentric clients by being reliably sober and crazy simultaneously.
John Lennon was the easiest artist Jack ever worked with.
John would say: "I'm the artist, you're the producer — let's work like that."
Jack engineered Imagine and stayed close to Lennon through the Lost Weekend years.
He was in and out of the Fame sessions with Lennon and Bowie.
John told Bowie: "I'm writing you the best hit you'll ever have."
John knew about — and liked — Aerosmith's cover of "Come Together."
George Martin gave Jack a flat in Kensington and a Morgan sportscar.
Jack helped produce Ringo's "Grow Old With Me," hiding Here Comes the Sun in the strings.
Double Fantasy was secretly recorded at Hit Factory, too far west for fans.
John wanted a middle-of-the-road record aimed at people aged 28 to 40.
Earl Slick was kept from rehearsals deliberately — a wildcard for fresh solos.
Rick Nielsen discovered John's Shea Stadium Rickenbacker with the setlist still taped on.
Rick later gifted John a custom all-white Rickenbacker, model 001, never cashed his check.
Cheap Trick's "I'm Losing You" session was thrilling but too edgy for the album.
Jack hid microphones throughout the sessions, gifting John cassettes on his birthday.
Jack destroyed the tape of the last day — John had sworn him to secrecy.
After John's murder, Jack and Yoko listened to vault tapes alone until dawn.
Yoko later sued Jack; Phil Spector's incoherent testimony and a wig mishap followed.
Jann Wenner called Jack a nobody — until Jack's lawyer read Wenner's own book aloud.
The jury was out ten minutes. Jack won millions.
The 2010 Stripped Down version was mixed in the exact same Record Plant room.
Live at Budokan was actually Osaka — Budokan tapes were too poorly recorded.
Jack rebuilt the Osaka drum kit using speaker-driven bass frequencies and filtered signals.
Aerosmith's Live Bootleg was sent back to Sony unchanged after Jack faked a remix session.
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Butthole Surfers' Paul Leary and King Coffey trace the band's unlikely major label journey — from America's top-grossing indie act to MTV hitmakers to a lost album finally resurrected after nearly three decades.
Preorder "After the Astronaut" LP here
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After the Astronaut releases June 26 after sitting unreleased for 28 years.
Capitol signed Butthole Surfers when they were America's top-grossing indie band.
Label president Hale Milgram believed in them; his firing changed everything.
Pepper was written on the spot after a producer demanded one more song.
Pepper won radio call-in polls for a month and played MTV hourly.
The hit turned them into a "follow-up band," which was never their thing.
John Paul Jones produced Worm Saloon and taught Paul Leary how to produce.
Jones and the band shared a Lagavulin obsession, running up a $20,000 scotch bill.
Capitol's big budgets contrasted sharply with Touch and Go's approach.
After the Astronaut was a deliberate return to experimental, art-school Butthole Surfers DNA.
Mark Ryden painted the original cover; getting dropped handed it to Marcy Playground.
Declining a Hellraiser soundtrack placement created the first real rift with Capitol.
Their manager's heroin relapse coincided with the band getting dropped mid-promo cycle.
Promo cassettes already pressed now sell for $800–$1,000 on the secondary market.
Hollywood Records funded Weird Revolution; Rob Cavallo showed up once a week for ten minutes.
Finding two-inch master tapes in a storage locker triggered the After the Astronaut remix.
Documentary The Whole Truth and Nothing But took director Tom Stern five years to make.
Rob Reiner called it one of the best music docs ever — hours before his murder.
A potential box set looms, but Paul prefers naps, his cat, and his bicycle.
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In a rare interview, Greg Ginn opens up about the latest Black Flag lineup, the SST catalogue, the possibility of long-overdue reissues and the legacy of one of punk's most beloved bands.
Tickets for Black Flag's 2026 Australian Tour
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Greg Ginn is based in Texas but currently in Long Beach after a tour.
Black Flag is heading to Hong Kong and then Australia next.
This will be Black Flag's third tour of Australia.
Rumors of new recordings remain unconfirmed — Ginn stays tight-lipped.
The current lineup has been together for about a year.
Band plays nearly two hours a night across two full sets.
Proximity of bandmates in Texas keeps the band constantly tight.
Ginn discovered punk through the Stooges, MC5, and New York bands.
Television, Ramones, Blondie, and The Damned were early major influences.
Ginn identifies more with open, varied 70s punk than 80s hardcore.
He never planned to be in a band — guitar was a personal outlet.
Finding like-minded people in the mid-70s was genuinely rare and meaningful.
Ginn started a business at 12 selling ham radio equipment he built.
He published his own amateur radio magazine as a teenager.
Black Flag's first EP was recorded as a demo, not a label release.
Nobody wanted to sign them, so starting SST was a reluctant default.
Ginn has applied the same DIY experimentation to an organic fertilizer brand.
He gets bored easily and improvisation is central to keeping music alive.
Ginn stays connected to a song's emotional meaning, not just its notes.
Seven band members once lived in a single room during Black Flag's peak.
Lineup changes were mostly practical — commitment and lifestyle demands were extreme.
Ginn isn't interested in nostalgia-driven reunions; best music matters most now.
Fans frequently thank him personally for helping them through difficult life periods.
He avoids fiction, movies, and video games — prefers reality and constant learning.
SST vaults are mostly bare — nearly everything recorded was officially released.
Ginn is open to remastering but skeptical of padding albums with leftover cuts.
He notes Dead Kennedys recently remixed Fresh Fruit — and wants to hear it.
Ginn doesn't own a working turntable; portability matters more to him than format.
SST catalog reissues — including Stains, Dicks, Overkill — are a genuine possibility.
Ginn believes Black Flag's songs remain timeless, attracting both parents and their kids.
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Picts by Edward Colver
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