I met Gary through a friend one night at a screening of a documentary at the Bloor Cinema. Our mutual friend left us to grab some popcorn and through making friendly conversation, Gary and I found out we have one vital thing in common: punk rock zines. Gary actually made one of the first punk rock fanzines in Canada while living in Toronto in the ‘70s. He told me in our first conversation that regular newspapers refused to review punk bands, since to them it wasn’t real music. That left Gary and his zine open to interview bands such as The Ramones and The Kinks when they came into town, as he was one of the few who was actually excited to write about them. After meeting we kept in contact and he was nice enough to grant me this interview with him. Enjoy.

Shelby Monita: Where did the idea to do the fanzine, also how did you come up with the name?

Gary Gold: "The Pig Paper" began as snail-mail correspondence between myself and my oldest pal, Rock Serling, who worked summers at a day camp up north. He was Totally out of the loop up there - this was PRE-Internet, remember - so I'd keep him posted on what was happening on CHUM-AM Radio at the time (not much), what good concerts were going on (absolutely None!) and what old records I was finding in the local junk shops (Lots! This was the early 70s, and people were getting rid of all their
45s and LPs from the 50s and 60s. Eventually, those records ended up in
My room!)

The (in)famous "Pig" name came in high school when a kinda scandalous film I made about my hometown, Port Credit of all places, won an award at a film competition and was picked up by PBS Television in Buffalo, NY to be screened. Beforehand, my school's legal department told me
that, just in case lawsuits started flying, I should indemnify myself -and the school - by crediting the film to someone
fictitious. So the very morning the opening credits had to be reshot, a little plastic Pig stamper fell out of my cereal box, I swear, and "Gary Pig" the director - and soon to be "punk" journalist - was born!

SM: Why do you think there were few other fanzines in Canada at the time?
 
GG: Good question. Probably because it took a Lot of work back then to type, cut and paste - literally! - everything together, raise the money, find a printer, carry boxes of issues around…you know what it's like, Shelby!

That said, I probably never would have started "The Pig Paper" in the first place had all the Toronto newspapers not refused to print the record reviews I was always sending them (quote, "The Stooges? Ramones? This is a MUSIC column we're running here! When you decide to write about Real Music, we may consider looking at your work").

There was, however, a Great zine called "denim delinquent" which started out of Ottawa in 1971 then moved to L.A., though I wasn't aware of it at the time. I think they only published a few issues, once a year, and were gone by the time "The Pig Paper" got going.

SM: If there were a zine school, what would you think should be taught there? 

GG: Well, if it was specifically a p-u-n-k zine school, I'd say only one thing need be stressed:
Don't read, or even Look at, Anyone else's work first, start around 2:30 in the morning tomorrow, put on your favourite music, crank UP, then just write about what you're Feeling, only, and always. But: Don't think too much or too hard first, and Please don't re-write or even edit. And absolutely NO computers allowed either (especially Apples). Simple!


SM: Who is the most memorable person you interviewed and why? 

GG: Elvis Costello, Dennis Wilson, Nardwuar or even Jerry Lee Lewis? No.

It would have to be Steven Leckie and Freddy Pompeii of those Viletones, back in everyone's prime (as in 1977/78). Why? Because they were as honest as a three-dollar bill, brutally insightful by the minute, and as if that wasn't enough already were intelligent and even downright charming. Like their music. And all I had to do was pay for the beer first.


SM: Why do you think there is so little
acknowledgement/appreciation/recognition/documentation of Canadian punk roots?

GG: "Treat Me Like Dirt" and "The Last Pogo Jumps Again" are both brave and necessary first steps, yep. But I still can't help but wonder why it took over a quarter of a century for "the media" to catch on and catch up. The mid-70s scenes/sounds of London, New York and even L.A. were pretty well documented - and supported - right from the
get-go, but Toronto (and especially Hamilton!) were not only operating to the same depths right alongside those other people and places, but in many Many ways, especially musically, were FAR ahead of that pack. But I guess back then it was a tragic case of too few people paying too
little attention, and even less money and time being spent nurturing the pioneers. A shame. A pitiful shame.

SM: Why didn't you continue with the punk band you started as a teenager? 

GG: Mainly because everyone took off to play in other peoples' bands! Our drummer ended up in the Diodes, our singer eventually got a deal with Capitol Records, and our guitarist joined Simply Saucer. And me? I took off to Southern California and almost - I say Almost - ended up on tour
in Australia with Jan & Dean. But that's Another story...


SM: You made a documentary on your home town of Port Credit when you were still a teen. Have you work on any films since? 

GG: Well, I've been IN a few documentaries since. One on Jandek, plus "The Last Pogo Jumps Again" of course, and in fact as we speak I'm getting driven back to Hamilton to appear in another doc!

SM: Your achievements are so vast it's hard to talk about just one thing. Can you speak about Pig Records- Simply Saucer were your first release, how many more did you put out after that and does one stand out above the rest? 

GG: Pig Records kept on going right into the 21st Century, with releases by the Ghost Rockets, Dave Rave, The Masticators, two "Unsound" compilations and even an all-star Gene Pitney tribute album. But I'd have to say that first Saucer 45 still holds a very, very special place for me …on the cold concrete floor in my parents' basement to be exact,
gluing together picture sleeves and Jiffy mailers in the middle of the night.
 

SM: You've been around since almost the beginning of punk rock. What do you think of what it has become? 

GG: I think I've been around since Before anyone had even started to use the "p"-word …unless it was to talk about some old Syndicate of Sound B-side from 1966. And now in 2015 you can hear the word "punk" sometimes used in the same sentence as "Green Day" and "Miley Cyrus," so that about tells you what it's become. Oh well...


SM: You have made a living doing what you love. Any advice on how others could do the same? 

GG: Sure! The old cliche really is true: Do what you love, and love what you do. That's just about it. And sooner or later you'll start making a living at it; if you have the time to notice, that is!

www.GaryPigGold.com