Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, author, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zineCometbus.[1]
Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus started writing fanzines in 1981 with Jesse Michaels (later of Operation Ivy and Common Rider) and started his own after Michaels moved to Pennsylvania in October 1981. He became an active participant in the Gilman Street Project and was a founding member of Crimpshrine, a highly influential East Baypunk rock band which also featured Jeff Ott.[2] In a September 2016 interview Cometbus described how his personal life is not necessarily reflected in his zines stating, "Growing up, I was just really, really restless. I felt cooped up. Every band interview I did was about being on the road. When I finally got to cut loose, I went on three tours in two years, then had the band drop me off in the first city where I could find a room. So I’d made it out, but then came the news: my mom had cancer. I spent the next fifteen years going back and forth—caretaking first her and then my dad when they were doing badly, and when they were in remission, I’d get as far away as I could. When both were dead, I moved to New York, where I’ve lived ever since. That’s my life, in a nutshell. Which answers your earlier question about how much the fanzine reflected my personal life. Not so much."[3]
After the demise of Crimpshrine, Cometbus formed Pinhead Gunpowder with a handful of people from the East Bay punk scene, including Sarah Kirsch (later replaced by Jason White), Bill Schneider and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day.[4] He toured as a roadie with Green Day for many years and played drums for a few shows after the departure of John Kiffmeyer; he was subsequently replaced by another temporary drummer, Dave "E.C." Henwood, before Tre Cool joined. He has played in a multitude of short-lived bands that generally release just a seven-inch or two before breaking up. He is a co-owner of a used bookstore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, called Book Thug Nation[5] and a used bookstore in Bushwick called Human Relations, as well as Codex Books in NoHo, Lower Manhattan.[6][7]
Cometbus is most famous for publishing the zineCometbus, which he began in Berkeley, California in 1981.[8] Cometbus has self-published the usually-handwritten zine ever since, despite a few breaks. The name Cometbus was coined by Gregg Turkington during the early days of the magazine when the name changed from issue to issue. Cometbus consisted of band interviews, personal diaries, artwork, and observations on the punk subculture in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The zine captured a slice of life in Oakland and Berkeley from the late 1980s through the 1990s.
From 2004 to 2006, Cometbus took a hiatus from writing Cometbus to pursue publishing his writing through other channels. Cometbus came out of retirement in 2006 with the release of Cometbus #50, the 25th anniversary issue of the magazine. Originally planned as a letters only issue, it features band interviews (for the first time since issue #24), short stories, and book store reviews.
Cometbus #51, The Loneliness of the Electric Menorah, was released in September 2008. It chronicles the history of Moe's Books and other longtime businesses on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California.
Cometbus #52, The Spirit of St-Louis, Or, How to Break Your Own Heart, A Tragedy in 24 Parts, was released in 2009.[9] Cometbus says in his blurb: "It all starts with the story I've told so many times it's turned stale and tired from overuse. There I was, dropped off in a city far from home. I didn't know a soul or have a hope, and so on..." Both issue #52 of Cometbus and the novel I Wish There Was Something That I Could Quit are rumored to be about his stay and relationships in Pensacola, Florida.
Cometbus #53 features contributions from Maddalena Poletta and a cover by Eisner Award winner Nate Powell. Released in 2009, it features a lengthy piece on art, comics, and the early days of punk in NYC in the mid-1970s that is largely derived from an in-depth interview Cometbus conducted with John Holmstrom, the co-founder of the legendary Punk Magazine.[10]
Cometbus #54, In China with Green Day?, released in February 2011, is about Cometbus' and Green Day's tour of Asia in 2010.
Cometbus #55, Pen Pals, was released in February 2013 (cover by Jordan Crane).
Cometbus #56, A Bestiary of Booksellers details the NYC used book trade.[11]
Cometbus #58, Zimmerwald (2017), is a novella about a teenager who "finds solace in a diner full of grumpy seniors during the heyday of San Francisco punk."[12]
Cometbus#59: Post-Mortem (2020), a series of interviews about the punk scene.
The extremely limited print runs of the zine have been somewhat ameliorated over the years by a number of collections.
Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus (Last Gasp Publishing 2002, ISBN0-86719-561-4) a 608-page compendium of selections from 43 early Cometbus issues which are long out of print and often difficult to find.
Add Toner (Last Gasp Publishing 2011, ISBN978-0-86719-753-2) compiles issues 44, 45, 46, 46 1/2, 47 & 48 in full, along with a collection of stories entitled "8 out of 10 days" .[13]
In addition to writing for his own zine, Cometbus has contributed stories to several other zines such as Absolutely Zippo, Maximumrocknroll, and Tales of Blarg, occasionally writing under the pseudonym Skrub. His work is easily recognizable by his distinctive, block-lettered handwritten script. His handwriting also appears in the liner notes of early Green Day albums and Jawbreaker's Etc. compilation.
A novel titled I Wish There Was Something That I Could Quit, was published on March 15, 2006. This novel was loosely based on his experiences in Pensacola during the start of the Iraq War and is arguably his most political work. He released a few smaller collections of short stories, Mixed Reviews and Chicago Stories (self published, 2004), a small collection about Chicago originally published in "Cometbus" issues 35, 37, 38, 41, and 45.
Cometbus also released a book of poetry entitled "Last Supper" in 2014 through ARP Books.
Two collections have been translated into French, including En dépit de tout (1997). A French version of Cometbus issue 54, titled En Chine avec Green Day, has also been published by Editions Chat Chuffit in 2013. Double Duce has been translated into German and was published by Lautsprecherverlag as Doppelzwei in 2004.
Discography
Crimpshrine
Lame Gig Contest (1989)
Extended plays
Sleep, What's That? (1988)
Quit Talkin' Claude (1989)
Compilation albums
Duct Tape Soup (1992)
The Sound of a New World Being Born (1998)
Split albums
Crimpshrine / Mutley Chix (1988)
Crimpshrine / G-Whiz (1989)
Jawbreaker / Crimpshrine (1993)
Other appearances
"Another Day", "Rearranged" on Turn It Around! - Maximumrocknroll (1987)
"Trying Too Hard", "Construction", "Sanctuary" on Caution - Skene! Records (1988)
"Pick Up the Pieces" on The World's in Shreds: Volume 1 - Shredder Records (1988)
"Pretty Mess" on The World's in Shreds: Volume 2 - Shredder Records (1989)
"Summertime" on The Thing That Ate Floyd - Lookout! Records (1989)
"I Just Don't Know" on Bay Mud - Very Small Records (1989)
"Rearranged" on Lethal Noise, Vol. 2 - Very Small Records (1989)
"Free Will" on Make the Collector Nerd Sweat - Very Small Records (1990)
Zippy the Pinhead is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Zippy, an American comic strip created by Bill Griffith. Zippy's most famous quotation, "Are we having fun yet?", appears in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and became a catchphrase. He almost always wears a yellow muumuu/clown suit with large red polka dots, and puffy, white clown shoes. Although in name and appearance, Zippy is a microcephalic, he is distinctive not so much for his skull shape, or for any identifiable form of brain damage, but for his enthusiasm for philosophical non sequiturs, verbal free association, and pursuit of popular culture ephemera. His wholehearted devotion to random artifacts satirizes the excesses of consumerism.
Lookout Records was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California, and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released Operation Ivy’s only album, Energy, and Green Day's first two albums, 39/Smooth and Kerplunk.
Maximumrocknroll, often written as Maximum Rocknroll and usually abbreviated as MRR, is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, MRR focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily features artist interviews and music reviews. Op/ed columns and news roundups are regular features as well, including submissions from international contributors. By 1990, it "had become the de facto bible of the scene". MRR is considered to be one of the most important zines in punk, not only because of its wide-ranging coverage, but because it has been a consistent and influential presence in the ever-changing punk community for over three decades. From 1992 to 2011, it published a guide called Book Your Own Fuckin' Life.
Pinhead Gunpowder is an American punk rock band that formed in East Bay, California, in 1991. The band currently consists of Aaron Cometbus, Bill Schneider (bass), Billie Joe Armstrong and Jason White. The band's name comes from a brand of "high octane" green tea served at the Arcata co-op and discovered by Aaron Cometbus during one of his many dumpster diving adventures.
Last Gasp is a San Francisco–based book publisher with a lowbrow art and counterculture focus. Owned and operated by Ron Turner, for most of its existence Last Gasp was a publisher, distributor, and wholesaler of underground comix and books of all types.
Jesse Michaels is an American songwriter, painter, illustrator, musician, singer, and author from Berkeley, California. His lyrics deal with politics, racism, and general social issues. He is most well known as the vocalist for the ska punk band Operation Ivy (1987–1989), as well as Classics of Love. In 2023 Michaels formed the band DOOM Regulator. He is the son of the author Leonard Michaels, and was married to producer Audrey Marrs.
William Henry Jackson Griffith is an American cartoonist who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his surreal daily comic strip Zippy. The catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?" is credited to Griffith.
Sweet Baby was a pop punk band that originated from Berkeley, California, and was part of the 924 Gilman Street scene. They were signed to Ruby Records.
Crimpshrine was an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California. The group was formed in 1982 by Aaron Cometbus, founder of the seminal punk rock zine Cometbus, and future Operation Ivy vocalist Jesse Michaels. They grew out of the East Bay scene, centered on 924 Gilman Street, and had an important influence on later East Bay bands such as Operation Ivy, Green Day and punk rock in general.
Jeff Ott is an activist, musician, author, and longtime member of the Berkeley punk community, best known for playing guitar and singing in the bands Crimpshrine and Fifteen.
Tim Yohannan, also known as Tim Yo, was the founder of Maximum Rocknroll, a radio show and fanzine documenting punk subculture in San Francisco. He also helped in establishing a number of DIY collectives, such as 924 Gilman Street, Blacklist Mailorder, and the Epicenter Zone record store.
Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach is an American musician. He is the singer and guitarist of the San Francisco based band Jawbreaker, and was also a member of Jets to Brazil (1997–2003), The Thorns of Life (2008–2009), and forgetters (2009–2013). Although experiencing little mainstream success himself, Schwarzenbach and groups he has been a member of have influenced a variety of musical groups.
Very Small Records was an independent record label, formed in 1989 by David Hayes, co-founder and former co-owner of Lookout Records. The name of the label was changed to Too Many Records around 1994, but was changed back around 1997. The label terminated in 2003.
Goodbye Ellston Avenue is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder. It was released on February 25, 1997, through Lookout! Records. The album was re-released on vinyl and CD through Recess Records.
Carry the Banner is the third EP by the Berkeley, California-based punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder. Originally released on 10" vinyl in December 1994 through Too Many Records, the EP was reissued on CD by Lookout Records shortly after as the initial vinyl pressing sold out quickly. It was the group's first release to feature Jason White on guitar/vocals, replacing Sarah Kirsch, who left the band in 1994 due to differences with Billie Joe Armstrong after his main band Green Day signed to major label Reprise Records.
The Thorns of Life were a punk rock band from Brooklyn, New York. In October 2008, Blake Schwarzenbach, formerly of Jets to Brazil and Jawbreaker, revealed that he had started writing music for an "as-yet-unnamed group" with the drummer Aaron Cometbus and the bass guitarist Daniela Sea, formerly of the Gr'ups and Cypher in the Snow, but best known for a recurring role on television's The L Word. The name may come from Percy Bysshe Shelley whose poem Ode to the West Wind has the line "I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!".
Turn It Around! is a punk rock compilation album by Maximumrocknroll. Originally released as two 7-inch records in October 1987, it served as a benefit to raise money for the Berkeley, California DIY punk scene. The compilation featured the first appearances of many bands who would later become well known outside of the scene, including Operation Ivy, Crimpshrine and Isocracy. Due to the poor sound quality of the original 7-inch version, Turn It Around! was reissued by Very Small Records in September 1991 as one LP. However, the compilation is currently out of print and has never seen a CD release.
Monsula was an American punk rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States. The band was conceived in 1988 by Pete Zetterberg and Paul Lee in an art class at Benicia High School. With many member changes over the years, they performed regularly at Berkeley's Gilman Street Project and were known for their simple East Bay pop punk style of music. The band played hundreds of live shows throughout North America before disbanding five years later in 1993.
Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk is a 2017 documentary about the punk rock music scene of San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area from the late 1970s to the 1990s. It features interviews performances by dozens of associated artists, notably Green Day. Iggy Pop provides voice-over narration throughout the film.
References
↑ Profile, Zinebook.com; accessed August 17, 2015.
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