Clint Woodside Playlist
- Text by Alex King
- Photography by Clint Woodside
Clint Woodside is the original Deadbeat. He was putting out his own zines under the Deadbeat Club nom de guerre before Ed Templeton broke his leg at an Emerica demo in November 2012, which set in motion a chain of events that lead to the emergence of the Deadbeat Club as a photographers’ collective come indie publishing house.
As Ed was lying in hospital feeling bummed out, his photographer friend Clint Woodside suggested they make a zine together to help keep him occupied through his recovery. After working solo, the experience of collaborating on a split zine – with Ed’s series Make-Up Girls on one side and Clint’s travelogue N/E/S/W on the reverse – got him stoked on the idea of putting out other people’s work.
Flash-forward and Clint, based in LA but originally from Buffalo, NY, has spent a big chunk of his time since Ed’s injury corralling a group of unruly California street photographers into something resembling a collective, while simultaneously handling the publishing business side of things.
Here are a collection of Clint’s influences and inspirations.
Jack Kerouac on Steve Allen Show 1959
Kerouac had a pretty serious effect on me. His writing and life is largely why I first moved to New York. On The Road was fuel for me traveling endlessly back and forth across America, in bands, with friends, alone. I love to drive, and need to often; most of my best work is while I am just roaming around. I once told Ed “I don’t think I’m a street photographer, really… maybe i’m more of a road photographer.” I think he made fun of me after that.
Allen Ginsberg – Father Death Blues
Allen Ginsberg is the most peaceful person next to maybe Gandhi. This song/poem is just one of many pieces of evidence to prove that. Ginsberg is why I got excited about photography. He was my first “favourite”. I love his photos and the stories he would write under them as long captions, telling stories about that moment and moments that came before and after. One of my most cherished photo books is by him.
William Burroughs: Advice for Young People
Man. Burroughs is such a trip. Take this advice, everyone.
Chris Johanson: Words of Advice
To complement Burroughs, I thought maybe I should put in Chris Johanson’s ‘Words of Advice’. Chris (along with his lovely wife Johanna) and I moved to LA around the same time. I worked on this video for Aaron, where I’m credited as ‘Art Department’ but which really meant I painted the wall flat colours. I barely knew Chris at the time, but since then, he has become one of my closest friends here in LA.
Fugazi – Suggestion w/Amy Pickering (live)
Fugazi is one of the other “Life Changers” for me. This is before I had a chance to see them play, but it is one of the most charged moments I’ve ever seen… I used to have a copy of this on VHS that I got from Mark Anderson of Positive Force DC and I might have worn the tape out. Suggestion is a song about rape and sexual assault on women, and since Fugazi was a band of 4 men, it always felt a little weird for Ian to sing it… Hence Amy Pickering taking the lead on vocals. I got to see this happen once in NYC, and it’s chilling. Ian’s moment in this is also powerful, and important in the fight against violence and for equal rights. Back in ’88 there was not enough talk about such things and I’m glad he took up the cause.
Alec Soth: Somewhere To Disappear
Alec Soth is one of the top five photographers in my influence list. This documentary Somewhere To Disappear is pretty amazing. The book Broken Manual where this work appeared is equally mind-blowing. I have only looked through it once at the library at Pier 24 in San Francisco, because it is so hard to find and so expensive now. Sometimes, I’m scared I will become one of these exiles, i think Alec is too.
Huck 45 is out July 10, 2014. Get it now on our web shop or subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue this year.
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