Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the
punk zine
A punk zine (or punkzine) is a zine related to the punk subculture and hardcore punk music genre. Often primitively or casually produced, they feature punk literature, such as social commentary, punk poetry, news, gossip, music reviews and art ...
''Cometbus''.
Career
Born in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, Cometbus started writing
fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
s in 1981 with
Jesse Michaels
Jesse Michaels (born 1969) is an American songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, artist, 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 b ...
(later of
Operation Ivy
Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Is ...
and
Common Rider
Common Rider was an American ska punk band, formed in 1999 by Jesse Michaels (guitar, vocals), Mass Giorgini (bass) and Dan Lumley (drums). The band's name is taken from a Japanese TV show, ''Kamen Rider'' (Kamen Rider means "Masked Rider" in Ja ...
) and started his own after Michaels moved to
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
in October 1981. He became an active participant in the
Gilman Street Project
The Alternative Music Foundation located at 924 Gilman Street, often referred to by its fans simply as "Gilman", is a non-profit, all-ages, collectively organized music club. It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California, about ...
and was a founding member of
Crimpshrine
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 ...
, a highly influential
East Bay
The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...
punk rock band which also featured
Jeff Ott
Jeff Ott (born June 24, 1970) is an activist, musician, author, and longtime member of the Berkeley, California, Berkeley Punk rock, punk community, best known for playing guitar and singing in the bands Crimpshrine and Fifteen (band), Fifteen. Ear ...
. 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."
After the demise of Crimpshrine, Cometbus formed
Pinhead Gunpowder
Pinhead Gunpowder is an American punk rock band that formed in East Bay, California, in 1991. The band currently consists of Aaron Cometbus (drums, lyrics), Bill Schneider ( bass), Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Jason White (guitar, ...
with a handful of people from the
East Bay punk
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda Coun ...
scene, including
Sarah Kirsch
Sarah Kirsch (; 16 April 1935 – 5 May 2013) was a German poet.
Biography
Sarah Kirsch was originally born Ingrid Bernstein in Limlingerode, Prussian Saxony but had changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father's an ...
(later replaced by
Jason White), Bill Schneider and
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Green Day, which he co-founded with Mike Dirnt in 1987. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for t ...
of
Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...
. He toured as a roadie with Green Day for many years and played drums for a few shows after the departure of
John Kiffmeyer
John Kiffmeyer (born July 11, 1969), known professionally as Al Sobrante, is an American cinematographer and retired musician and songwriter. He is best known as the first drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. His stage name is a reference to ...
; 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
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...
or two before breaking up. He is a co-owner of a used bookstore in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...
, called Book Thug Nation and a used bookstore in Bushwick called Human Relations, as well as Codex Books in NoHo, Lower Manhattan.''
''Cometbus'' zine
Cometbus is most famous for publishing the
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...
''Cometbus'', which he began in Berkeley, California in 1981. Cometbus has self-published the usually-handwritten zine ever since, despite a few breaks. The name ''Cometbus'' was coined by
Gregg Turkington
Gregg Turkington (born November 25, 1967) is an Australian-born American entertainer, actor, musician and writer. He is known for his performances as Neil Hamburger, a stand-up comedian persona he developed in the 1990s. Alongside Tim Heidecker, ...
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
The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedom ...
in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
and beyond. The zine captured a slice of life in
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
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
Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California, Berkeley campu ...
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. 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
Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...
.
''Cometbus #53'' features contributions from Maddalena Poletta and a cover by Eisner Award winner
Nate Powell
Nathan Lee Powell (born 1978) is an American graphic novelist and musician. His 2008 graphic novel ''Swallow Me Whole'' won an Ignatz Award and Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel. He illustrated the ''March'' trilogy, an autobiographical ...
. 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 Holstrom, the co-founder of the legendary
Punk Magazine
''Punk'' was a music magazine and fanzine created by cartoonist John Holmstrom, publisher Ged Dunn, and "resident punk" Legs McNeil in 1975. Its use of the term " punk rock", coined by writers for ''Creem'' magazine a few years earlier to desc ...
.
''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.
''Cometbus #57, 35th Anniversary Issue: Cartoonists'' (2016) interviews with comics creators
Kim Deitch
Kim Deitch (born May 21, 1944 in Los Angeles, California)Donahue, Don and Susan Goodrick, editors. Deitch bio, ''The Apex Treasuet of Underground Comics'' (Apex Novelties, 1974), p. 127. is an American cartoonist who was an important figure in t ...
,
Gary Panter
Gary Panter (born December 1, 1950) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post- underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of '' Arcade: The Com ...
,
Al Jaffee
Allan Jaffee (born Abraham Jaffee; March 13, 1921) is an American cartoonist. He is notable for his work in the satirical magazine '' Mad'', including his trademark feature, the ''Mad'' Fold-in. Jaffee was a regular contributor to the magazine ...
,
Drew Friedman,
Ben Katchor
Ben Katchor (born November 19, 1951) is an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for the comic strip ''Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer''. He has contributed comics and drawings to ''The Forward'', ''The New Yorker,'' ''Metropoli ...
,
Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz (; born October 21, 1956) is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn ...
, et al.
''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."
''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
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 ...
2002, ) a 608-page compendium of selections from 43 early ''Cometbus'' issues which are long out of print and often difficult to find.
''Double Duce'' (
Last Gasp Publishing
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 ...
2003; ) a novel based on life in a
punk house
A punk house is a dwelling occupied by members of the punk subculture.
Punk houses are often centered on certain political or personal ideologies. It is not uncommon for a punk house to be anarchist, strictly straight-edge, or vegan. A cliqu ...
called Double Duce that collects material from issues 32, 35, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, and 45.
''Add Toner'' (
Last Gasp Publishing
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 ...
2011, ) compiles issues 44, 45, 46, 46 1/2, 47 & 48 in full, along with a collection of stories entitled "8 out of 10 days" .
Other writing
In addition to writing for his own zine, Cometbus has contributed stories to several other zines such as ''
Absolutely Zippo
Robert Burnett, (born 1973) better known as Robert Eggplant, is an American writer, publisher, musician and activist from Pinole, California, United States.
Background
Robert Eggplant has been the editor and publisher of the '' Absolutely Zippo' ...
'', ''
Maximumrocknroll
''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily featu ...
'', and ''Tales of Blarg'', occasionally writing under the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
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.
''Et Cetera'' ( or (proscribed) , ), abbreviated to ''etc.'', ''etc'', ''et cet.'', ''&c.'' or ''&c'' is a Latin expression that is used in English to mean "and other similar things", or "and so forth". Translated literally from Latin, means 'an ...
'' 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
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
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)
Band history
* S.A.G. (East Bay CA; 1982–1984)
*
Crimpshrine
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 ...
(East Bay CA; 1984–1989)
*
Screeching Weasel
Screeching Weasel is an American punk rock band consisting of Ben Weasel (vocals), Mike Kennerty (guitar), Mike Hunchback (guitar), Zach "Poutine" Brandner (bass) and Pierre Marche (drums). Screeching Weasel is originally from the Chicago subur ...
(Chicago, IL; 1988 (two shows))
*
Sweet Baby (a.k.a. Sweet Baby Jesus) (East Bay/Northern CA; 1989–1990)
*
Pinhead Gunpowder
Pinhead Gunpowder is an American punk rock band that formed in East Bay, California, in 1991. The band currently consists of Aaron Cometbus (drums, lyrics), Bill Schneider ( bass), Billie Joe Armstrong (guitar, vocals) and Jason White (guitar, ...
(East Bay CA; 1990–present)
*
Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...
(East Bay CA; 1990)
* Mundt (Olympia, WA; 1992)
* Strawman (San Francisco, CA; 1993?)
* Shotwell Coho (San Francisco CA; a.k.a. Shotwell Coho) (1994)
* EFS (Berkeley CA; 1995)
* Cosmetic Puffs (Eureka, CA; 1995)
* Redmond Shooting Stars (Eugene, OR; 1995–1996)
* Cleveland Bound Death Sentence (Minneapolis MN; 1997–1998; 2004)
* The Retard Beaters (Chattanooga, TN; 1997–1998)
*
Harbinger
A harbinger is a forerunner or forewarning, but may also refer to:
Companies
* Harbinger Corp., an Internet-oriented business
* Harbinger Capital, a hedge fund
* Harbinger Knowledge Products, an eLearning products and content services compan ...
(with
Robert Eggplant, formerly of
Blatz, and John Geek of
Fleshies
Fleshies is an American punk rock band from Oakland, California, United States, that released three albums on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles, ''Kill the Dreamer's Dream'', ''The Sicilian'', and ''Scrape the Walls''. Fleshies have also rele ...
) (East Bay CA; 1997–2001, 2010)
* The Blank Fight (with Rymodee of
This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb
This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb were a folk punk band from Pensacola, Florida, United States. Their first recording was released in 1997 on Ghostmeat Records. Their later releases have been on Plan It X Records and No Idea Records, but now appear on ...
) (Pensacola, FL; 1999–2000)
* Astrid Oto (Asheville NC; 1999–2001)
* Colbom (San Francisco CA; 2001)
* End of the World News (New York; 2002–2003)
* Crybaby MacArthur (Brooklyn NY; 2004–2006)
*
The Thorns of Life
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 Aa ...
(Brooklyn NY; 2008–2009)
* Sub Rosa (Brooklyn NY; 2020-2022)
References
External links
Flipside Interview- Cometbus interview from 1986
- Cometbus interview from 2000
Punk Planet Interview- Cometbus interview from 2002
- Library Archive at Cornell University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cometbus, Aaron
1968 births
Living people
American rock drummers
American short story writers
American punk rock musicians
American lyricists
Writers from Berkeley, California
Musicians from Berkeley, California
Jewish American writers
Punk zines
Jewish American musicians
Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni
Jews in punk rock
Songwriters from California
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American Jews
American male songwriters