Punk AF by Heather Nicholson
Many people think punk is just a music genre characterized by crashing drums, noisy electric guitar, and yell-singing. Some people may think a punk is a type of person, usually a young one, that is good for nothing and probably up to no good. The word “punk” might also provoke images of leather jackets, safety pins, mohawks, and lots of eyeliner. If you want a history lesson about how punk started out, go read the Wikipedia article. Focusing on what it means to be punk nowadays is just as relevant as where punk came from. It is more than fashion and music, and it certainly isn’t about being a drain on society. It’s a state of being.
Punk, to local artist and musician Trevor Adams, is the “rebellious idea” of being true to who you are and doing what you want because you want to do it, not because you want to fit in. He says it’s punk to care about other people and help them, even if it is an inconvenience to you, because it’s the right thing to do. And there are two specific things near and dear to Trevor’s heart that are punk as fuck: the public library and being sober.
Jason & Trevor is a newly-formed musical duo in Grand Junction, Colorado, consisting of Jason Dunn and Trevor Adams, and they recently released the song “Punk AF.” (The AF, if you were not sure, stands for “as fuck.”) According to their Bandcamp page, jason-trevor.bandcamp.com, they have been “friends since the 90s” and “making hip hop since 2023.” Trevor is part of two other local bands, Valley Curse and Disappearer; he plays drums and sometimes sings in the former and performs vocals in the latter. He contributes to songwriting for both. You can find all of these bands on streaming services, but paying the artists for their music through Bandcamp would be much appreciated. While he enjoys his work in both of those bands, hip hop has always been a huge part of his life, and he had a sudden stroke of inspiration when he listened to a track that Jason created.
He said it immediately made him want to rap, something that might seem a little odd or even funny to hear from a Gen X white guy in Western Colorado who is tall, thin, bald except for some head stubble, and who wears glasses with a short beard flecked with gray. He works in the children’s department of the public library, wearing patterned button-ups tucked into khakis or jeans, and he’s always thought that “the way libraries work is very punk.” They’re open to everyone in the community nearly every day of the year, and even without a library card, you can enjoy heat in the winter and cool air in the summer, clean public restrooms, internet access, and thousands of books. With a library card, you can bring home books, movies, video games, and more. All of that is pretty damn punk, and it is the theme of verse one of Jason & Trevor’s new song, “Punk AF.” As Trevor raps in the song, “Libraries open their doors to one and all/ Rich people, poor people, dumb, smart, and tall/ And you’re welcome whether you are housed or not/ Whether you’re a drag queen or an astronaut.”
The chorus simply goes, “The public library is punk as fuck, punk as fuck, punk as fuck. The public library is punk as fuck. Punk as motherfucking fuck.” The beat is catchy and the words bounce along with a combination of joyfulness and seriousness–Jason & Trevor enjoy the library and all it stands for, but they also really want you to understand how punk it is.
Verse two says that being sober is punk as fuck. Trevor got the idea for this verse while having lunch with a friend who is also sober and who simply observed aloud, “Being sober is punk as fuck.” “How can you take down the state when you’re wasted?” he asks in the song. “You can’t! You need a clear head when you break shit.” Having been part of the punk scene for decades, Trevor is honest about the problems substance abuse caused him in the past and the toll it took on his mind and body: “How do I know? Because I was that guy!/ Sayin’ stupid shit while I was high/ on alcohol. My regrets are legion/ I killed off at least 3 brain regions.”
Despite the community’s positive reception to his music, Trevor struggles with anxiety, and that’s one thing that can make it difficult to perform live with any of his bands. His worries about how he sounds, what might happen if he forgets the words, or why a certain friend hasn’t shown up after they said they would, can send him into a spiral of doom. But when he’s able to be present and “enjoy just making music,” he says, “it’s an amazing feeling, kind of magical.” Battling your anxiety is punk as fuck.
Maybe someday there will be a “Punk AF 2.0” song released, with the beat remixed a little for novelty, and some new verse. Jason & Trevor played around with a bridge consisting of a big list of everything they could think of that was punk as fuck, but ultimately, they decided it wasn’t working. If they change their minds, or if they record a song sequel, here are some things that are punk as fuck:
Mending your clothes, recycling, creating art, being a feminist, mutual aid, baking bread, making zines, paying for music, voting…What else is “Punk AF”?
Check them out at:
The Revolutionist 