Ep551: Lydia Lunch - Confrontationalist, Poet, No Wave Pioneer
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 β’ 579 Ratings
ποΈ 1 June 2026
β±οΈ 52 minutes
ποΈ Recording | iTunes | RSS
π§ΎοΈ Download transcript
Summary
Lydia Lunch unpacks the raw origins of No Wave, her squatting-and-surviving New York story, and why after five decades of confrontational art, pleasure remains the ultimate rebellion.
Australian tour tickets and show info here.
Topics Include:
- Lydia Lunch is touring Australia and New Zealand in June
- She's performing Suicide and Alan Vega covers across multiple cities
- Australia holds deep personal meaning β Roland S. Howard, Tex Perkins, lifelong friends
- Lydia considers herself a comedian; most people are just too afraid to laugh
- Words are her primary art β music is just the machine gun
- She sleeps in two-hour shifts and wakes famished at 5am every day
- Creativity has no fixed time β she writes song lyrics in five minutes flat
- She self-publishes through 48-hour printing, selling books for $20, cost $4
- True crime forensics and Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike are her guilty pleasures
- Daily she rotates between war, politics, and apocalyptic comedy β Dear Ivanka included
- She's actively promoting new bands: Genra's Death, Bog Creeper, New City Slang
- Instrumental music β Budos Band, Yusef Lateef, Baba Zula β is her listening diet
- Suicide and Mars were already playing when she arrived in New York
- Suicide actually coined the term "punk rock" on flyers back in 1972
- No Wave wasn't a movement β it was personal insanity in a decaying city
- The name "No Wave" just came out of her mouth in one interview
- If you couldn't play, you had to be brutally tight β or else
- She taught a homeless man she'd befriended to play drums for Teenage Jesus
- Teenage Jesus songs were written on a borrowed bass she barely understood
- She squatted an abandoned Tribeca building, running electricity from neighbours to rehearse
- Teenage Jesus singles on Migraine Records likely preceded the No New York compilation
- Beirut Slump was horror rock β described as a slug over a razor blade
- She arrived in New York with $200, a suitcase, and zero contacts
- Seeing Suicide at Max's Kansas City with ten people changed everything instantly
- Martin Rev gave teenage Lydia vitamins; Alan Vega was leather-bound and irresistible
- She boycotted Bowie and Iggy in Rochester β accidentally saving them from a drug bust
- Mick Ronson's Slaughter on 10th Avenue: the glam record Bowie quietly stole from
- Lou Reed β always a dick; Warhol β vapid, but his car crashes were great
- She owns every recording, every publishing right β everything she's ever made
- Her reward for a lifetime of rebellion: pleasure, rage, and zero regrets
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:10.1 | Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer. |
| 0:13.5 | Well, hey, everyone, it's Nate. |
| 0:15.2 | Welcome to episode 5-5-1 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:21.9 | And ladies and gentlemen, I am talking to you live from America, California, and Austin. |
| 0:29.9 | It was the Austin Record Convention this weekend. |
| 0:32.8 | I am pooped, but man, did I get some fantastic loot? |
| 0:37.1 | And you'll probably be seeing all that on Instagram. |
| 0:40.2 | Fantastic time. |
| 0:41.4 | Great barbecue, great margaritas, great crowds. |
| 0:44.2 | Thanks to everyone who DM me, spent a few moments with me, had a chat. |
| 0:49.2 | Always love hanging out with fellow record nerds. |
| 0:52.3 | So thanks again for everything. |
| 0:55.2 | I'm back in California, |
| 1:01.8 | grabbing a few more tacos before I head back to lovely Sydney, Australia in the throes of its winter. |
| 1:07.6 | However, today I'm going to be sharing a recent conversation I had with Lydia Lunch, who, |
| 1:11.5 | if you know Lydia, you'll know she's never short of things to say. |
| 1:16.3 | I've always wanted to have Lydia on the show, and this is a great chance. |
| 1:23.1 | She is on her way to Australia and New Zealand for the month of June, and she's doing some very interesting shows. |
| 1:27.0 | Live covers of suicide and Alan Vegas songs. |
| 1:29.6 | She's got some performances with Tex Perkins. |
| 1:33.7 | Even a screening of her documentary, The War is Never Over. |
... |
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