The arts agitator

By Brendan Crabb, July 2007

(Photos courtesy of www.joeambrose.net )

They were trying to make a feminist icon out of this woman who had murdered her own child. They were claiming male oppression forced her to do it and that the sisterhood should support her …

Joe Ambrose continues his story from the mid 1980s.

“I wrote something deliberately offensive about this nonsense and then, one day when I went into the offices of the magazine for which I wrote, I was told by a not-amused editor that the magazine had been disrupted all morning because lesbians had occupied the building, chaining themselves to the desks. They had to send for the cops to get rid of them.”

A former journalist, now filmmaker, musician and “arts agitator”, Joe is no stranger to controversy.  Born “a long time ago” in Tipperary, Ireland, where many of the country’s independence movements began, Joe is forthright on where he stands. 

“I was brought up a Catholic and though I have no religion as such … once a Catholic, always a Catholic. We moved around Ireland a great deal while I was growing up so I don’t really have a home town. I calculated I attended eight different schools before going to university in Dublin in the late 70s.”

As a teen activist, he was inspired by the punk movement and revolutionary figures including Malcolm X and Johnny Cash.

He had strong political beliefs, which continue to this day. “I was totally supportive of the Provisional IRA’s campaign to get the British out of Northern Ireland.”

Joe’s surroundings have greatly influenced his life and work. His first book, Dan Breen and the IRA was a biography of the infamous IRA leader. He continues to write short fictions and history books on Ireland.

“The old cliché is a creative writer can only write well about which they know a lot. I lived in Ireland until I was an adult, and up until the time that I decided to quit the place had a real good time there.”

“I had a lot of friends, relationships, adventures, moments of intense poverty and intense euphoria there, so naturally I’m going to write about the place. That said, I write as much about the places I see and exist in now. My next novel is set in Morocco.”

His life experiences are fascinating. As a journalist he moved to England and interviewed many high-profile figures.

He claims his worst interviewee was former Rolling Stones member Bill Wyman. After some prodding, Joe explains why.

“When I did journalism work it was almost entirely for Irish media. By then I had grown entirely disillusioned with writing journalism because that wasn’t what I set out to do. Bill Wyman was a bitter old man, racist towards the Irish and towards me.”

“As far as I was concerned the art and activities of The Rolling Stones were part of the revolutionary atmosphere being drummed up by artists and activists, so I was somewhat taken aback to meet Wyman, who was just this boring old c**t and pussy hound. I walked out of the interview when he started imitating my Irish accent.”

Joe is not as involved with journalism now, bar a biography of US rocker Iggy Pop, Gimme Danger. It was criticized online for allegedly not attributing sources properly.  He isn’t proud of it, claiming he wrote it “for the money.”

Despite being out of the game now, Joe has strong opinions regarding significant problems facing journalists today, revealing a traditionalist, passionate attitude sure to upset a few people.

“The main one is trying to rescue their profession from the intellectual assault the blogosphere and Wiki world represents. The web has led to a total diminution of factual accuracy and critical apparatus, resulting in a sort of corruption unimaginable in the pre-digital era, such as pals reviewing one another’s books and protagonists plugging their own points of view.”

“We’re being ranted at by illiterate morons and wannabe Hunter S. Thompson’s. The provision of accurate coverage of the ‘war on terror’ is also a challenge to journalists… for instance, from within the Murdoch empire where that nasty old crocodile oversees every single comment on that war.”

Since leaving journalism, Joe has become heavily involved in music, art exhibitions and filmmaking, including 1992’s Destroy All Rational Thought.

Much like his surroundings, music is a common life thread. He has managed punk bands, written books on moshing, collaborated musically with Iggy Pop and formed unique hip-hop group, Islamic Diggers.

“I’m not a very spiritual person in any conventional sense so my love of music is just about the most spiritual thing there is about me. It’s because of my taste for extreme aspects of music that I got into moshing… I can’t think of better fun than a Slayer moshpit!”

When asked what sets Islamic Diggers apart from the rest, eclectic tastes shine through.

“Musically, we’ve been heavily influenced by the Sufi music of Morocco and whereas classic American hip-hop might draw its inspirations and samples from black music and rock, we dragged both inspiration and samples out of Islamic music.”

Having been around underground music for so long, Joe condemns the industry’s current state.   “The ‘industry’ is in meltdown, which makes no real difference to working musicians. When you’re in a band signed to a major label, with a major management company looking after your affairs, your chances of ever laying your hands on any decent money or enjoying any artistic autonomy are slim indeed.”

“All these secretaries, accountants, graphic designers, roadies, demo producers, studio owners, hairdressers, PR people and every hustler known to man makes money but you, the fragile little creative person at the centre of the whole enterprise, (who) usually ends up with nothing except debts and shattered dreams. So I don’t shed any tears because of possible decline of the industry brought about by aspects of the internet.”

Judging by his anarchist attitude and comments made about him, Joe polarizes opinion - seemingly why he describes himself as an “arts agitator.”

Visit his website, and there are quotes proudly proclaiming criticisms of his outspoken views. One publication labeled him a “vile, unprofessional hack who should lower himself into the dirt”.

What does he think of people making such comments?

“I don’t mind negative comments at all. Some creative people insist on going through life in an almost bi-polar condition, imagining nobody has anything but nice things to say about them. I’m more realistic than that. I know that I’m a contrarian (or a crank) and I regard it as being part of my job to give voice to the demographically minority opinions I hold on many topics, mainly to do with music, sex, drugs, and society.”

“On a more personal basis, I can rub people up the wrong way and I’m difficult to have a personal relationship with. I don’t take prisoners and I’m pretty hardcore emotionally.”

Joe draws from many sources of inspiration in  his work. One is Bob Dylan, for his integrity, and “all the obvious reasons.”   The other is his mother. Despite having reservations about his career decisions, dress, music and refusal to “settle down,” he says she’s proud of his achievements.

“She was always delighted when I’d be on the radio or TV or have a book coming out. I got my taste for a certain sort of street life from her, and from her family my skills for storytelling and perceptiveness.”

For more information on Joe Ambrose, visit www.joeambrose.net