Interview with Tim Irwin, Director of We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005) and Don’t Break Down: A Film about Jawbreaker (2017)

Keeble, Arin

Abstract

This interview was conducted over Skype on 26 March 2017. I contacted Tim Irwin for an interview with two main goals in mind. First, I was hoping for insight into his new film about Jawbreaker, Don’t Break Down: A Film about Jawbreaker (2017), and second I wanted to ask him some questions relating to the issues raised in my article on Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach, ‘Blake Schwarzenbach and the anxieties of American punk rock 1991-present’ which was published in issue 5.3 of Punk & Post-Punk. The discussion below
actually contains much more. Tim was very generous and open in his
responses to my questions and in addition to fulfilling my initial hopes by providing some fascinating background information we also discussed the making of his first film, the celebrated documentary about the Minutemen, We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005); we discussed his development as a punk filmmaker, and I learned about a tragic episode in the twelve-year making of the Jawbreaker film.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Mar 1, 2017
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 23, 2018
• Journal: Punk & Post Punk
• Print ISSN: 2044-1983
• Publisher: Intellect
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 157-162
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/punk.6.1.157_7
• Keywords: Jawbreaker, punk, Tim Irwin, documentary, cinema
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1173930