I can’t remember what I was doing or where I was when I heard about No New York, the compilation album bringing together four of NYC’s biggest, newest, and best “no wave” bands. There'd never been anything like this record—and I seriously don’t think there’s been a record like it since, either. I bought it in a leap of faith at a little record shop in Portland, Ore., that future SST guy Joe Carducci ran around 1978 or early ’79.

It was a total turning point in my life. I was 15 years old and living in my mother’s garage. I thought I was no longer a child—I had seen and lived through enough and was getting ready to jump into adulthood with no work ethic or coping skills. I was old enough to run from the nightmare but young enough that the state said I couldn’t. I had to stay in that garage. I gave it another year until I had no choice: I had to leave, no questions about it.