In Conversation: Tim Kinsella of Joan of Arc and Cap'n Jazz
His first band copied D.R.I., but his next act upended every hardcore norm we had and changed the culture forever. Thirty years later, Tim Kinsella is still your favorite outsider's favorite outsider.
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Not many hardcore kids will get to see one of their bands anthologized for a box set. Even fewer will be able to say that set features only the first five albums of a band discography that runs more than 20 records deep. And even then, those 20 records are still only a fraction of the work that Tim Kinsella has put out into the world. His Discogs page lists over 200 credits alone: Cap’n Jazz, Joan Of Arc, Owls, Make Believe, Kinsella & Pulse—that’s only a handful of them. This is a person who has been compelled to create for a long time.
But Tim Kinsella is also someone who has committed himself to an unbound process, inspired by the outsider framework that he discovered in the punk and hardcore communities of his native Chicago and imbued with a willingness …