Scott Asheton, Iggy Pop’s Brother In Noise – Vice

Scott Asheton, Iggy Pop’s Brother In Noise – Vice

Here is an excerpt from a rare interview with Scott Asheton. Read more at Vice:

Actually, the way the whole thing began was with me and Dave Alexander and my brother Ron, before we even knew Iggy. We had a band, but we weren’t players yet. We liked the idea of playing in a band, but we weren’t up to being able to play on stage. Mostly, we would sit in the basement and sing along with records. We almost got one song semi-down, and that was “The Bells of Rhymney” by the Byrds. And we called ourselves the Dirty Shames.

We used to go uptown to the record store, Discount Records, and there was a spot right on the corner or Lilly and State Street and we’d hangout there. Everyone would have to come through there, so we’d check everyone out and be checked out by other people.

It’s a kid thing—that’s why you wear purple hair, and that’s why you put a ring in your nose, ’cause you want people to look at you. So we were wearing leather and boots and Levi’s. Pointed shoes were what you wanted—the more pointed and longer, the better. They were mostly used in fights—that’s why guys used to wear big, pointy shoes, and originally the idea of leather was to protect you from knives and stuff. And we were already wearing that stuff; you know, we were the first to do it.