Looking Stupid: Yo! Is now still a good time? 

John Scharbach: Yeah, all good

LS: Awesome, how have you been? How was your day?

JS: Been great, just got home from work a bit ago, feed my dog and walked her and just got off the phone with (Artist, and tattooer) Spoiler, talking logistics and updates about his book (of his illustrations)

How have you been?

LS: Man, I’ve been good, I’m back in the Bay and a couple years in I’m finally re-adjusted, got my antennas sorted and pointed again

How is the Spoiler book coming along? How does a book like that gestate, and when do you know you’ve collected enough material? 

JS: Book is going great, probably the project I’m the most excited about right now. We had talked about it for awhile and always dreamed about it. I honestly didn’t think it would happen given the huge amount of work it entailed for Spoiler but he had been really dedicating his time to it for the past year and it’s almost done. 

His output dictated the amount of material, its basically everything he has done up to this point

Which is a lot

LS: That’s nearly three decades of work, it must be a beast

I wanna take a step back and ask how Shining Life came to be what it is now, but before I forget, how do you map out the short and long term projects? I feel like the constellation of what Shining Life produces is sorta vast, and different projects need different things

JS: There hasn’t been a map really – it’s always kind of a swirling list of things to do in my head and trying to manage it. Shifting priorities and hitting people up here and there when I think about it. 

Zack and I have gotten better just this year with keeping ideas and plans written down. We have a shared document that has everything we have planned out for the next two years, so a little more organized

LS: You fronted a band for a good while, and roadied a bunch before that. How has running Shining Life and engaging with all these older primary sources as well as current voices shaped what you think about punk, hardcore, and your life in general? 

JS: Hmm I don’t really know, I just know that I’m still obsessed with it and really really appreciative that I was able to find this space

LS: Do you find that the same things still capture your attention? Or has the nature of the obsession shifted over time?

Sort of connected – Given that your calendar now goes out years instead of months, are you more careful with the projects you choose to take up? Or has the kind of project you want to take on changed at all?

JS: I think the only shift is maybe being more intentional with my time and energy, but generally still obsessed with the same things

I think certain projects have definitely gotten bigger in scope, which is natural when you realize what is possible, but I don’t know if we have every been too careful. We just moving forward documenting whatever interests us. 

LS: What in particular has really got you going right now? What’s been top of mind that you feel like you’ve got to act on

JS: I’m helping out on a Break down the walls reissue for Rev – doing a booklet for that and I just got new photos for the layout like 5 seconds ago, so that’s the most pressing right now. 

LS: Oh fuck, you’re the perfect guy for that, I’m glad they asked you

JS: Yeah, Cooch and Zack are helping too – perfect team

R to L: John Sharbach, Zach Wuerthner, and Gene Melkisethian, Photo by Vanessa Clement

LS: What’re your first few action items when you get a dream-ask like that?

JS: Gathering the photos and flyers and planning out exactly what the band/label wants. Seeing what’s possible. 

LS: When do you know you’ve pushed up against the limits of what’s possible? Or are you sort of testing those boundaries until it’s time to go to print

JS: For something like that, just seeing what the band remembers and how much content there is. For something like the Floorpunch book,  the boundaries were bigger just because there was so much more documented and people with good stories/memories and wanting to share them

LS: I love that the floorpunch book keeps growing with every edition

JS: It pains me to think of anything out there FP related that isn’t in the book

LS: That project was supposed to come out years before it did, what were the key things you were holding out for? Obviously it was worth it

JS: It wasn’t delayed because we couldn’t get a hold of stuff, more just organizing and wrapping my head around how to structure it. Seems obvious now doing it show by show but it was daunting. 

LS: How do you keep the patience to hold on to a project until it’s as good as it can be? Have you ever made the mistake of jumping the gun?

JS: I don’t think we have made that mistake yet but maybe someone on the outside could point that out easier

LS: Oh I guess I just mean jumping the gun on a creative project in general – what were some other ways you considered structuring the book? The show by show thing is great

JS: Maybe just by year with a loose timeline – I think I didn’t really know and that was the problem

LS: It’s crazy how much easier things get when you actually know what you want, how did you finally zero in on the answer? Do you have a methodology for when you’re creatively stuck, in general?

JS: The answer was Tom Bejgrowicz

We asked him to do the layout and he stressed to me how important it was to get all the material at once and it being highly organized. I decided to put everything together for him by show and then the book just became obvious 

So thanks to Tom

Good question but no methodology really, I’ve never really thought about that. 

LS: Well that makes a lot of sense, necessity is the mother of invention and all that, right? 

You also have a thriving artistic practice, do you find it influencing your work with shining life, or shining life creeping into your sculptures 

JS: I think it’s probably all connected, but no obvious crossover. Just stuff that I enjoy doing

LS: How did the idea behind your sculptures take shape? Was it something you turned over in your head for a while, or was it more spontaneous? Are you currently making any new work?

JS: For the plushie installations, it was more spontaneous when I first did it, but looking back it makes sense because transforming a space is what I really love

LS: How did that start, and how’d it develop over time? Discovering that you want to transform a space

JS: I’m working on a current installation I’m going to do in the spring that I’m excited about 

LS: What are some of the themes you’re working into this next installation? Where will it be? What do you want (the installations) to feel like?

JS: Actually maybe that’s the connection to hardcore – transforming a space is similar to altering reality for a group. Kind of like music

Creating things together

The next installation will be in Tennessee but won’t be permanent. 

LS: You’re from Tennessee right? Is this your first time doing something in your home state?

JS: I grew up moving around every few years but my parents are both from Tennessee so I feel attached. 

But no, some of the first things I did were outside in TN

These huge striped boxes were all on TN soil

LS: Nice, I did not know that

What do you want the installations to feel like when someone’s inside of them, or experiencing them

JS: Good question, hmmm maybe joy, anger, sadness, wistfulness, but overall – hope

LS: That’s a powerful mix of emotions, is that generally what you feel like you carry with you?

JS: I try to 

LS: It’s all we can do

Thanks so much for this, anything you want to shout out that’s imminent from Shining Life or anything else?

JS: Thank you. Some stuff coming soon – Spoiler Book, Boiling point anthology, Ruby Albiston art zine, Michael Alago photo book, Joy Machine ’97 and a bunch more shit. 

LS: Hell yes, I appreciate you taking the time man