An Interview with J. Coburn: Inside the Mind of Writer

J. Coburn is a man who wears many hats in life. Author, publisher, speaker, clothing designer, and body modification artist - he has been featured on local and national television and radio, including VH1 and MTV. He has also appeared in local and national magazines and newspapers. His public speaking experience consists of colleges and corporate events where his subjects are as varied as the man himself: self improvement, self image, and communication are among his many subjects. In 2004 he released his first book titled "Selections From The Serial Killer Cookbook (The Handbook For America's Youth)". The book has developed a cult following and has become required reading for many writing courses. He has created is own record label, Freaklabel and his own publishing company, Provoke Publishing. When you first come into Coburn's vision and world you may be taken a back. He's not the 3 piece suit kind of guy. He's got the look of a rock'n'roll rebel, tattoos, body piercings, everything that the 'establishment' deems as left of center and dangerous. At the heart of it, Coburn is far from that label. The best part, he wears no label at all. His writings are extreme just like the man himself. But that can also be deceiving on the cerebral level. His is extremely down to earth, a very quiet and pensive man who is a deep thinker and philosopher. One thing J Coburn certainly isn't is boring. Here is a piece of a man with a great deal on his mind.

T: What was your youth like growing up in Brooklyn IA?
J: Typical. I worked a lot at the local grocery store, had a steady girlfriend, I was a loner for sure. Nothing to do in a small town but party, I chose to work and focus on taking in information from books, music, and documentaries. I was doing my best to keep myself occupied, trying to keep my mouth off the barrel of a gun.

T:I know in your early teenage years you shaved your head. I got inside information. Have you always marched to the beat of your own drummer?
J: I don't think I even had a drummer. I have always known what I was about. I just struggled to really let that person out because I always heard how wrong it was to do the things I wanted because my ideas were so out of the box. I still shave my head every few years. It is like a rebirth, a new beginning.

T:What was the inspiration for your first book "Selections From Serial Killer Cookbook (The Handbook for America's Youth)"?
J: I had and still have kids, adults as well, asking me for advice and information about things that I thought they should already know. These people would tell me about how they think about shooting themselves or that they don't understand why they cannot believe what they want to believe. Why people latched on to me I am not sure, but I get it. I just wanted to make them aware that no matter how bad things are, they could be worse. I thought maybe I should just show them some truth, some examples of what really is horrible, in hopes that they'd gain a more objective look at their own situation and re-evaluate.

T: Ultimately what did you want people to take from the book?
J: It was important to me that people are put in situations they pretend do not exist, places they thought they would never go. It is not pretty, but we all need to be there once in a while in order to appreciate what we have. This is what we forgot to tell our children about, appreciation. When the parents purchase the children their Ipods and new cars they care about nothing, it is all disposable. People tend to have an about face after a near fatal car accident or a cancer scare, well this book is their car accident, their cancer. Welcome to reality.

T: Was it designed more as a tool to shock people?
J: The title was designed to weed out the people who judged it before reading it. To make people assume what was inside. Sure there is shock value, but have you read the news papers lately? That is pretty shocking. I think the book is nothing more shocking, it is just a matter of whose eyes you are seeing through. Besides, if people are shocked and upset, at least they remember that they actually have a set of core beliefs. The general public often is fed only what they are to thoughtlessly consume, I thought I would be nice and remind them that they can make their own decisions. Be less automaton and more real once in a while. Maybe it will also keep a slacking parent on their toes if they see my book in their child's room, it may be the first scolding that kid had gotten in
month, hell, it might be the first time the parent acknowledged the child for that long.

T: I have to say I found the book to be disturbing and a bit over the top upon the first read. After the second time something clicked and I got what you were after. Do you get a similar response from people who aren't quite sure about its content?
J: I do, I know it is a heavy read, I am emotional and I try to put the most intensity I can into all that I do. I think it is a bit of a slap in the face the first time through. It is a short book, eighty some odd pages, that is not a lot to read but emotionally it is a lot to take. Can you imagine if there were two hundred pages of that? It would be a bloodbath. I honestly get hate mail regularly, but I get mail from kids & their parents more, telling me that it changed how they view each other or that I got exactly the emotions that they were feeling. It is really a play on what can be inspiring. Not all good things come wrapped in shiny packages.

T: When you're asked to speak to colleges and corporate events are the audiences surprised by the content of your lecture and you personally?
J: Almost always the facilitators are really cool with things because they understand that I thrive on communication, knowledge, and personal strength. Often the people I am speaking to are caught off guard because I am this little modified man they are being forced to listen to, wondering what they can learn from a guy twenty years younger and quite peculiar looking. I always stand by the exit when I finish speaking and pass hugs and handshakes to the audience, I don't think I have ever had anyone be overtly negative at all. How can you be negative if someone is offering a positive experience right? I do tailor my lectures to the audience for which I am speaking so content is rarely an issue.

T: I know from experience that looks can be deceiving. I know you like to break down barriers with people's perceptions. Do you find that talking to people on a one on one basis has really helped to open up their eyes and consciousness or do you think it goes in one ear and out the other?
J: I think it does make a difference. I am human and I can admit that, all my faults, I know them. No one can have leverage if you have no insecurities and no secrets. When I can identify with someone on a level they never could with anyone, let alone with someone who perceived me as anything but who I am, they start to see that we are the same. People bleed, it is what we do, others just want to know you bleed too. I have the words "Bled Out" tattooed on my stomach because I try to emotionally give everything to others, no walls. The ones who allow it in one ear and out the other wouldn't even make the attempt, they are just pissed because I am the one smiling, the one who has no limits. I don't have to worry about what anyone says, social stigmas are boring to me.

T: What do you find seems to be the biggest concern for parents today?
J: From what I can tell it is the same as it has always been, can my kid eat, have shelter, and be healthy. I think beyond that it is a matter of how well the children fall in line, how well they are adjusted. My biggest concern for parents today is that they do not promote being a leader in early childhood and follow through in the later years. It usually begins with "You can do anything you want." and ends with "You know, that dream is for children, not everyone can be an astronaut." That kind of statement is sad to me and I hear it all the time.

T: With all the headlines in Entertainment being bombarded with young star and bad behavior, what's your take on their situations and what steps do they need to take to change and take control of their own lives?
J: It is really simple, regimen and discipline. Pure and simple, there is a cause and effect, stop the cause, end the effect. All it takes is a moment to step outside of yourself and re-evaluate. Forget the hangers on and yes men, if you need those people you are slowly losing who you are.

T: What originally attracted you to the Body Modification industry?
J: Body modification is a process in mental stability. I really like the strength that it takes to look abnormal in a society which largely deems this as inappropriate. The fact that I could be a part of the source of that strength is amazing, and an honor. The closeness you gain from an experience in overcoming fear with another person is phenomenal.

T: Those of us who have tattoos have our own reasons and stories behind them. What was your first tattoo and did it have a special meaning?
J: My first tattoo was of the comedy and tragedy masks from the cover of Motley Crue's Theatre of Pain album. It means nothing but to represent my childhood. I was a collector of music while young and it seemed appropriate to represent that time.

T: You have you hand in quite a few cookie jars. How did your publishing company, Provoke Publishing, your clothing line and record label Freaklabel* come about?
J: Well, I had a few interested parties that were looking to publish my first book, due to restrictions and heavy editing, along with my refusal to soften my message for sales, I politely declined. I pretty much do things my way, so the next logical step was to go it alone, as usual. My goal has always been to get paid for being me. I was told I could never do this so I just kept adding food to the plate, now the plate is spilling over and I am consistently proving the detractors wrong. *On a side note, the band on my label is Freaklabel (band name). I just now use the heading of Provoke Productions (new site launch soon) due to the range of things that I do.

T: What music do you personally like to listen to? What about then you're trying to relax? Any Celine Dion CD' s in your collection? (laughing)
J: I am an avid fan of metal, which is the only fairly typical thing about my appearance one can infer. The last band to give me chills was Freaklabel. They are phenomenal musically, sonically, and they are also good people, which is important to me. I do, however, love Leonard Cohen and artists that are eclectic like Mike Patton, Opeth, as well as Placebo. Negative on the Celine Dion, Sarah McLachlan is amazing though, as well as Southern Isolation.

T: Who is your favorite author and why?
J: This is so impossible. People like William S. Burroughs and the beat writers tend to have great influence on me. Oddly though it is less about their writing and more about their lives. I think being an artist of any kind means that one is a tortured individual. I think it is part of what helps us create. I mostly read biographies and autobiographies. Their life's work is a matter of inspiration. I would also be unworthy to not credit Henry Rollins to some degree. Though we do the same type of things, our themes are much different, I work a more personal angle, Mr. Rollins paints with a broader brush in terms of the subjects he focuses on...and who can forget Hunter S. Thompson?

T: Have you taken any inspiration from other authors and if so how has it affected your own writing style and ideas?
J: I take inspiration from anything. I feel it is a requirement to take in one's surroundings in order to purge it in a way to reach others. As for style, I am not sure, I think I kind of straddle a strange line of social commentary, poet, and story teller. I think this pulls from nearly all of the authors/artists I look to.

T: Considering all that's happened in the world in the past decade, what would you personally consider the most significant event to happen in the past 20 years?
J: I think the suicide of Hunter S. Thompson is very significant. He was a man who hinted at this for years and followed through. It is not often people come through with anything and he took the step. That is heavy. I could name a million things for a million reasons, maybe it is as simple as the fact that I found my answers in the barrel of a gun as well, it just didn't involve me pulling the trigger. I find that significant, I am still here. Beyond that, I cannot comprehend the scope of the question, it is much like asking me where space ends.

T: I have found creative people be it writers or artists seem to have a more open mind to abstract concepts, etc. Have you ever censored yourself or your work thinking the idea might be a little much to discuss/write even for you?
J: Never. If it is real, it should be explored to the Nth degree. I think that a little to much for me is not enough for the next guy, and so on.

T: What is the title of your new book and what's it about? I know it's very different from your first one.
J: The new book is called Through the EYES of an Abstract Mind. It is a one hundred and eighty degree difference from the last book. We are human, we have many sides, I am exploring a different side this time around. These are the stories of the people we see everyday, on the commute to work, in the restaurants at lunch, we never speak to them, I took the time and what they had to say was amazing. If people are given a forum to speak in, we all have something to say, I just listened, which is something few of us do any longer.

T: As a writer I know from first hand the more you write the better your craft becomes. How have you evolved as a writer from the first book?
J: I think I am more aware of how to express emotion less metaphorically. I think there should be a nice balance with writing, keeping it organic at times is just as important as going with that super cool metaphor you came up with in your sleep. Over thinking something can be just as problematic as under thinking.

T: I wrote an article on the violence in today's horror films a year back. My stance was written around the fact that even though the films are rated R parents are still taking their kids to these films who I would guess are under 10 years of age. My experience was in regards to watching "Saw 3," in the theater. I know you're a big horror movie fan. Do you feel the latest crop of films have become too violent and graphic?
J: I do not think it is possible to be too graphic or violent. I think people go to get scared, what is more threatening than something so close to reality? I think people have a preference and if they prefer not to watch what is too intense for them, they should not. It is up to the viewer. I do think parents need to learn how to be mentors rather than friends with their children.

T: Should the theaters crack down more on not letting under 18 kids in?
J: I think parents need to crack down on their kids more, not the theaters. It is about responsibility. How can we expect the youth to be responsible if the parents are struggling with the concept?

T: What is your definitive number one horror film?
J: That is rough and impossible due to the categories of horror. George A. Romero is a genius and the "Dead" series is amazing. I am highly into the intelligence of the first two Hellraiser movies as well. Number one though, probably the original Dawn of the Dead.

T: When you have some time off, how does J Coburn relax?
J: I really don't, I work, I write, I travel. I am a reader if time allows. I also have two cats I love more than anyone ever should, they are how I clear my mind. I know it seems creepy but what else is new, right?

T: How will you be spending the upcoming holiday season and can you send some snow down to South Florida?
J: I will be hanging with my wife and the family. They are my lifeline and support, they keep me grounded for sure. I cannot wait....and I will send all the snow to Florida! It was my pleasure to be a part of this experience. Thank you for your time

T: Thank you J. For those of you whom are interested in checking out J. Coburn and his work a link has been provided.