Clint Woodside

To celebrate Huck 45, curated by artist, skateboarder and chronicler of teenage California Ed Templeton, we are having a Huck website summer takeover dedicated to Ed’s longtime muse, suburbia.

In this regular series, the Suburban Youth Pop Quiz, we ask characters from our world what their suburban youth meant to them.

Number eleven is photographer and Deadbeat Club publisher Clint Woodside.

Where did you grow up and can you describe it in three words?
A suburb of Buffalo, NY called Amherst.
3 words: Rust Belt Suburbia.

Who was your weirdest neighbour?
I’m scared it might have been me… but other then me, maybe my friend Pat. He had a thousand dogs that all lived in his basement, would listen to Vanilla Ice and wear Iron Maiden shirts… kind of all over the place. We would hang out there all the time because his parents were never home.

What was the most important record you owned?
I feel like it really depends on what year… it changes so many times. But for simplification, Fugazi’s Repeater.

Where did the bad kids hang out?
Oh the bad kids… There where a few different groups, but the one I remember best is Don Nowak, who would get a 2 litre, dump the soda and fill it with gas and just huff it while he would wander main street. There was a large office park that was getting built, and we would often just hang out in the empty buildings mid development.

Biggest fashion faux pas as a teenager?
A mullet maybe?

Who was your first celebrity crush?
Man… That’s tough… Maybe Vanna White? We have the same birthday.

Describe your first kiss.
End of 8th grade. Sue Bunn said good bye to me on the last day of school… and kissed me on the lips. That was the first time and I don’t think she knew, and to her I’m sure it was totally casual. In my head I was “well… that was my first kiss… oh well.”

What happened the first time you got drunk?
I was only drunk once and it was way after I lived in suburbia… I didn’t like it. I don’t drink, really.

What is the naughtiest thing you did as a suburban youth?
We used to hang out on the roof of a house down the way that was abandoned. That was early youth.
The other one was once after watching the video for Beastie Boys – ‘Sabotage’, me and some friends ran all over town with toy guns, in suits and acted like idiots. The cops came and freaked out on us… (they knew we had toy guns…) pulled their real guns and held it to my head and slammed my face in the ground. Suburban cops are 10 times more violent then real cops. They get so amped up to get into some real action… All hell breaks loose.

What was the best party of your teenage years?
There was a good one at my house once. For some reason I remember Sean Hanley got wasted and locked himself in the only bathroom. It was hell getting him out. I would go to shows more then parties.

What’s your most embarrassing suburban youth memory?
When Pat stole my girlfriend Gloria, and then made out (way further then I ever did) right in front of me. That sucked.

Who would you most like to see at a reunion?
Like, high school reunion? Tim Brand I think. Band reunion? I guess Fugazi… But I feel like they are not the “reunion type”. I saw them a lot… They were pretty amazing.

What was your first car?
An ’86 Chevy Cavalier.

What was your food of choice?
Grilled cheese on sourdough, bbq sauce for the fries… Still pretty heavy in the rotation. I did drink a lot more Mountain Dew back then. Thank god that stopped.

What was the biggest fight you ever had with your parents?
I cant really remember the biggest fight. Once, they wouldn’t let me go see Shelter at the Icon, so that was a big screaming match and I went anyway. But when I got there I got so scared I was going to get caught that I gave money to Scott Vogel to buy me a Shelter shirt and went back to the ‘burbs and hung out at Perkins.

What book/film changed your teenage life?
First it was Twin Peaks, then in my late teens, On The Road.

What posters did you have on your bedroom wall?
Oh man… I was such a weirdo. They are still up at my house. My room is pretty untouched. I have that poster of the Bones Brigade all doing handplants on the chin ramp, a few comic book posters (Punisher and Wolverine I think??) Matthew Sweet, Beastie Boys, then a bunch of hardcore posters. The Only The Strong comp had a poster… Farside (the punk band, from HB), Ashes.

Man, what a weird crossroads of mid teen suburban life in the early 90’s. The best is my bedroom door is still plastered with a ton of hardcore and skate stickers. My parents have not touched it and they have promised to give me the door as is and buy a new one instead of clean it off…

Any hobbies you didn’t give up?
I guess photography? That became more then a hobby though, I think.

What smell reminds you most of your suburban youth?
I guess any greasy diner. Definitely still my happy place to this day.

See other interviews in the Suburban Pop Youth Quiz series and buy the Ed Templeton issue at our online store.