Musician Theo Hirsch has 30 years of frustration to get off his chest.
Is it fair to call your songs rants set to music?
I rant a lot. Yeah.
Did you have stuff to get off your chest after being a Mormon for so long?
I was always really suppressed as a kid and I was always so hyperactive and rebellious at heart, but the whole culture was just embedded in me; [still], I always knew I was better than that. I knew I had a purpose beyond that crap. I was sold on it for a great few years. I actually authentically went and did that missionary work and believed all the bullshit. I've always had good intentions. Once people see me onstage they're like, “Holy shit, who the fuck is this guy?”
After people hear your music or see you live do they assume you're an insanely angry guy?
Yeah. I was for a long time. When I lived in my last apartment I completely destroyed every cupboard and door in the house because I was going through such an angry stage. When I left I was the talk of the whole complex. That place was just fucking mutilated. But I'm a lot mellower than I was then. I can snap if you push my buttons, but I'm pretty much nonviolent.
Do people expect a mellow, folky show out of you when you show up by yourself with an acoustic guitar?
I'm just a regular looking dude and I dress kind of like a bum. So when I get up there, if people don't know me . . . but where I go most people know me because I've been kicked out of so many venues I can't really go anywhere. People get shocked as hell. When I get up there they go, “What the fuck?”
So getting kicked out is pretty common?
Yeah. The latest place is Canter's Deli in Hollywood. I've been kicked out of many places in OC. Pretty much everywhere. I used to play on the boardwalk in Venice. I have this song called “Sex With Christ.” It's really thrown people off. I've been threatened with violence on more than one occasion by supposed Christians. People loved it. It was a show.
You're involved with an art gallery as well?
Yeah, Open Heart Anarchy. We had our first opening. We had a problem of it becoming a party. If people want to come they can e-mail me. It's in our house. I live with four other artist friends. It's an artistic playground in our house. It's right in downtown Santa Ana, right there by the Artists Village.
Have any local favorites?
I'm really into myself. I don't know what to say. I know it's narcissistic as fuck. S. A. Bach is my producer. He's a really good musician. He's done a lot for me, and he's got some songs I like. And I'd like to say that punk rockers these days are a bunch of pussies. They need to apply some more heart to what they're doing.
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