Empathy Is Punk 

The pulsing rhythm of punk rock blasts through Erik Talkin’s new novel, Private School Punk. Set in a British boy’s school not unlike the one the Foodbank CEO attended in his youth, Private School Punk is the story of a gifted 17-year-old classical cellist who gets in touch with his rowdy side when he meets Johnny Rotten and is inspired to start his own punk band. 

The fun premise gets an even more energetic spark, as Talkin’s book comes off the page as a full-on multimedia experience, punctuated by more than 150 punk-style illustrations, a full cast audiobook with 28 voice actors from 10 different countries, and even its own soundtrack album featuring 14 original songs by the fictitious band in the story and others. 

Putting all this together would be an accomplishment for any writer, but particularly for one with such a demanding day job running a nonprofit that provides food and nutrition education for one in three people in Santa Barbara County.

The son of an American in the Air Force, Talkin grew up in London in the late ‘70s, when the whole punk explosion was happening. “I found it very inspirational even so many, many years later when I finally put pen to paper and really was able to tell a story of that time and what it meant to people,” he said. “I think it has a lot of relevance now for the challenges that people are facing. A little rebellion, a little art, and a little community can really help young people, you know, navigate what can seem to be very negative times. So, yeah, so it feels like the right time for this book to come out.”

As for the complicated multimedia approach to the project, Talkin, who did our Zoom interview from his car between events and meetings, laughed, “Yeah, I can’t help myself. … One thing leads to another and kind of inspires another. It was quite interesting because I started work on the book a number of years ago, and there were various drafts around. Then, when I did the audiobook version and worked with the actors and stuff, it informed the books. I went back and did various rewrites in the book, and then also working on the music and coming up with songs, I was able to integrate those songs into the audiobook so that the band is actually writing those songs and coming up with them during the story.”

Chris Valentine’s world map from ‘Private School Punk’ by Eric Talkin | Credit: Courtesy

It’s a quick-moving, entertaining story that’s technically a young adult book but really has what he described as two big audiences: the young adults, age 13 to 17, and then “people who were alive in the ’70s and kind of experienced that punk era … so, big kids and little kids.”

Though he claims he can’t draw, Talkin did the book’s more than 150 illustrations himself, “punk rock style,” and helped write the music, of which he said, “It’s the ultimate punk rock in that I can’t play a single instrument, so I’m living up to it there. I worked with a very talented producer called Connor Daniel, and I came to him with my words and my primitive musical ideas, and then we found a vocalist in England who sounded like the lead singer of the band would be. So, our hero is the bass player in the band, but the lead singer is a British guy, so we had him do the vocals. And, yeah, it all came together. I still can’t play an instrument, but we made an album.”

And the theatrical-style audio book was nominated for a SOVAS (Society of Voice Arts and Sciences) Award, which Talkin described as the “spoken-word audio version of the Oscars.” 

As to whether we’ll ever see the fictional band play live, “My big fantasy, Leslie, is to have a show, like a rock show at a London club with the kind of singer and the band and stuff, and sing the songs and stuff, so that,” said Talkin. “That would be cool, and I would be a happy audience member down the front of that.”

Private School Punk is now available at Chaucer’s Books and online, with the audiobook available on Audible. For more information, see privateschoolpunk.com.