Katie Rogers was a straight-edge skateboarder when she moved to
Tucson at 16. She is currently a housing attorney at Southern Arizona
Legal Aid. Rogers played drums in an all-girl punk band called the
Inpatients and is now playing in Foolscap Fire, which in Rogers’ words
is a band with “less of an emphasis on the punk and more of an emphasis
on, um … musical ability and melody?”
What was the first concert you ever saw?
Cheap Trick, Aldo Nova and Saxon when I was 12 years old. … My
sister got the friggin’ rad Cheap Trick T-shirt. I got the stupid Aldo
Nova jersey.
What CDs are in your changer right now?
The Resonars, That Evil Drone on the turntable (everyone
needs this album now); Television, Marquee Moon in my car; The
Roots, Do You Want More?!!!??! in the home CD player; and
rotating between N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton and Joy
Division, Closer on my computer.
How many total albums do you own (CDs, vinyl, cassettes,
8-tracks)?
I sold all of my albums in San Francisco for rent one month. I’ve
been s-l-o-w-l-y building up my collection again and have about 80 now.
Toxic Ranch has been a big part of that—thanks, Bill!
Do you download music, and if so, legally or illegally?
I plead the fifth.
What was the first album you owned?
Donny Osmond, To You With Love, Donny. Go ahead; bring
it! I ain’t ashamed!
What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
The Pogues’ “If I Should Fall From Grace With God,” but I want Mark
Beef to sing it karaoke.
Musically speaking, what do you love that your friends don’t know
about? What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
I like Pearl Jam’s first three albums.
What band or artist changed your life, and how?
The Clash. I first heard them at 14, and stole their first album
from the local record store in Logan, Utah. Their music made me realize
that one could eloquently express frustration and discontent, and that
punk could be both hardcore and instrumentally diverse.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all
time?
The Clash, The Clash.
This article appears in May 14-20, 2009.
