Possibly the ONLY surviving 70s punk publisher who never quit, V. Vale’s RE/Search continues to provide ‘Against-the-Status-Quo’ publications that stimulate the imagination and optimistic skepticism.
Vale has been doing counterculture publishing since 1977, when he founded the Punk tabloid, Search & Destroy, San Francisco’s first. It was published at City Lights Bookstore, where V. Vale worked, and was funded by $100 each from Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg. Then in 1980, V. Vale launched RE/SEARCH, which is best known for its impact on the total world of underground culture.
In the early years RE/SEARCH gained international attention by introducing the world to artists such as William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Genesis P-Orridge, SPK, Monte Cazazza, and many others. RE/SEARCH has continued to remain vital in its lengthy history by refusing to adhere to a formula for an easily identifiable “Punk Culture.” Its best-selling books include The Industrial Culture Handbook (which inspired 10,000 “noise music” bands), Incredibly Strange Films (little-known filmmakers), Incredibly Strange Music Vol. One and Two (little-known vinyl LPs), Modern Primitives (which launched the body-piercing underground), Pranks (and its follow-up, Pranks 2), Zines Vol. One and Two, Modern Pagans, and many more.
RE/SEARCH has remained at the same address in San Francisco since 1979. Aside from being a book/magazine publisher, it is also a mail-order company selling its own wares, which include underground T-shirts, books, DVDs, music, and other merchandise. With Marian Wallace, RE/Search has produced specialty videos (notably, on J.G. Ballard and W.S. Burroughs) and done live presentations, panels and workshops all over the world.
Non-Stop Punk Rock, Black Humor, Anti-Authority, Provocative Publishing by V. Vale—A Cultural ReMapping Project; Punk is a Lifetime Philosophical Outlook!