Ronen Kauffman is an American writer, teacher and musician. His writing typically attempts to connect every-day experiences to existential concepts including community, individualism, conformity and social identity. Kauffman is also a music journalist. His work in its varying incarnations has appeared in magazines including Alternative Press, AMP, Outburn, Hails & Horns, While You Were Sleeping, and Law of Inertia, on websites like Pastepunk.com and Punknews.org, and in radio format on Sirius Satellite Radio, PBS FM 106.7 in Melbourne, Australia, and on his podcast, Issue Oriented. He has also provided vocals for the bands try.fail.try and Zombie Apocalypse.

Writing

Kauffman's work is largely tied to the world of music. In addition to his own projects, Kauffman's byline has appeared in music magazines like Alternative Press, Outburn, AMP and Law of Inertia among others.

Kauffman is the author of one book - New Brunswick, New Jersey, Goodbye - Bands, Dirty Basements and the Search for Self. This memoir received substantial critical and popular praise, and was called, among other things, "compelling," (Playback St. Louis) "vivid," (Packet Publications) and "essential" (Hails & Horns) by various national and international outlets, in print and on the internet, including Punknews.org, Revolver magazine, Jersey Beat magazine, Blistering

Blistering

Blistering, founded in 1998, is an international online magazine dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock music. Its editor-in-chief is David E. Gehlke, an American music journalist who has written for About.com, Metal Maniacs, and Throat Culture...

 magazine, ScenePointBlank.com, DecoyMusic.com, Metal Maniacs magazine and many more.

Kauffman has also been tapped to help noted bands from the world of aggressive music. He conducted the interviews and wrote the liner notes for Hatebreed

Hatebreed

- History :Hatebreed was formed in 1994 in Bridgeport, Waterbury and New Haven. They began by recording a three song demo and selling it to locals. Those three songs would eventually be released on a split seven inch with New York's Neglect in 1995...

's 2008 DVD Live Dominance (Koch Records

Koch Records

E1 Music , the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is the largest independent record label in the United States. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal...

, 2008), which made its debut at poistion No. 1 on Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

s Top Music Videos chart. Kauffman also produced four webisode shorts for Burnt By The Sun

Burnt by the Sun (band)

Burnt by the Sun was a band from New Jersey, USA. Formed in November 1999 by ex-Human Remains drummer Dave Witte and guitarist John Adubato. ex-For the Love of... Vocalist Mike Olender and bassist Ted Patterson joined soon after. A split EP with The Luddite Clone on Ferret Records brought them to...

 to promote Heart of Darkness (Relapse Records

Relapse Records

Relapse Records is an independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990.-History:The label was started by Matthew F. Jacobson in August, 1990 in his parents' basement in Aurora, Colorado...

, 2009), included with the release as DVD bonus content. He wrote liner notes to Generica, an anthology release from New Jersey band The Degenerics.

Issue Oriented (the podcast)

Kauffman also produces and hosts a popular podcast called Issue Oriented, which is widely considered to be one of the best podcasts for fans of punk, indie, hardcore and metal. (The June 2008 issue of Revolver magazine called Issue Oriented "The preeminent podcast of its kind" DecoyMusic.com called the show "phenomenal" among other accolades received.) The show consists largely of interviews conducted by Kauffman with various personalities from across independent culture but based mostly in music. Notable individual who have appeared on Issue Oriented include Mick Jones

Mick Jones (The Clash)

Michael Geoffrey "Mick" Jones is the former lead guitarist, secondary vocalist and co-founder for the British punk rock band The Clash until his dismissal in 1983. He went on to form the band Big Audio Dynamite with Don Letts before line-up changes led to the formation of Big Audio Dynamite II and...

 (The Clash

The Clash

The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...

), Jesse Michaels

Jesse Michaels

Jesse Michaels is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and artist from Berkeley, California. He is the son of the deceased author Leonard Michaels. His lyrics deal with politics, racism, and general social issues.-Musical overview:...

 (Operation Ivy

Operation Ivy (band)

Operation Ivy was an American ska punk band that formed in Berkeley, California, and was often credited with spurring the 1990s punk revival in California. It is well-known as one of the first bands to "mix" hardcore punk with elements of ska, known as ska-core...

), Ben Weinman

Ben Weinman

Ben Weinman is an American musician, who is most notable for being the lead guitarist for the band The Dillinger Escape Plan. He is the founder and only original member remaining in the band....

 (The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...

), Geoff Rickly

Geoff Rickly

Geoffrey William Rickly Geoffrey William Rickly Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979 is the lead singer and songwriter of Thursday, an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. They have released six studio albums. Rickly grew up in Dumont, New Jersey...

 (Thursday

Thursday (band)

Thursday were an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Formed in 1997, the group has released six full-length albums, their most recent being No Devolución, which was released in April 2011 on Epitaph Records...

), Dallas Coyle (God Forbid

God Forbid

God Forbid is an American heavy metal band formed in 1996 in East Brunswick, New Jersey.-Biography:Building up a following in the late 1990s by touring with bands such as GWAR, Nile, Cradle of Filth and Candiria, God Forbid's first full album Reject the Sickness was released by 9 Volt Records in 1999...

), Greg Attonito (The Bouncing Souls

The Bouncing Souls

The Bouncing Souls are a punk rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1987. By the time of their acknowledgment by the national punk rock scene, they had reignited a "pogo" element to New Jersey punk rock by playing fast light-hearted songs, a model followed by various other local...

), Dan Yemin

Dan Yemin

Daniel Yemin, Ph.D is a vocalist and musician in the melodic hardcore punk scene.-Music and career:He played guitar in the early 1990s with the band Lifetime, and in the late 1990s with Kid Dynamite. Yemin also played in Ressurection...

 (Lifetime

Lifetime (band)

Lifetime is an American melodic hardcore/emo band from New Jersey. Lifetime was formed in 1990 and disbanded in 1997. In late 2005, they announced their reunion.-History:...

/Paint It Black

Paint It Black (band)

Paint It Black is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based modern hardcore punk band. Their music is often described as melodic hardcore, characterized by fast tempos, catchy melodies and emotionally charged vocals delivered via shouting and singing...

), Ben Weasel

Ben Weasel

Ben Weasel is a punk rock musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of bands Screeching Weasel and The Riverdales...

 (Screeching Weasel

Screeching Weasel

Screeching Weasel is an American punk rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1986 by Ben Weasel and John Jughead.Since their formation, Screeching Weasel have broken up and reformed numerous times with numerous line-up changes. Ben Weasel has been the only constant...

), John Joseph

John Joseph (rock singer)

John Joseph McGowan is a punk rock singer from New York City, most famous for his work with the Cro-Mags in the 1980s.Joseph was raised in foster care and grew up on the streets of New York. He was the lead singer for the New York hardcore punk band Cro-Mags from 1984 until 1987, though he...

 (Cro-Mags

Cro-Mags

Cro-Mags are a hardcore punk turned crossover thrash band from New York City. The band, which had a strong cult following, released many records, their first two considered the most influential...

), Chuck Ragan

Chuck Ragan

Chuck Ragan is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. From 1993 until 2006 he was one of the lead singers for Gainesville, Florida-based punk rock band Hot Water Music...

 (Hot Water Music

Hot Water Music

Hot Water Music is a punk rock band from Gainesville, Florida. The members of the band are Chuck Ragan, Chris Wollard, Jason Black, and George Rebelo. HWM first formed in 1993...

) and many more.

In 2008, Issue Oriented was nominated for a Podcast Award in the Entertainment category. The show was also nominated for a 2008 Weblog Award in the Podcast category.

Music

In his capacity as lyricist and vocalist for the bands Zombie Apocalypse and try.fail.try., Kauffman's writing involves personal development as well as socio-political themes related to economic justice, sexism and human rights. The lyrics to try.fail.try songs are more overtly political than those written later for Zombie Apocalypse, dealing explicitly with questions about capitalism ("One World"), beauty culture ("Within"), community ("Brunswick Swingers") and more. Zombie Apocalypse lyrics are generally more abstract but still deal directly with questions about the human experience in the material world. In this band, Kauffman's lyrics are more tightly bound to specific metaphors of death, re-animation, and the end of the world as literary mechanisms which communicate notions of self-preservation ("Breaking Off Fingers"), the automation of modern society and its effect on the human experience ("The Dead In the Queue") and gender inequality.

In addition to try.fail.try and Zombie Apocalypse, Kauffman wrote and sang for a short-lived band called The Hostage, also including ex-members of Pencey Prep and The Banner.

External links

• http://www.RonenKauffman.com RonenKauffman.com
• http://www.issueoriented.com IssueOriented.com