A punk rock farm in the Ocean State

On a 90-degree Sunday morning in July, Bernie, Randy and Andre traveled just north of Newport to Middletown, RI to visit Simmons Organic Farm.  Simmons Farm occupies 120 acres overlooking Nantucket Bay, specializing in growing traditional and heirloom produce and offering pasture raised eggs, grass-fed beef, pastured pork and seasonal offerings of lamb and goat meat.  They also make their own Farmstead Cheese.  There are many other farms in this part of Rhode Island, but Simmons Farm is unique for a few reasons – they are an officially certified Organic farm and the owners and employees of this farm are unusual in the best possible way.  We have been friends with Brian Simmons, the operator of the farm, for almost 20 years now but we first came to know Brian and his family through music, not food.  Brian also owns and operates Atomic Action records and he has released many records with Bernie and Randy in the last 20+ years, but we'll get to that part of the story soon.  Read on to learn the why Brian is the most punk-rock farmer we know. 

Interview by Bernie and Randy.  Most photos by Andre.  Words by Bernie. 


Brian, Randy, Bernie (and the baby) - pic by Andre

Randy and Brian at the farm (photo by Tanja Larsen)

Pic below by Andre

A Condensed History of Simmons Farm

Brian's grandfather begin the farm decades ago, and primarily operated it as a dairy farm.  Brian’s grandfather sold his products to commercial buyers and was very reliant on the prices and demands of the food market.  Brian’s father went on to become a grain salesman, but he stayed close and continued to help out around the farm.  In the late 1990s Brian and wife Karla were working jobs outside the farm, but they began to contribute to the farm by growing more vegetables and exploring the possibilities of selling at farmers markets.  13 years ago, Brian and Karla officially left their steady jobs to become a full-time farming family.  Brian had a lot of farming knowledge from growing up on the farm, but he says it was really “trial and error that helped us become who we are today.”  In the past, when it came time to sell the farm's produce, Brian's grandfather used to sell to distributors, not to the general public.  Many small farms operate this way, but since Brian’s family has taken over the farm, he's changed things around a bit.  Simmons Farm has diversified their crops and dairy production, which Brian believes makes him more flexible when prices of certain commodities drop. Simmons Farm also became organically certified about 10 years ago.  At that time, the certifications were being granted and managed by private contractors.  In the early 2000’s, the USDA began oversight of the organic certification and now Simmons Farm works with local and federal employees to maintain their certification. 

Sunflowers for the CSA - pic by Andre

The Business of Farming

Simmons Farm primarily sells food at farmers markets and through 250-300 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares directly on his farm. The CSA process is simple: each spring, customers pay up-front for a season’s worth of vegetables – essentially becoming partners in the farming process.  Simmons Farm uses this start-up money to buy seeds, fuel for equipment, stakes for tomatoes, compost, and other expenses.  When it comes time to harvest, the CSA members visit the farm weekly to pick up their share of the produce or meat.  This process is meaningful for many reasons: Farms have historically fed their neighbors but the move to a global food system has seriously diluted this process.  Small farmers rarely supply local grocery stores, so the farmer’s options to sell meat, dairy and vegetables have been significantly limited.  Farmers markets and CSA’s are the financial and communal backbones of many local farms. 

Pic by Andre

But CSA memberships also involve some element of risk.  If a disease damages all the cucumber plants, you may not get cucumbers this year.  If a particularly good tomato season happens, you may find yourself finding ways to use 10lbs of tomatoes every week for 8 weeks.   Five years ago, a blight affected tomatoes in most of RI, and in recent years certain crops have been affected by disease or unfavorable weather but Brian says “our CSA members understand that that's the nature of our life and they are supportive of this.  An educated consumer is the best kind of consumer because they know what they're getting into and they like the spirit of supporting a local farm and buying good food.”  Operating a CSA and selling at farmers markets takes patience, knowledge and customer service.  This is where Karla Simmons comes in. 

Karla Simmons (center in pic)

“Karla knows how to talk to people she's the figurehead of the company. She is very good at making people feel like they are not just another customer and she remembers everyone’ names, their kids’ names, and she gives the spiel about that week’s harvest to our customers.”  Karla also manages the email newsletters helps with the day-to-day operations of the farm, including making cheese.  Brian says he forces himself to go to a farmers market every week or so, otherwise he’d just spend all his time working on the farm.  It’s clear Brian is very focused on the operations of the farm, but he also sees the value of being connected to his community and neighbors. 

What does Organic really mean?

Bernie's editorial:  Despite my skepticism about the USDA overseeing the organic certification process, Brian said the bureaucracy and paperwork process is still manageable.  It costs about $200 a year to maintain the certification and most of this cost is refunded to the farm thanks to grants.  The local organic inspector works for a private inspection company and he visits the farm every spring.  Brian is proud that Simmons Farm is officially certified organic, but when the process of organic certification transitioned from local oversight to the USDA in the early 2000’s, this resulted in more and more “approved organic” chemicals being added to the Acceptable Use list.  USDA also favors a national model which doesn’t allow for local farmers to adapt the USDA process to the varied growing conditions across the country.  Certain compounds (like copper) are approved for organic applications, but Brian uses this material cautiously because it can permanently alter the soil composition.  When we asked Brian about the organic frenzy that seems to be taking place, he said “I wonder where this is going to end - the list of chemicals keeps growing and I honestly favor pre-World War II methods of farming, before nitrogen with available as a commercial fertilizer.” 

Pic by Andre

Large-scale commercial farms are rushing to cash in on the organic trend, but many of these large organic farms use farming practices that push the boundaries of what is allowed on an organic farm.  Some large factory farms and dairies have rushed to develop organic programs so they can sell organic food in stores like Target and Walmart, at a low cost and high volume.  Brian said this trend reminds him of when a certain kind of music becomes popular, big companies get involved and things become watered-down and the sprit is lost.  We discussed some recent violations by larger organic farms, which adds even more skepticism about what an organic certification really means in 2013. 

Brian is unsure if the farm will maintain its official organic certification in the future – Brian says his farming methods will always meet (and often exceed) the organic certifications set by USDA, regardless of his farm’s official certification.  Like many bands do when their type of music becomes trendy, some organic farms are unplugging from the USDA system and going grassroots.  Through conversations with his CSA members and farmers market customers Brian is able to let people know about his farming practices to reassure people that they are safe and healthy. Simmons Farm works hard to build relationships with each customer, to reassure customers that their food is safe. 

On the topic of genetically modified food, Brian said “One of the good things about living in a non-agricultural area is that there's not a lot of genetically modified food growing nearby, but there are genetically modified alfalfa plants that may end up in our area and there is a theoretical threat that bees can carry pollen 10 miles and may be introducing genetically modified food to our farms. It's a real thing, for sure.” 

The Boss-Man

Brian in the Atomic Action office - pic by Andre

It’s not uncommon for farmers to have a rebellious streak or an uncompromising desire to honor the traditions of the past.  Brian is not your usual employer.  Brian says that letting his employees work shorter weeks and holding their jobs while they are on tour has worked well for everyone at the farm.  “Some days we are short-handed, but we always make it work.  About half of our employees are in bands, luckily they aren’t all in the same band this year.  We always ask the guys to try and be here in August.  Raindance is touring a lot now – they might tour 7 or 8 times a year.  Some of those guys work here at the farm and they always work hard here so they can go out and work hard on tour.” 

Atomic Action Records –the early years

In the late 1980’s, Brian and his friend Lars from Uppercut and Side by Side released their first 7”, by Alone in a Crowd.  At that time, Brian was involved with helping promote local shows and writing Constant Change zine.  The history becomes a little fuzzy from here, but Brian began Flux Records with some friends and then went on to release about 6 records as Constant Change Records.  Constant Change’s final release was a compilation called Atomic Action.  From there, Brian began using that name, and Atomic Action’s first official release was the Handgun 7” by Glazed Baby in 1993. 

Atomic Action released albums steadily throughout the 1990’s and Brian says Atomic Action tried to capture the noisy Rhode Island sound that was developing at the time.  Brian also had strong ties to the DC-sound, so he wanted to bring that out in his releases. “One of my big early punk/hardcore moments was in 1983 -  I went to go see Youth Brigade at the Living Room and before the show we went to a record shop and there's Youth Brigade hanging out outside skating and hanging out.  We talked and them for a while, talked about their mom and their shitty bus they were touring in, then at the show they were like ‘ we wanna thank all the Newport kids for coming out tonight.’  I was like, wow, these are real guys.  Just regular guys.  When you see bands play in basements or halls, you feel like you’re family.  Like, ‘hey I know that guy.’  I took my son to the Warped Tour a few years ago and it was disgusting.  You couldn’t get within 300 feet of the bands and I don’t even know how to relate to that.”  

“In the early years of Atomic Action, I would say to bands: I like this, let’s make this work.  That approach works for so long, but then you don’t always make money.  But I never wanted the label to be a job, I never wanted to have to make decisions to make money.  Lumberjack distribution was helpful in the late 1990’s and this got me paid me every month.  In the late 90’s I paid a lot of attention to Beltaine and did, like, 300 radio promos and group ads in Thrasher and Alternative Press.”  When Beltaine broke up in the late 1990’s, “that really took the wind out of my sail.”  Brian said that happened at the same time he and Karla were starting to get more involved with the farm, so he took a break from the label around 2000. 

Atomic Action Records – the 2010’s

Since taking over the farm, Brian has stayed connected to the RI music scene but it was a couple years ago when he saw some bands play at the Knights of Columbus hall and “the band asked me what they should be doing, and I said ‘you're doing it exactly right.  Play these types of shows.’  “Things weren’t better in the 90's, things aren’t better now, music is the same as it’s always been.  Music is the same whether it's hardcore for top 40 – whoever’s going to tour the most and be in people’s faces the most those are the guys that are going to succeed.  That’s the formula, nothing else. Right now, Fucking Invincible is selling really well and they are doing great shows. Actually, most of our bands are really busy and are busting their asses.” 

Photo: Angela Owens

Is going through a record distributor necessary in 2013?  “I don’t think so, and I only want to do vinyl.  I’ve always loved vinyl, so it’s great that it’s selling well again.  I like to know when I’ll get paid for sales, and I’m not sure I want to deal with waiting for a distributor to pay me.  Cargo always treated me well in the past, and Revelation and Newbury Comics pay like clockwork, so those are distributors I like to work with.”  Brian has built a way of rarely dealing with the middle man – selling to customers at farmers markets and selling directly to Atomic Action’s customers. 

Recently, many Atomic Action bands have been recording with Keith Souza and Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI.  This is nothing new - Keith and Brian have been working together for 20 years now and Brian is also booking shows with Keith and Seth at Machines with Magnets.  

For Empty Flowers, working with Brian and Keith again was an easy decision. They are old friends that we know we can trust and rely on.  The goal of Empty Flowers is to make music at our own pace with no agenda of how we sound or who we play shows with.  Brian has been booking great shows in Rhode Island for over 20 years now and for bands to have a relationship with someone that lasts that long is really unusual.  Brian also works with old friends that aren’t on Atomic Action– in May 2013, Brian booked a show for Red Hare, the new band with members of Swiz. 

When I asked Brian how he manages modern life with the internet, Facebook, and email, he picked up his iPhone – “this thing right here.”  I asked Brian if he takes calls when he’s driving the tractor, “Hell yeah that’s when I’m always on the phone.  I try to answer everything right away.”  Randy was quick to point out that Brian booked Empty Flowers’ first show from his tractor.  Brian said “there is nothing cooler that working with bands that I know and they know my schedule.   They know that if I’m not able to release a record right away, it’s not because I’m messing around – I’m running the farm.”   Now that summer is underway, Brian has someone helping him do Atomic Action’s mailorder each week. 

Atomic Action presses relatively low runs of vinyl, almost always doing colored vinyl and limited-number packaging.  The quality is much higher than other small labels, and the finished products are always something special.   

What it all Means

Punk rock isn’t something you're supposed to grow out of when you get older.  If we develop strong principles and ideas when we're in our early twenties, there's no reason this shouldn’t continue to influence our lives as we get older.  In fact, an idealistic 20 year old usually has a lot less influence on the world when he's young.  When we get older and can make decisions about who we work with, how we spend our money and what moves we make in the world -- this is when we can affect the most change.  Hopefully your taste in music doesn’t change when you get older, but  foundation of doing things yourself, working with good people, and taking care of your friends and family shouldn't change.  If you’ve given that up, you’ve sold out.  

Don’t buy the things that magazines and grocery stores are trying to sell you - buy from the artist, buy from the farmer.  Brian is his own boss, he works with people he likes, he takes care of his community and his family.  Looking at Brian’s accomplishments in the last 20 years, I’m tempted to try and attach a deep meaning to his work, to show how his strong ethics have let him put his stamp on the world, but I suppose Brian said it best: “Look man, I don’t want to alienate anyone, I just wanna sell some vegetables.”  

You can buy things from Atomic Action here.

You can follow Atomic Action here.

You can listen to Atomic Action bands here.

You can join Simmons Farm's CSA here.

You can follow Simmons Farm here.

The noise in Pawtucket, RI

On 5/25/13, Empty Flowers played our first show at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, RI.  Empty Flowers has recorded our first two albums at Machines with Magnets, which is a multi-use art and music space.  Like we mentioned in our first blog post, our band is working hard to do things with the right people.  We are grateful to have so many creative, helpful and sincere friends that allow us to keep things within our circle of people we know and trust.  The show was booked by Brian Simmons at Atomic Action Records, who released our 7" this year, and will be releasing the vinyl version of our upcoming album "Five".  Brian has been working with Randy and Bernie's other bands for almost 20 years, and we're so happy Atomic Action is still releasing music.  In his spare time, Brian and his family operate one of Rhode Island's largest organic farms.

Brendon Simmons (Brian's son) created these excellent, hand-numbered prints for the show.  They were  printed in Rhode Island by Paul at Teeth Like Swords printing.

At the last minute, we decided to do make a limited run of Empty Flowers t-shirts.  Our old friend Rich Hall created this t-shirt design for us with about a week's notice.  You can check out Rich's 1000 Knives Etsy shop here.

Dylan Kulpa printed the t-shirts for us in about one day.  Dylan also works at Simmons' Farm, so we were once again able to keep all our business in the "family."  You can buy a shirt here.

Dischord Record's very own Red Hare headlined the show.  You've probably already heard that Red Hare is basically a modern incarnation of the amazing band Swiz.  These guys are doing it right - they aren't re-hashing their old music for a reunion tour, but they're writing brand new music that's just as good as their old stuff.  These guys are the real deal, and if you see them play live you'll know what we're talking about.

Daltonic, Sweet Jesus, and Suicide Pact also played, making it a full night of loud and unusual sounds.

We will hopefully be posting more pictures soon.