John Waters Talks Hosting Mosswood Meltdown, What He Thinks of AI & Which Punk Singer He’d Cast in a Film
Categoria: Musica
The Oakland festival features Iggy Pop, Bikini Kill, Pavement and more from July 17 to 19.
Por Billboard | 18/06/2026
“Punks are my people,” says John Waters, the infamous director whose transgressive, low-budget ’70s films helped spawn the midnight movie phenomenon around the same time punk rock was offering up an equally raw musical alternative to mainstream fare. Though he eschews tattoos and lives in suit jackets, Waters tells Billboard he feels more at home in a punk bar than a gay bar. “Punks are usually never square. Some gay people are, and the gay people I like would be in the punk bar and are often on the down low, which I find kind of refreshing in today’s world where everybody knows everything about everyone’s life.” The cult icon is in the midst of prep work for his July 17-19 hosting gig at the Mosswood Meltdown festival in Oakland, Calif. He first emceed the punk fest in 2015 and has been doing it ever since, thanks to a kinship with the festgoers and an affinity for the Bay Area city. Headlined by Iggy Pop (July 18) and Bikini Kill (July 19) with a pre-party performance from Pavement (July 17), Mosswood Meltdown 2026 also features Otoboke Beaver, Mannequin Pussy, The Return of Jackie and Judy (a Ramones tribute band courtesy Sleater-Kinney and Fred Armisen), The Dead Milkmen, Wednesday, Vivian Girls and more. (You can see the full lineup on the festival’s site .) Ahead of this year’s fest, Waters talked to Billboard (“No. 1 with a bullet,” he quipped after telling us he was a subscriber, then added, “it’s so expensive”) about his writing process for this gig, what he thinks about using AI to create and which punk musician he’d consider putting in a movie. You’ve been emceeing this festival since 2015. Back in the ‘70s, was punk your music? Were you listening to the Stooges, Dead Boys, Jayne County? I loved all of them. I think that Pink Flamingos [1972] was a punk movie before there was such a thing. Certainly the punk attitude was in all my films from the very beginning, but finally there was a movement that celebrated that. I love the music, yes. I’m still friends with Jayne County; I saw Jayne County recently in Atlanta. I’m hoping we can get her at Mosswood one year. The Pink Flamingos comparison makes sense. If Babs Johnson were at a punk festival, she would be in her element. When she’s screaming “filth is my politics, filth is my life,” that’s a pretty punk mantle of power. This year’s lineup includes Iggy Pop, who you directed in Cry Baby . Is there anyone else in this year’s lineup that, if you were making a film, you would love to put in it, either as a cameo or a star? Oh, that’s a good one. You know, let’s see … I haven’t seen Pavement live ever, I know there’s a great excitement. I think some of the women in some of the groups look like they would definitely be Dreamland. [Waters’ frequent collaborators are called Dreamlanders.] Peaches Christ is my old friend; Peaches Christ has had Mink Stole [on] tours with him. So I guess if I was going to put anybody in it, I don’t know