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Train Wrecks & Transcendence: A Collision of Hardcore & Hare Krishna
Vic's memoir describes not only what it was like to be in bands with people like Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, Ray Cappo of Youth of Today, and Tom Capone and Alan Cage of Quicksand... it also describes what it was like to search for Krishna while being a Hardcore Straightedge Punk, and what it was like to struggle with the simultaneously wonderful and horrible International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the Hare Krishnas.
- GenresMusic
350 pages, Paperback
Published May 4, 2016
About the author
Vic DiCara
22 books24 followersBorn in Bay Shore, New York on July 27th, 1970 at 19:38, Vic DiCara was fascinated with astronomy as a young child.
He became a hardcore-punk guitarist and songwriter in his late teens, and soon thereafter became deeply involved in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, living for roughly 8 years in temples - studying elaborately and embarking on months of extended pilgrimages to the holy places of India.
He was initiated into the Gaudiya-sampradaya and received the name Vraja Kishor das, along with the brahminical thread. He studied sacred Sanskrit texts extensively under his guru, and wrote prolifically to a huge international audience. In his later twenties he married and was blessed with a beautiful family.
He began practicing astrology about a decade later and, thanks to his thorough spiritual background and familiarity with Sanskrit, quickly became recognized as an important exponent of the ancient science
He became a hardcore-punk guitarist and songwriter in his late teens, and soon thereafter became deeply involved in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, living for roughly 8 years in temples - studying elaborately and embarking on months of extended pilgrimages to the holy places of India.
He was initiated into the Gaudiya-sampradaya and received the name Vraja Kishor das, along with the brahminical thread. He studied sacred Sanskrit texts extensively under his guru, and wrote prolifically to a huge international audience. In his later twenties he married and was blessed with a beautiful family.
He began practicing astrology about a decade later and, thanks to his thorough spiritual background and familiarity with Sanskrit, quickly became recognized as an important exponent of the ancient science
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 30, 2016
I’ve recently realized after forty-something years that if a conversation isn’t about Hardcore Punk, I have a hard time caring too much about it. This is my first review on Goodreads, of which I am a recent member. It won’t be as eloquent as some of the reviews I’ve read on here, but this book’s subjects are les choses que j’aime.
Train wrecks & Transcendence covers the always fascinating, sometimes confounding and usually controversial subject of the Hara Krishnas and the Krishna Consciousness movement in the Hardcore Punk scene. Influenced by legendary, spiritually inclined bands like Bad Brains (Rastafarianism) and Cro-Mags (Krishna), Vic DiCara was a non-conformist suburban skater/BMX/Hardcore kid seeking answers to worldly questions about the universe. DiCara is a guitarist and writer, and was a member of important and influential bands Beyond, Inside Out, Shelter (the premiere Krishna Consciousness band of the 90’s) and 108.
After a fast ascension through the ranks of the controversial ISKCON’s (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) hierarchy, his spiritual leaders enlisted him to spread Krishna’s word via Hardcore music. DiCara goes on tour with results ranging from glorious to disastrous. We accompany him on a life-changing first trip to India. We are placed in the middle of conflicts with other bands bent on “keeping religion out of punk music.” There is discord with a well-known Krishna-conscious icon of the Hardcore scene. And arguably, most importantly, Vraja nobly fights for equality for women in ISKCON, which, depending on the interpretation of the oft-contradictory words of Swami Prabhupada, considers them lower class. He is met with strong resistance from the misogynistic gate-keepers of ISKCON before taking matter into his own hands, Hardcore style. Finally, there is a stomach-churning betrayal, which makes Vraja question everything, before his life literally goes off the rails.
Vraja is honest and humble, even admitting to some ego-fueled motivations, trying to “out-Krishna” other devotees and begrudging their successes within the religion, wanting to be THE most righteous. He details 108’s ignominious “final” tour in heartbreaking detail (they have since reformed). The writing is powerful, entertaining and humorous (Vraja goes to his Italian grandmother’s funeral in full robes with shaved head and tikala [traditional Krishna facepaint]!). It seems like he has/had PTSD in the form of battered person syndrome from his experience with ISKCON - how long do you blindly love and defend, despite all of the evidence and ugliness you discover?
Oh yeah, and there’s a hilarious cocaine story (Spoiler Alert: does not involve actual ingestion of cocaine).
Highly recommended.
Train wrecks & Transcendence covers the always fascinating, sometimes confounding and usually controversial subject of the Hara Krishnas and the Krishna Consciousness movement in the Hardcore Punk scene. Influenced by legendary, spiritually inclined bands like Bad Brains (Rastafarianism) and Cro-Mags (Krishna), Vic DiCara was a non-conformist suburban skater/BMX/Hardcore kid seeking answers to worldly questions about the universe. DiCara is a guitarist and writer, and was a member of important and influential bands Beyond, Inside Out, Shelter (the premiere Krishna Consciousness band of the 90’s) and 108.
After a fast ascension through the ranks of the controversial ISKCON’s (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) hierarchy, his spiritual leaders enlisted him to spread Krishna’s word via Hardcore music. DiCara goes on tour with results ranging from glorious to disastrous. We accompany him on a life-changing first trip to India. We are placed in the middle of conflicts with other bands bent on “keeping religion out of punk music.” There is discord with a well-known Krishna-conscious icon of the Hardcore scene. And arguably, most importantly, Vraja nobly fights for equality for women in ISKCON, which, depending on the interpretation of the oft-contradictory words of Swami Prabhupada, considers them lower class. He is met with strong resistance from the misogynistic gate-keepers of ISKCON before taking matter into his own hands, Hardcore style. Finally, there is a stomach-churning betrayal, which makes Vraja question everything, before his life literally goes off the rails.
Vraja is honest and humble, even admitting to some ego-fueled motivations, trying to “out-Krishna” other devotees and begrudging their successes within the religion, wanting to be THE most righteous. He details 108’s ignominious “final” tour in heartbreaking detail (they have since reformed). The writing is powerful, entertaining and humorous (Vraja goes to his Italian grandmother’s funeral in full robes with shaved head and tikala [traditional Krishna facepaint]!). It seems like he has/had PTSD in the form of battered person syndrome from his experience with ISKCON - how long do you blindly love and defend, despite all of the evidence and ugliness you discover?
Oh yeah, and there’s a hilarious cocaine story (Spoiler Alert: does not involve actual ingestion of cocaine).
Highly recommended.
November 13, 2017
This book was a real surprise for me. I had been active in ISKCON (the Hare Krishna movement) from 1977 to 79, and have written my own memoirs about those years. I have always been curious about what happened to the movement after I left, and lately I've been reading and reviewing novels, memoirs, etc. by ISKCON devotees and ex-devotees. I never regretted leaving the movement, but in the back of my mind I had wondered what my life would have been like if I had stayed, and I read those books in search of answers to that question.
So I read this book, and it came as a total surprise. I knew that there were good musicians in ISKCON, and I even had albums by some of them. When I found out that Boy George had been involved with ISKCON and had recorded the song Bow Down Mister it was surprising, but it made a kind of sense. It wasn't that different from the songs George Harrison had done about Krishna.
None of this prepared me for the idea of Krishnacore. I had never heard of hardcore Punk before reading this book, and I only know what it sounds like from listening to You Tube videos. It sure doesn't sound like "My Sweet Lord". It isn't my taste, but what is surprising is how different from anything I would associate with ISKCON music it is. If you told me in 1979 that ISKCON would be encouraging people to perform this kind of music I would not have believed you. Heck, if you told me last year I would not have believed you.
The author describes a Hare Krishna movement that is both recognizable as the movement I had joined and very, very different. The problems he identifies in the book were there when I joined up. Definitely the misogyny was always there, which always bugged me. (Oddly enough, I had a really low opinion of women before I set foot in a temple, and it was the women of that temple who changed that. It wasn't like they were trying to do it, but they were so thoughtful and intelligent that they improved my opinion of their whole gender).
Half of the story is about touring as a punk band, sometimes with sannyasins tagging along, and the other half is about being a Krishna devotee in a temple. He knew some of the people I did, although by the time he met them they were all older and mellower. Tamal Krishna Goswami would be an example of someone who is different in the book than I remembered him. At one point he tells a band to make the guitars louder. Definitely not the TKG I had wanted to be my guru.
Clearly a lot of reforms had happened between when I left and when this story begins, but as the author notes the movement still has some serious issues to deal with. The movement wants to remain true to Srila Prabhupada's original teachings, but even that causes problems, as they discover when a translation of an important text suggests that what Prabhupada taught us about how we all wound up in the material world is wrong or at least disputed. It doesn't help that Prabhupada had conflicting opinions on many subjects, something I had noticed from the beginning of my own involvement in ISKCON.
I found the book to be well told and full of interesting incidents, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in ISKCON or punk rock music.
So I read this book, and it came as a total surprise. I knew that there were good musicians in ISKCON, and I even had albums by some of them. When I found out that Boy George had been involved with ISKCON and had recorded the song Bow Down Mister it was surprising, but it made a kind of sense. It wasn't that different from the songs George Harrison had done about Krishna.
None of this prepared me for the idea of Krishnacore. I had never heard of hardcore Punk before reading this book, and I only know what it sounds like from listening to You Tube videos. It sure doesn't sound like "My Sweet Lord". It isn't my taste, but what is surprising is how different from anything I would associate with ISKCON music it is. If you told me in 1979 that ISKCON would be encouraging people to perform this kind of music I would not have believed you. Heck, if you told me last year I would not have believed you.
The author describes a Hare Krishna movement that is both recognizable as the movement I had joined and very, very different. The problems he identifies in the book were there when I joined up. Definitely the misogyny was always there, which always bugged me. (Oddly enough, I had a really low opinion of women before I set foot in a temple, and it was the women of that temple who changed that. It wasn't like they were trying to do it, but they were so thoughtful and intelligent that they improved my opinion of their whole gender).
Half of the story is about touring as a punk band, sometimes with sannyasins tagging along, and the other half is about being a Krishna devotee in a temple. He knew some of the people I did, although by the time he met them they were all older and mellower. Tamal Krishna Goswami would be an example of someone who is different in the book than I remembered him. At one point he tells a band to make the guitars louder. Definitely not the TKG I had wanted to be my guru.
Clearly a lot of reforms had happened between when I left and when this story begins, but as the author notes the movement still has some serious issues to deal with. The movement wants to remain true to Srila Prabhupada's original teachings, but even that causes problems, as they discover when a translation of an important text suggests that what Prabhupada taught us about how we all wound up in the material world is wrong or at least disputed. It doesn't help that Prabhupada had conflicting opinions on many subjects, something I had noticed from the beginning of my own involvement in ISKCON.
I found the book to be well told and full of interesting incidents, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in ISKCON or punk rock music.
July 17, 2018
If you're a fan of the early 90's hardcore scene associated with Hare Krishna, this book is for you. It's a great road map to what went on with Inside Out, the early Shelter tours and all of 108. It also gave a ton of first hand views on ISKCON from an insider that was deeply routed in it, and his struggle with all the problems involving it and the choices he made with his life based on it.
December 14, 2022
Ein interessantes Buch über einen Menschen, der einiges erlebt und einige Menschen getroffen hat und letztlich sich selbst finden musste.
Wer denkt, dass Hare Krishna und ISKCON hier hochgelobt werden, soll beruhigt sein. Es ist recht reflektiert und auch als Nicht-Krishna einfach ein gutes Buch. Etwas Interesse an Hardcore-Punk schadet nicht, ist aber auch kein Muss.
Wer denkt, dass Hare Krishna und ISKCON hier hochgelobt werden, soll beruhigt sein. Es ist recht reflektiert und auch als Nicht-Krishna einfach ein gutes Buch. Etwas Interesse an Hardcore-Punk schadet nicht, ist aber auch kein Muss.
January 18, 2023
Fantastically written book, I was not familiar with the author or his story previously. I only knew of the bands he was in so I came in pretty blind. He seems to share many of the views that I have so it was a very easy read. Also it introduced me to even more bands which is always good.
December 23, 2023
Five stars. I think this should be required reading for everyone who's into hardcore and punk. I also wanted to hear Vic's reasons for leaving Inside Out, as well as his take on the mix of hardcore and Krishna.
December 21, 2021
If you were into Krishna Core at all, you should probably read this. Written in short vignettes, quite easy to read and overall very good!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews