Jeff Ott (born June 24, 1970) is an activist, musician, author, and longtime member of the Berkeley

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

community, best known for playing guitar and singing in the bands

Crimpshrine Crimpshrine was an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California. The group was formed in 1982 by Aaron Cometbus, founder of the seminal punk rock zine '' Cometbus'', and future Operation Ivy vocalist Jesse Michaels. They grew out of the ...

and Fifteen.

Early life

Ott was born on June 24, 1970 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

and began playing music at the age of four. He was physically and sexually abused as a child and ran away from home at the age of 13. Ott became a

gutter punk A gutter punk is a homeless or transient individual who displays a variety of specific lifestyle traits and characteristics that often, but not always, are associated with the punk subculture. Attributes may include unkempt dreadlocks, nose ring ...

, living on the streets of Berkeley for 11 years.

Crimpshrine: 1982-1989

Ott joined his first band, S.A.G., in 1982 at age 12. His 13-year-old friends

Aaron Cometbus Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine ''Cometbus''. Career Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus started ...

and

Jesse Michaels Jesse Michaels (born 1969) is an American songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, artist, and author from Berkeley, California. His lyrics deal with politics, racism, and general social issues. He is most well known as the vocalist for the ska punk ba ...

(later of

Operation Ivy Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Is ...

) played guitar and sang.''Sleep, What's That?'' liner notes. Retrieved 2014-08-23 Ott started out on drums but soon swapped instruments with Cometbus. Micha