Indie From Now On: John Sellers

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IMAGINE LOVING A BAND so intensely that the majority of the most frequently played songs on your iTunes are by said band.

Now imagine that band despising you.

When it comes to Guided By Voices, John Sellers doesn't need to.

"There was a touch-and-go moment when I thought 'Aww man I really screwed up. My favorite band hates my guts,'" he said.

How so?

To find out, pick up Sellers' recent book, "Perfect From Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life," or stop by to hear the author read Monday at the F.W. Thomas Performance Series at the Warehouse Theater on Monday. (Sellers will be joined by artist Mike Lowery and arts writer and Express contributor Glenn Dixon for a chat titled "Are You Ready to Rock?")

Rest assured, everyone gets along now, but Sellers' humbling journey of musical exploration is a story in itself — hence the book.

When it comes to charting a listener's musical evolution, most people would need a moment or two to think. Not Sellers.

"The first band I was really into was Duran Duran to INXS to U2 to New Order to The Smiths and Joy Division concurrently, and then that changed to The Pixies to Nirvana, Pavement, and then I'd say Sebadoh, Yo La Tengo and then Guided By Voices," he rattled off easily.

Although there's still the issue of defining what "indie" actually means these days.

"It's a case-by-case basis," Sellers says. "It used to be that you could look at the label and say, 'Oh, this is an indie label, so everyone on it is an indie band.' And, obviously, you can still say that about the more obscure indie labels, [but] there's just been a lot of changes in the music industry over the last decade or two that has changed what the whole concept of 'indie' is."

Such as?

"Sonic Youth has been on a major label for 10, 15 years now and I don't think there are many bands that are more indie in spirit," he says. "The White Stripes are on a major label; they still seem somewhat indie. Modest Mouse, they're on a major label. Arcade Fire isn't, but they, in a way, seem like a major label band. It's a case-by-case basis. My big one is The Fray. They're [considered] an indie band and they're totally not."

This from a man whose book title says the difficult-to-pin-down genre "saved his life" — well sorta.

"When I say 'saved' it's somewhat my version of religion, and listening to The Smiths and The Pixies when I was younger, I had an awakening," Sellers said. "I definitely turned into somebody slightly different and it made me think about the world in a different way. ... It didn't really save my life at all. I'm the same dorky guy I always was; I just listen to different music now.

"The one thing it has saved me from is wearing faded acid-washed jeans and wearing my Detroit Tigers baseball cap backward and having a mullet."

Hey, that's good enough.

» Warehouse Theater, 1021 7th St. NW; Mon., 7:30 p.m., $5; 202-783-3933. (Gallery Place-Chinatown, Mt. Vernon Sq.)

Photo by Emily Wilson