In 1960s Akron, Ohio’s most famous export was the car tyre. Known as the “rubber capital of the world”, the city’s towering smokestacks would pump out the stench of burning rubber, which made the streets smell like rotten eggs.
“It was a depressing landscape,” recalls Gerald Casale. “But that’s often where innovative creativity is born. If you’re a creative person in this oppressive environment with no future you either give up or you rise up.”
