Books

New Book ‘DARKER WITH THE DAWN – NICK CAVE’S SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH’ By ADAM STEINER Out December 1

Posted on by JL

16 November 2023


Cover art by Jonny Nicholds

In his new book DARKER WITH THE DAWN: SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH author, journalist and poet ADAM STEINER reflects upon NICK CAVE‘s journey from his Australian childhood to his struggles with drug addiction and young fascination with the nightmare landscapes of America’s Wild West and southern gothic, toward a reckoning with his own Christian spirituality.

In a career spanning four decades, Cave’s songwriting has moved from the sinners and saints of murder ballads to piano-based songs of heartbreak, deconstructed garage rock, and ambient fever dreams. Steiner dives into the world of a complex songwriter who continues to speak to us of the light and shade of humanity.

Darker With The Dawn uncovers the history and deeper meanings behind Nick Cave and
The Bad Seeds’ most well-known songs from “Tupelo”, “The Mercy Seat”, “Red Right Hand”, “Stagger Lee”, “Into My Arms”, to “Higgs Boson Blues” and beyond.

Out on December 1.
Pre-order here.

Mat Snow former editor of Mojo, author of Nick Cave: Sinner Saint: “Nick Cave has created a body of work across music, prose, and screen unmatched in its impact, depth, and erudition by few artists. At last, we have a critical analysis that does this achievement justice. Adam Steiner has set the benchmark for many years to come.”

Adam Steiner is also the author of Into The Never: Nine Inch Nails And The Creation Of The Downward Spiral and the recently published Silhouettes and Shadows – David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). More info on his website.

The Secret History Of Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – New DAVID BOWIE Book ‘SILHOUETTES AND SHADOWS’ Out Now

Posted on by JL

15 September 2023

Book: SILHOUETTES AND SHADOWS
The Secret History of David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

Author: ADAM STEINER
Release: 15 September 2023
Order info here.

An avant-garde pop album rich with tension and fear, 1980’s SCARY MONSTERS (AND SUPER CREEPS) marked a pivotal point in DAVID BOWIE’s career. Standing at the bleeding edge of the new decade between the experimental Berlin Trilogy (Low, Heroes, and Lodger) and 1983’s wildly successful Let’s Dance, it was here Bowie sought to bury the ghosts of his past and the golden decade of the 1970s to become a global superstar reaching millions of new fans.

Featuring fresh insights and exclusive interviews with close collaborators, Adam Steiner ’s Silhouettes and Shadows uncovers the studio stories, meanings behind, and secret history of Scary Monsters. Steiner gives a nuanced, memorable portrait of Bowie at a personal and professional crossroads, drawing on his own struggle with addiction, growing paranoia, and political turmoil.

Including the hit singles Fashion and Ashes to Ashes the album found Bowie riding a new wave of inspiration, from the post-punk of Joy Division, The Specials’ two-tone revolution, and the stadium synth-pop of Gary Numan.

The album marked a final goodbye to Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, and The Thin White Duke, characters and personas that had defined his career: in this rare moment, David Bowie, the costumed clown of romance, suffering, and song, let his mask slip to reveal David Jones, the man within.

Louder Than War about the book: “Steiner seems to have read everything anyone’s written about Bowie’s work, and he’s also done his own interviews too. You get a lot of technical information about what went on in the studio, from producer Tony Visconti, guitarist Robert Fripp and others. You get a lot of information about Bowie’s philosophical and cultural interests, with lengthy digressions about (for example) his relationship with gay culture and religion.” Full review here.


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ADAM STEINER: Website – Instagram

KATHLEEN HANNA Memoir ‘REBEL GIRL: MY LIFE AS A FEMINIST PUNK’ Out In 2024

Posted on by JL

1 September 2023

Legendary Riot Grrrl KATHLEEN HANNA (aged 54) who fronted feminist
punk-noise bands Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and the Julie Ruin is set to release
a memoir, titled Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk

It comes out on 14 May 2024. Pre-order info here.

With Bikini Kill

Press statement: “The memoir traces Hanna’s life from her tumultuous childhood
home to her formative college years in Olympia, Washington, and on to her first years
on tour, fighting hard for gigs and for her band. Hanna makes clear that surviving as a
singer who was a lightning rod for controversy took limitless amounts of determination
as she and her bandmates faced male violence and antagonism at every turn. In an uncut
voice all her own, Hanna reveals the hardest times along with the most joyful — and how
it continues to fuel her revolutionary art and music.

With The Julie Ruin

The book will also dig into the relationships with various bandmates such as Tobi Vail,
Kathi Wilcox, and Johanna Fateman, the time she spent with Kurt Cobain and Ian MacKaye,
her marriage to Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys, battling Lyme disease, and how the Riot Grrrl movement has evolved over the years. ”

The past 2 years Hanna went on a reunion tour with Bikini Kill and does the same
thing now with Le Tigre. Watch them play Primavera Sound Fest in Barcelona last June.

KATHLEEN HANNA: Instagram

Poster This – Talking Heads TINA And CHRIS

Posted on by JL

The former Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club‘s rhythm section,
Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz are married for 46 years now.
A rarity in rock.

Three years ago the pair published a book, titled Remain In Love. In the book Frantz writes about the beginnings of Talking Heads‘s days as art students in Providence, moving to the sparse Chrystie Street loft Frantz, Weymouth, and Byrne shared where the music that defined an era was written. With never-before-seen photos and immersive vivid detail, Frantz describes life on tour, down to the meals eaten and the clothes worn―and reveals the mechanics of a long and complicated working relationship with a mercurial frontman.

Now Tina and Frantz will have a conversation about
it all with fans in the UK for 2 nights (US dates TBA).

This is the poster/artwork for the 2 evenings.

‘GENESIS P-ORRIDGE COMPLETE POEMS 1960’s & 70’s’ Out Now

Posted on by JL

28 April 2023

The late British avant-garde artist GENESIS P-ORRIDGE (born Neil Andrew Megson in 1950 and departed in 2020), the mastermind and voice behind Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV ic TV, Throbbing Gristle and COUM Transmissions, began their artistic journey in the 1960’s writing poetry.

Heartworm Press presents a collection of two decades of poetry, from beat to concrete, and shows the progression of the self, beginning the book under the given name of Neil Megson and eventually growing into the enigmatic Genesis P-Orridge.

The book features over 200 never before seen or published poems
including 70 images. It’s out now. Order info HERE.


(Press photo via Heartworm Press)

Genesis P-Orridge: Bio – Discography

PAUL McCARTNEY Book With Rare BEATLEMANIA Photos Out In June

Posted on by JL

26 April 2023

In 2020, an extraordinary trove of nearly a thousand photographs taken by
PAUL McCARTNEY himself on a 35mm camera was re-discovered in his archive.

They intimately record the months towards the end of 1963 and the beginning of 1964
when Beatlemania erupted in the UK and, after the band’s first visit to the USA, they became the most famous people on the planet.


Selfies Paris, 1964 (press photo via Macca site)

The photographs are Macca’s personal record of this explosive time, when
The Beatles, were inside looking out and were the EYES OF THE STORM.

The book features pictures of these intense, legendary months – Liverpool, London,
Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami – and many never-before-seen portraits
of John, George and Ringo.

Paul McCartney: “Anyone who rediscovers a personal relic or family treasure is instantly flooded with memories and emotions, which then trigger associations buried in the haze of time. This was exactly my experience in seeing these photos, all taken over an intense three-month period of travel, culminating in February 1964. It was a wonderful sensation to be plunged right back.”

Help, indeed

Publishing: 13 June 2023.
Pre-order: here.

Trailer

MACCA: Website

Soul-Funk Icon SLY STONE Has Memoir Coming Up In The Fall

Posted on by JL

28 March 2023

SLY STONE born Sylvester Stewart, 80 years ago in Denton, Texas and his Family Stone squad were global stars in the 60/70s with their dope(d) soul-funk extravangaza. They scored several hit singles and top albums. Stone still performs now and then.

In October his memoir, named Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) after the 1970 hit of the same-name song will be published via White Rabbit in the UK and in the US by AUWA Books (a new imprint launched by Questlove).

More info/pre-order here.

Stone: “For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story, I wasn’t ready. I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It’s been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too.”

Yeah!

SLY STONE: Bio – Discography – Instagram

LOU REED – New Book About His Love For The Martial Art World Of THAI CHI Coming Next Month

Posted on by JL

13 January 2023

A new book called THE ART OF THE STRAIGHT LINE arrives on 14 March.
It captures the energy of LOU REED’s worlds of THAI CHI, music, and
meditation.

It’s edited by his widow Laurie Anderson, assisted
by Stephan Berwick, Bob Currie, and Scott Richman.

Reed was not only a rock ‘n’ roll star/poet, but also an accomplished martial artist whose practice began in the 1980s. He studied with Chen Tai Chi pioneer Master Ren GuangYi.

This book is a comprehensive collection of Reed’s writings on Tai Chi. It includes conversations with Reed’s fellow musicians, artists, friends, and Tai Chi practitioners, including Julian Schnabel, A. M. Homes, Hal Willner, Mingyur Rinpoche, Eddie Stern, Tony Visconti, and Iggy Pop.

The Art of the Straight Line features also Reed’s unpublished writings on the technique, practice, and purpose of martial arts, as well as essays, observations, and riffs on meditation and life.

Order info via publisher
Harper Collins Publishers.

New Book: ‘CHUCK BERRY – An American Life”

Posted on by JL

14 December 2022

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Biographer RJ SMITH crafts a comprehensive portrait of one of the great American entertainers, guitarists, and lyricists of the 20th century, bringing CHUCK BERRY to
life in vivid detail.

Based on interviews, archival research, legal documents, and a deep understanding of Berry’s St. Louis (his birthplace, and the place where he died in March 2017), Smith sheds new light on a man few have ever really understood. By placing his life within the context of the American culture he made and eventually withdrew from, we understand how Berry became such a groundbreaking figure in music, erasing racial boundaries, crafting subtle political commentary, and paying a great price for his success.

While celebrating his accomplishments, the book also does not shy away from troubling aspects of his public and private life, asking profound questions about how and why we separate the art from the artist.

Order info HERE

A Quote from Chuck Berry in the book.

“I wouldn’t say that I single-handedly invented rock ‘n’ roll. You see, there’s all types of
rock ‘n’ roll. There is rock. And there is rooooooll. See what I’m saying? And then there’s
rock ‘n’ roll which is rock ‘n’ roll, hahahaha. It’s just a matter of whatever I’ve accomplished, which is for others to say, I guess.”

CHUCK BERRY: Bio – Discography

New NICK CAVE Photo Book Called ‘…GRACE’ With DEREK RIGERS Shots

Posted on by JL

23 November 2022

Renowned British photographer DEREK RIDGERS (aged 72) has photographed
an array of youth and cultural movements in the UK, street, and alternative London
club scenes. This is the first book published on Ridgers’ early photography that focuses
on a single person as subject. This book comprises material taken from four photographic shoots with NICK CAVE, when Ridgers was working as a freelance photographer and offering material to music press publications of the time.

All formats/order info via publisher BURNING BOOK PRESS.

Taken from Ridgers’ archives and scanned directly from the original photographic transparencies this material has been printed by full colour lithography with the black
and white also being run as full colour to obtain optimal results and high contrast. With this attention this is the best these photographs can be seen.

The pages have been section stitched and hardback bound in a blue cloth with a rounded spine. There is a recessed tip in picture and the title has been gold foil blocked on the front and spine. There is an additional blind image in black on the back cover. Inside an obsolete traditional Heidelberg letterpress was employed to hole cut a perforation running down one of the pages.

DEREK RIDGERS: Website

Photos via Burning Book Press