Words: Alison Mack
It seems to have become almost de rigueur for rock stars to temporarily put aside the mic, lay down the guitar, and set their thoughts to recalling all in several hundred pages of autobiographical text. From Slash to Morrissey, John Lydon to Keith Richards, Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries to former Slits guitarist Viv Albertine, they can't resist telling it all and laying bare the detritus of life and love, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.
Founding member of Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon, made the New York Times bestseller list with her memoir, Girl in a Band, on publication last month. Her story of life as an artist, of music, marriage, motherhood, independence, and as one of the first women of rock and roll, tells of her family, growing up in California in the '60s and '70s, her life in visual art, her move to New York City, the men in her life, marriage, and the rise of Sonic Youth, the band who helped pave the way for Nirvana, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins.
Gordon was interviewed two weeks ago by Sleater-Kinney's Carrie
Brownstein at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, for the latest installment of its Arts & Ideas series. Over 60 minutes, the two discussed the process of writing books and being a woman in a band.
Brownstein herself will release her own autobiography, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, in October, which she has said will focus on her career as a musician, adding that the book “pretty much ends with Sleater-Kinney going on hiatus, and a little bit of leading on from that...it’s about my journey to becoming just a musician."
And they are not the only ones with s tale to tell. We look at a few others with proposed literary works in the offing.
Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr intends to follow Morrissey on the memoir path, announcing that his own autobiography will appear in autumn 2016.
“For the past few years, as I’ve been out on tour promoting my solo work, fans and journalists have been asking me when I’ll write my book,” he says. “I’m very happy to say that the time has come to tell my story.” According to Ben Dunn, director of publishing house Century, “It’s the book Smiths fans have been waiting their whole lives for, and the early material that Johnny has written is utterly breathtaking"
Elvis Costello, one of those at the forefront of the 70s punk and new wave scene, has already drafted his book aboit his life and musical career. Published this October, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink covers Costello’s personal and family life, as well as anecdotes on fellow musicians, and the creation of his songs such as 'Watching The Detectives' 'My Aim Is True', 'This Year's Model' and many others.
Nick Cave began a project when his Bad Seeds band toured North America which has now become a full-fledged book. The Sick Bag Song is a book he wrote entirely on airplane sick bags. According to a press release, the book “blends poetry, lyrics, memories, musings, flights of fancy and journal entries.” The book will be available as an “unlimited” hardcover, which will include audiobook and E-book - and an actual sick bag that Cave will customize. Cave will be reading from the book at a few events, including April 16 in London at Porchester Hall, Paddington.
Ronnie Wood is set to publish his teen diaries dating back to 1965, charting his time in The Birds. Out in May via Genesis Publications, the book, entitled How Can It Be? A Rock & Roll Diary, follows the guitarist’s early experiences in a band.
“I suppose my own private world is in the diary,” he says. “This diary shows what an amazing schedule I had. We’d be travelling the length and breadth of the country every day. With youth on our side, it was a continuing adventure...It was enough to chase the girls, enough to write songs, enough to rehearse and enough to travel. It was all go, all the time.” The book covers “his adventures in the mid-60s London music scene, including his interactions with the Who’s Pete Townshend and Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Marianne Faithfull and many othets." Limited to just 1,965 copies, the book follows Wood’s autobiography Ronnie, which came out in 2007.
Blues rock guitarist and member of Sixties band The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, has signed a publishing deal with the same London publishing group as Wood to release a high-quality "signed, limited edition" autobiography, with a proposed publication date for 'late 2015'.
Another rock legend, John Fogerty, celebrating over 47 years in the industry, including his time with Creedence Clearwater Revival, started work on an autobiography in 2013 and hopes to complete and publish before the end of 2015. "I'm in the middle of digesting it," Fogerty reports. "It's finished, but it's not done. I'm going through it and figuring out what should have more emphasis and what should have less. So right now I'm knee-deep in that process.”
Country star Willie Nelson has had a lengthy career in music, so expect It's a Long Story: My Life, published on May 5 - a few days after his 82nd birthday - to be a rich read, spanning his small-town Texas upbringing during the Great Depression to his status as an American music icon.
That's Entertainment: My Life in the Jam, published on May 12 by Omnibus Press, is the first full account by a member of The Jam. Drummer Rick Butler's autobiography details the early years growing growing up in Woking, meeting fellow members Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton at school, the formation of the band and signing to Polydor, describing what it was like being a part of the music industry during the 70s and 80s and some of the characters who he met along the way including the Ramones, John Enwhistle, Sid Vicious, Blondie, Boy George and Paul McCartney. After The Jam’s split in 1982, Rick gives a candid account of how he coped and his subsequent relationship with Paul and Bruce.
Black leather jackets, ripped jeans, bowl haircuts and three chords defined the Ramones. With their two minute punk songs they made their mark from New York City to London. Drummer Marky Ramone played with the band for 15 years, and in this autobiography (published in January), Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life As A Ramone, co-written with Rich Hershlag, he tells of the ups and downs during his time in one of the most influential and iconic bands in rock music.
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