Reviewed By Steve Earles

(Please note, this book was originally published in 2008 – The Ed)

Another book from the bionic pen of Joel McIver (who clearly shares some traits with his 80s in TV name-same in the resourcefulness department. Thankfully they don’t share the same mullet!).

Now, Slayer is a band I’ve enjoyed listening to for many a year, and I would be ultra-critical had Joel not done them justice (for all!). Thankfully he has, producing a well-researched and eminently readable tome (note to writers-this is the sign of a good writer, if no one enjoys what you’ve written, why bother?). But equally, Slayer is not Midas, not everything they’ve produced is gold, and Joel isn’t afraid to say so. Thus, Joel is rightfully critical of the truly awful Undisputed Attitude (a title sadly undeserved in this case, and surely covering such bands as Motorhead and Black Sabbath would have produced better results, particularly if members of those bands were to guest on the recordings, Not there’s a suggestion for you, Slayer chaps!), the unnecessary nu-metalisms of Diabolus in Musica (and such a shame to waste such a Slayer-esque title on such a poor album), and their bizarre cover of “Born to be Wild”! (Betcha didn’t know that, pop-pickers!)

Overall, a fine, well-researched read, worth getting for the amazing story of Slayer’s support slot with the mighty Venom, which brings new meaning to the phrase ‘taking the piss’!

www.omnibuspress.com

http://www.amazon.ca/Bloody-Reign-Slayer-Joel-McIver/dp/1849383863/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Reviewed By Steve Earles

I first became aware of Glenn Hughes on my 18th birthday via a present of Deep Purple’s Burn album. I was of course already aware of David Coverdale, an MTV-friendly version of Whitesnake being ever-present at the time, but Glenn’s voice and bass-playing was a revelation to me. To this day, ‘Sail Away’ is one of my favourite songs, and I often wonder what this line-up of Purple might have achieved had it stayed together. One of rock music’s great ‘what ifs’. Over the years I became aware of Glenn’s other musical ventures , many (Black Sabbath …uh…featuring Toni Iommi for example) being sadly short-lived and ending badly, this I came to realise was through problems with drugs, but of course, until I read this fine book, I did not know the true story. Credit has to be given here to my friend and writer-extraordinare Joel McIver (the James Brown of rock journalism…he’s definitely the hardest working writer in metal!) for helping Glenn shape and craft his amazing life-story into such a compelling and coherent narrative.

The book is also a joy visually, beautifully designed (courtesy of Andy Vella) and full of rare and unique images and photos, Foruli have to be complemented at raising the bar for rock autobiographies.

I won’t ruin this wonderful rollercoaster ride through the history of rock with spoilers, but man! I will say it’s like the reader suddenly enters a time machine and travels back to through the history of rock and metal, and finds it’s both better and worse than they ever believed. And of course, everyone from Yul Brynner, Ozzy, David Coverdale (which is as it should be!) to Tony Iommi turns up!

As Glenn journeys through his life (as a member of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Trapeze), the reader feels he is experiencing it too. Parts will raise a smile, parts will bring a tear to the eye.

And, most wonderfully of all, it all ends happily for a man who very much deserves the title The Voice of Rock, as clean and sober, he goes from height to height with his fine band Black County Communion. The moral here, is to survive, the wheel of karma really does turn, what goes around comes around.

Featuring a heartfelt introduction from one Lars Ulrich, I heartily recommend with heartily written book.

Someday all rock books will be written and designed this well!

www.joelmciver.co.uk

(Foruli Publications)

Book review by Craig Haze

Metalion’s arrival in my house was treated with the same reverence as the lead-up to the birth of my son—well, it was by me anyway. First, there was the excitement of telling my friends, family, and the odd complete stranger of its conception. Then there was the long drawn-out gestation period where I checked publisher Bazillion Points’ webpage weekly to see if there was any news. Eventually, pictures of its contents were revealed and I was able to proudly show all and sundry images of my soon to be delivered treasure. Then a release date was announced and after I tried unsuccessfully to gather the family round to watch me hit the pre-order button— seriously, how could they not find that exciting—the joyous day finally arrived.

Metalion is an anthology of Slayer Mag, a self-produced zine started by Jon ‘Metalion’ Kristiansen in Sarpsborg, Norway, in 1985. For 25 years Kristiansen documented all the chaos, stylistic changes and cultural shifts within the extreme metal realm. With a mix of ruthless honesty and a whole lot of deadpan black humor, Slayer Mag was frequently referred to as the ‘gospel’ of extreme metal.

With reprints from issue 1 to XX (including glimpses of Kristiansen’s very early work), there are over 700 pages of reprinted interviews, reviews and advertisements, along with memoir styled commentary and contextual explanations. Full praise to Tara G. Warrior’s editing nous, because it must have been a mammoth task to take on. The book is crammed with photos—most are in black and white, but there are some amazing newer shots in full color. There are interviews with an enormous range of bands from the traditional/thrash/speed/death/black metal scenes, many of which were undertaken during bands’ formative years. Some of these were progenitors of their sub-genres, and plenty of them are underground legends.

Kristiansen was lucky enough to have had an insider’s view into the Norwegian and wider European metal scenes, although he never limited his fandom; the book covers artists from throughout the world. Metalion offers an invaluable insight into the seminal years of extreme metal. From within the scene Kristiansen was able to interview and review bands in their earliest incarnations and then track their development. It makes for a fascinating read. You can follow the dissatisfaction some bands felt about the confines of genre, but also see how many loved the fame, controversy and notoriety of their early years. And yes, the Vikernes saga is covered, but from a fresh perspective.

The memoir aspect of the book is captivating. As Kristiansen recounts the stages of his own life, and fluctuations in the scenes, you see him shift from disaffected youth to adulthood, from fan to trusted insider, and from hedonist to, well, slightly less of a hedonist. Everyone grows older in the book, and you see the temperaments of band members change as age wearies them. You get a sense that many bands ultimately mature— some, admittedly, not so much—but at the very least, everyone gains a little perspective and understanding about what exactly they’ve been involved in. That’s my reading so far. Feel free to disagree.

Everyone is in here—everyone who matters anyway: Bolt Thrower, Mayhem, Sepultura, Emperor, Possessed, Slayer, Exodus, Kreator, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Cathedral, Entombed, Gorgoroth, Napalm Death, Opeth, Darkthrone, Sodom, Destruction, Satyricon, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Dissection, Carcass, Death, Enslaved, Pentagram, Immortal, Ulver… The list just runs to literally hundreds of artists.

The book has been produced to the high standard we’ve come to expect from publisher Bazillion Points. It is beautifully put together, with a richly detailed cover, and the pages are laid out perfectly. Like Only Death Is Real, Bazillion’s recent Celtic Frost / Hellhammer book, the overall quality is beyond excellent. It’s abundantly clear that Bazillion are doing this for the love, and the forewords by Fenriz, Stephen O’Malley and Tomas Lindberg, among others, show just how much the magazine was revered. It became an important resource for metal fans around the globe.

Plucking my copy of Metalion from its packaging and staring at those first few pages, I was instantly transported back to my own halcyon youth, to a time where I wasn’t overweight, had a glorious mullet and thought it impossible that Bruce Dickinson would ever consider leaving Iron Maiden. Metalion‘s that kind of book. It doesn’t invoke a sense of saccharine-like nostalgia; it’s more instinctive than that. It shakes you up, revealing long-forgotten memories, not just of the bands covered, but also of your own life, trials and youthful indiscretions. It reminds you why you fucking love heavy metal in the first place. It’s a huge book, in both physical size and sheer wealth of information. Covering extreme metal from the early ’80s right up to 2010, it makes for an intimidating read. But take it slowly, because there’s a lot to digest, and the end result is incredibly rewarding. Metalion is one of the greatest books about metal ever produced.

10/10, A+ and 5 Gold Stars!

(Bazillion Points)

By Steve Earles

Back in 2002, Lemmy published his excellent autobiography White Line Fever; Joel McIver’s Overkill book is the perfect companion to that tome, for while Lemmy’s book was the story of Lemmy, Overkill concentrates on Motorhead and it is a tale splendidly told.

Lemmy’s father abandoned him and his mother, and so he grew up for the first years of his life in a matriarchal household, giving him a very pro-women attitude (in every possible sense of the word!). Indeed, couple that with his love of good manners (something I share, and similar bemoan their decline), he comes across as quite a gentleman, despite the wild image. This is as it should be. The worse people I’ve ever met looked the most respectable, but that was chimerical, what lies beneath is very often vile.

Joel takes the reader on a journey through the 60s with Lemmy and the thing that strikes me, is that unlike so many people today, Lemmy really lived. He wasn’t experiencing life through the soulless zero-empathy internet, no, he was a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and seeing the Beatles up-close (wisely Lemmy doesn’t rate the Stones too highly, seeing them as a brand today rather than a band. My dad saw them back in the day and concurs). In the 70s Lemmy would join the mighty Hawkwind, a band who’ve influenced everyone from Monster Magnet to The Prodigy, and really deserve a lot more respect than they’ve gotten. Lemmy’s longstanding friendship with Hawkwind’s magnificent dancer Stacia is yet another of his endearing features.

Sacked in 1975 from Hawkwind, something Lemmy comments ironically on: “Being sacked from Hawkwind for taking drugs is a bit like being pushed off the Empire State Building for liking heights.” But it is Lemmy’s ousting from the Hawks that led to the birth of Motorhead, and this is where Joel has really produced a book of worth and value. He gives a voice to all the members of Motorhead, and many of the key people connected with them.

Oh, I loved reviewing this book, it was like a time machine back to a golden age, one that importantly still continues, as Motorhead are still as awesome as ever. Motorhead’s story would make a great film indeed, with its incredible highs and lows (often literally!). It’s also important to remember just how influential Motorhead are, while I accept that Lemmy sees the head as a rockn’roll band, nevertheless Motorhead’s influence on metal is gigantic (second only to Black Sabbath and in front of Venom). Without Motorhead, there would have been no Venom, no Metallica (and all that followed therein)! Just think about that, not a nice thought. Moreover, they were highly important to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal because they gave it a shot of energy and aggression at a time when it badly needed it.

Finally, it has also to be said, that Joel has captured the characters (not just Lemmy) that have gone through Motorhead over the years. It’s sad that we so seldom see new characters of their ilk coming through. With the sad passing of the likes of Ronnie James Dio (whom Joel rightly dedicates this fine book too), you realize that the originals are being replaced with the bland. It’s a sad thought but when Motorhead are finally gone, there will be a terrible void that will never be filled.

But, in the meanwhile, we still have Motorhead, get out and go see them and get their albums. The most recent The World Is Yours is a magnificent album (the scathing “Brotherhood of Man” has to be one of the best Motorhead songs ever (and would put many metal bands to shame), a razor sharp assessment of man’s inhumanity to man, and this was written by a man in his 60s, proof indeed that age and experience can often trounce youth. Indeed, we still have much to learn from out elders. Respect!)

With the added bonus of an introduction from the great Glenn Hughes, I recommend this book highly, and as a long-term Motorheadbanger (even joined the fan club!), I don’t say that lightly.

Now put on Orgasmatron and get reading!

(Omnibus Press)

www.joelmciver.co.uk

www.omnibuspress.com

By Natalie Zed

Calling these two massive volumes of interviews a “handbook” initially struck me as a curious choice. The subtitle might suggest that they’ll offer straightforward directions, containing, say, step-by-step instructions for writing your first music review or tips for assembling well-crafted interview questions. Instead, what the reader is presented with is a collection of interviews with music writers, editors, critics and heavy music fans. All Pens Blazing presents a view of music writing from the inside and a glimpse of the music industry from the prospective of wordsmiths rather than guitar warriors.

But as I began to read the interviews, I started to see why the subtitle made sense. The questions in each interview are primarily centred upon each writer’s career. They talk about their current (at the time of publication) positions, how they began writing about or otherwise working in the music industry and their advice for younger writers just getting started. It is through these stories and anecdotes that the idea of this tome being a handbook begins to make sense.

These are not meant to be read cover to cover, but rather dipped into and sampled. After a couple of failed attempts to read them like a novel, I started again by reading the interviews of everyone I immediately recognized, including Hellbound’s own Kevin Stewart-Panko. Gradually wandering through the work proved much more fruitful and entertaining, offering a great opportunity to become slowly acquainted with all the names I didn’t recognize on sight.

And that is the neatest thing about All Pens Blazing: the opportunity to interview the interviewers, to turn the spotlight on the people who genuinely make their career by directing that illumination rather than receiving it. The tone of the interviews ranges from ebullient excitement at being the centre of attention for once to genuine discomfort at being scrutinized (instead of doing the scrutinizing). This was the most interesting part of the books — the tone and subtext of the answers, seeing how the writers and editors all responded to this shift.

The interviews themselves become a little same-y when you take the books all together. There are some questions that Daniels wants most of the writers in to answer, most notably their origin stories and paths into their careers. There are only so many ways these types of questions can be asked, and the array of answers makes up for the repetition in the asking. The questions may be the door to the maze, but each author interviewed then has the opportunity to navigate their particular way through the labyrinth, and this process is fascinating to read.

All Pens Blazing is less a guidebook and much more a map to heavy metal writing. Anyone interested in a back-stage view of the rock music industry will get a kick out of these two volumes. But aspiring music writers are definitely the most keenly targeted demographic — the readers who will get the most entertainment and edification out of these books. If you happen to be standing at the gate to the maze of music writing, feeling completely overwhelmed and unsure how to begin picking a path through, these books will show you some of the trails — they’re never easy, but always interesting. It is definitely worth your time.

(Available via Amazon, Book Depository, et. al., as well as directly from the publisher, AuthorsOnline (in physical or e-book form). You can also order directly through the author’s website, www.neildaniels.com. )

By Laura Wiebe

Although Joe Petagno’s work reaches far beyond the Motörhead discography, a book highlighting his art seems like appropriate fodder for Hellbound’s Motörhead month. If the title, or Orgasmatron image on its cover, wasn’t enough, the foreword – in the words of Lemmy Kilmister himself – marks this coffin table eye-catcher a worthy piece of Motörhead paraphernalia. And it’s Petagno’s hand, after all, that gave the band’s viciously iconic mascot its unmistakable face.

I came upon this visual delight when it was still fairly new – at McMaster University of all places, and couldn’t walk out of the bookstore without it. Three pages of text introduce Petagno as a man and artist, but neither the words, nor the portrait by Sanne Glisson, are as enigmatically revealing as the nearly-100 pages of glossy artwork that give the book its substance.

Consistent in atmosphere and colour scheme, the works vary more in representational detail. The paintings are almost all darkly fantastical, but while some depict mythic or hellish scenes, a few gesture toward more abstract ideas. The vibe is a familiar one to most any metal fan, most explicitly with examples Petagno’s other record covers (Krisiun, for example, or Sigh). But it’s the Motörhead albums that provide a multi-pane centerpiece, with other pieces interspersed throughout like a recurring motif or reiteration of an underlying theme.

Personal favourite: the least typical of the set, “Foundry of the Graven Image” fuses factory and cathedral in an occult monument to the religion of industrial production. Closely followed by the radioactive glow of “Motörhead: Hammered… the Dull Green Light of the Asura World.”

Foreword by Lemmy Kilmister
Introduction by Steffan Chirazi
Cover Design by Gregg Einhorn

(Feral House, 2004)

Mean Deviation is an amazing compendium of everything weird in the world of metal—a book as grand and unlikely as the music it documents. Jeff Wagner, former Metal Maniacs editor and all-round musical guru, approaches the subject with good humour and a wisdom gleaned from decades of serious metal geekery. When he notes that Death put out 25 demo tapes leading up to their debut album, you suspect he’s got them all stashed in a shoebox, probably in chronological order. Whether you figure prog metal begins and ends with Dream Theater, or whether you started taking math lessons from the Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity, prepare for a schooling from Mr. Wagner.

Wrangling a discussion of such a diverse genre into some semblance of order would have stopped most writers at the first draft stage, but Wagner had the zeal to sort it all out. It’s more or less a chronological journey, starting with an overview of progressive rock’s dark leanings and early kinship with heavy metal, then turning to that key moment in metal history when Black Sabbath brought in Rick Wakeman for Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (“arguably the first progressive metal album” says Wagner). From there, he covers the indelibly influential Rush, then pinpoints the prog-rock influences found in Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Metallica, and Megadeth before arriving at the meat of the prog-metal matter with the big three: Queensrÿche, Fates Warning and Dream Theater.

The book then caroms from band to band, organizing them into clusters from certain eras and scenes—avant-thrashers Voivod and Celtic Frost, Florida’s Death/Atheist/Cynic triumvirate, Swedish Death Metal, and Norwegian weirdoes Arcturus, Solefald, Ulver and In the Woods. Wagner’s admirably inclusive approach ensures they all get their due.

If anything’s lacking, it’s a narrative thread—there’s no single story arc that we can follow through the book. The subject matter is too large and scattershot, I suppose. Instead we get dozens of short stories—bands forming, experimenting, making that artistic breakthrough, and then either succumbing to commerciality or disbanding due to industry confusion or indifference. In the absence of a main human interest story, perhaps the hero of the book is the music itself, as it struggled for acceptance during metal’s ascent in the 1980s, reached an artistic apex in the underground circa 1993, and eventually found a sizable niche in the anything-goes musical climate of today. If anything, that’s the story secreted within Mean Deviation’s 350-plus pages.

During its survey of bands, albums and trends, the book touches on several worthwhile issues, including the nature of progressive music itself. Is “progressive” a formula—long songs, complex time signatures, ambitious concepts— to be slavishly replicated by band after band striving for progressive “authenticity,” or does “progressive” mean actual musical progress over the course of a band’s existence, a series of courageous artistic leaps that may even include embracing a somewhat commercial approach? Wagner, it’s clear, favours the brave ones, and forgives the occasional misstep if it leads to something interesting, as exemplified by his enthusiasm for Voivod’s Angel Rat.

Another interesting angle that the book follows is that of the record labels and the people who have championed and funded such precarious artistic ventures. In talking to Jim Pitulski of Inside Out, Ken Golden from Sensory/The Laser’s Edge, and Andreas Katsambas from The End Records, Wagner gives us a sense of who’s scouting the talent and catering to the demanding, diverse prog-metal audience. They all have interesting things to say about their own personal tastes and the nature of progressive metal itself, and I would have welcomed even more commentary from them, especially regarding Katsambas’s directing his label away from the metal scene.

As if we needed reminding that we live in the true north, prog and free, Canada is well represented in the book with coverage of Obliveon, DBC, Gorguts, Unexpect, Devin Townsend, along with the aforementioned Voivod and Rush. It’s superbly indexed, nicely illustrated, with sidebars featuring lists and assorted prog-metal curios.

Wagner has done us a great service by getting all the craziness down for posterity. If you were there when this music emerged, it’ll send you scuttling back to your record collection to rediscover the many classics lovingly described within. If you’re joining the prog-fest already in progress, let this book be your guide. A world of wonders awaits.

(Bazillion Points)

By Adrien Begrand

If you’re going to put out a book about a band that’s been written about countless times already, there’s no harm in trying to do whatever’s necessary to attract the attention of potential consumers, and you’ve got to give Voyageur Press credit: AC/DC: High-Voltage Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Ultimate Illustrated History does just that. A spinning Angus Young; yeah, that’s definitely a new one. And I’ll admit, the “spinner” featuring the inimitable Mr. Young in full Curly Mode, which my three year-old niece Julianna happens to think is the greatest idea for a book cover ever, had me going, What the hell? Well, sometimes something as silly as that is all you need to get someone to crack open a book on a store shelf, and in this case it works.

Gimmicks aside, the Minneapolis-based publisher has been on a bit of a roll as of late when it comes to music-related books, having put out Jim DeRogatis’s cool The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side, Jim Walsh’s well-received All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History of the Replacements, and Andrew Earles’ promising new Husker Du: The Story of the Noise-Pop Pioneers Who Launched Modern Rock. Written by veteran British music writer Phil Sutcliffe, High Voltage Rock ‘n’ Roll follows the model set by the DeRogatis book: a good sized, hard-bound book crammed with extensive essays and a plethora of band photos and memorabilia. However, seeing how a) we’ve already seen numerous AC/DC biographies come along over the years, and b) the band put out an illustrated coffee table book as part of last year’s Backtracks extravaganza, just how essential is Sutcliffe’s volume?

Although I haven’t seen the Backtracks book (my review copy of the Deluxe Edition came without the book and the one-watt amp, sadly), spending a weekend immersed in High Voltage Rock ‘n’ Roll‘s 224 pages, I can’t see how any fan of the band would not want to own this. When it comes to a photographic history of AC/DC, it’s easy to envision it turning out as predictable as their music: a photo of a sweaty Angus with a Gibson SG, another sweaty Angus, a shirtless Bon Scott, a scowling Malcolm Young, and countless more sweaty Anguses. And indeed, there’s no shortage of such photos. However, there’s a lot more here than just the rote arena stage snapshots. The band’s infancy is wonderfully documented, from their rather comical first photo session, to glimpses of the young musicians in the studio, to various early gigs in Australia, and we’re subsequently taken through more than 40 years of history, right up to the conclusion of their staggeringly successful Black Ice world tour this past summer.

The deeper you delve into the book, however, the more the actual writing starts to take over. So much has been said about AC/DC, and so much of their history is already common knowledge to millions, that it’s very difficult to say something new, but Sutcliffe does a fantastic job of putting together a surprisingly extensive career overview as well as examining just why the band is so appealing in the first place, at one point playfully paraphrasing Antony and Cleopatra of all things: “They mingled the joys of groin-stirring riffs, blood-stirring rhythm, and belly-laugh or sometimes gut-level blue lyrics into an elixir of eternal youth promising age cannot wither us nor custom stale our infinite…sweatiness at least.” Of course, this being an unauthorized biography, there are no new interviews with band members, but Sutcliffe does draw from a wealth of sources, each quote dutifully noted, and while the primary focus is justifiably how damn great this fine band is, he’s never fawning, always quick to point out the band’s odd mis-steps.

Speaking of mis-steps, it’s nice to see how he doesn’t gloss over the band’s 1983-85 era. That three year span was a curious one, one that’s long fascinated yours truly, where AC/DC attempted a subtle and rather strange period of reinvention that yielded a pair of commercial flops (I’ll always fiercely defend Fly on the Wall) and saw them playing to half-empty arenas in America. Hard as it is to believe now, there was a time where AC/DC was a lousy draw, and Sutcliffe splendidly captures that period, from the apathetic response to Flick of the Switch to the incredible comeback of Who Made Who three years later.

Additionally, every AC/DC studio and live album is given a thorough dissection by various writers, including Ian Christe and Canadian hard rock/metal authority Martin Popoff. All give excellent, balanced, extensive write-ups on each record, save for Bill Voccia’s slavering assessment of 1981′s mediocre For Those About to Rock, which is so laden with hyperbole that it becomes embarrassing. We’re also privy to an interesting examination of the Young brothers’ guitars and equipment, as well as a fascinating essay by Garth Cartwright that convincingly makes a case how the band embodies true punk rock better than many punk rock bands ever could.

Particularly interesting is how the images that prove to be the most memorable are the ones of the fans, not the band. Three in particular: a massive crowd at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium in 1979, drained front-row punters at Donington in 1981, and best of all, a glorious shot of ecstatic young men and boys at Glasgow’s Apollo Theatre in 1979. In that last photo, they’re all out of their seats, headbanging, dancing, air-guitaring, completely enveloped by Malcom’s ferocious heavy blues riffs, compelled to move with the contagious groove of drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams, won over by the charm of Scott, arguably the greatest frontman in rock ‘n’ roll history, and utterly blown away by the five foot two dynamo in the schoolboy uniform who moves so violently yet unleashes the nastiest solos they’ve ever heard. While Sutcliffe and his guest contributors do fantastic work of explaining the universal appeal of AC/DC, it’s best conveyed in that one shot. With this band, it’s never a case of, either you love ‘em or you don’t, but rather, if you don’t like AC/DC, what the hell is wrong with you? Whether you’re a youngster new to the band or have been a fan for decades, this fun book will have you digging through the back catalogue in no time.

(Voyageur Press)

By Justin M. Norton

Traumatic childhoods are the stuff of many modern memoirs. Stories about addiction, horrible parents, abuse and hopelessness fill book racks and Kindles each year. Some backgrounds are even fabricated to make them more horrific. James Frey’s tell-all substance abuse autobiography A Million Little Pieces was wildly popular until an enterprising reporter discovered that it was filled with lies.

No embellishment is needed in Locust bassist Justin Pearson’s book From The Graveyard Of The Arousal Industry. His story is one of patience, determination and hard work in the face of enormous odds: the murder of his father on Halloween; an abusive stepfather and an endless string of merciless bullies and skinheads.

Pearson never asks the world for pity. His book is instead a paean to human endurance and a primer on how a sense of humor can help us through life’s most difficult journeys. It’s easy to see why Pearson didn’t think much of threats or tossed bottles during Locust shows; he faced far worse at a much earlier age.

Looking at Pearson’s background, you’d assume this book is a downer. It’s not. It’s constantly funny and often moving. Pearson was determined to do something with his life even when adults told him he was worthless. His stories detail a young man that was as inventive as he was curious. When he was abused by a drunken stepfather he memorized the number of child protective services and would recite it when he felt threatened. When he was 12 years old he talked his way backstage at a Cramps show and partied with Slayer. When he was a college student he decided to start his own record label, a move many thought was risky (Three One G Records is now an underground staple). Most infamously, he pranked The Jerry Springer Show when the show ruled the daytime airwaves. He tours the world playing music in a bug suit.

This book isn’t a primer on The Locust or the San Diego underground, although both are covered. The strongest parts of From The Graveyard Of The Arousal Industry detail Pearson’s early life. Anyone that grew up loving metal (most readers here) will see themselves in this book. The book only seems to lose steam at the end. The Locust’s touring antics are hilarious, but in the latter sections Pearson seems to back off from the naked honesty that makes the early chapters so strong.

Pearson’s writing is unadorned and simple, but effective. The chapters move swiftly, and are short enough to revisit if you find yourself laughing. It isn’t J.D. Salinger, but it’s a worthy effort from a first-time author.

From The Graveyard Of The Arousal Industry isn’t a perfect book, but it’s a very good one. Metal and punk fans often greet the world with a raised middle finger and a grimace; this book is about how a wry smile and a good joke will take you much further.

Rating: 8

Get the book here: http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-59376-262-3