Tuesday, July 20th at 7pm
at
Brickbat Books:
LOUD! FAST! PHILLY! Presents:
"We Are The Clash"
LOUD! FAST! PHILLY! Presents:
"We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of A Band
That Mattered" authors Mark Andersen (of Positive Force DC and We Are
Family DC) and Ralph Heibutzki live at Brickbat Books, Philadelphia.
A live interview with the authors followed by audience questions and a book signing.
"We Are the Clash" is published by Akashic Books.
www.AkashicBooks.com
http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/we-are-the-clash/
Moderated by Joseph A. Gervasi of LOUD! FAST! PHILLY!
This event is part of the LOUD! FAST! PHILLY! speakers series.
In conversation with Frank Blank Moriarty, author of "Modern
Listener Guide: Jimi Hendrix," foreword by Derek Trucks, afterword by
John McLaughlin. To be published by Modern Listener Publishing this
summer.
Please help this event out not only by attending, but by sharing
it with your friends. It's only through grassroots promotions that this
event and other will succeed.
About the book:
The Clash was a paradox of revolutionary conviction, musical
ambition, and commercial drive. We Are The Clash is a gripping tale of
the band’s struggle to reinvent itself as George Orwell’s 1984 loomed.
This bold campaign crashed headlong into a wall of internal
contradictions and rising right-wing power.
While the world teetered on edge of the nuclear abyss, British
miners waged a life-or-death strike, and tens of thousands died from US
guns in Central America, Clash cofounders Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon,
and Bernard Rhodes waged a desperate last stand after ejecting guitarist
Mick Jones and drummer Topper Headon. The band shattered just as its
controversial final album, Cut the Crap, was emerging.
Andersen and Heibutzki weave together extensive archival research and
in-depth original interviews with virtually all of the key players
involved to tell a moving story of idealism undone by human frailty amid
a climatic turning point for our world.
With a foreword by The Baker.
“When did the Clash quit being ‘the only band that matters’? This
fascinating book faces a challenge: documenting the final years of the
British band that its record label had promoted with that slogan . . .
The band may no longer have mattered, but its legacy mattered to the
authors, who make it matter to the readers. More than a footnote to the
rise and fall of one of the last great rock bands.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“This is an inspiring take on the rock-band bio format, as much a
political history of the 1980s as it is a look at an influential band
in its final years.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Coverage is specialized, extending considerably beyond mere
behind-the-scenes reportage and deeply explores the sociopolitical
context in which the band operated; as such, the tone can be intense
(read: punk) and professorial. In all, Andersen and Heibutzki’s
examination of the band’s proletarian stance in light of its commercial
striving is immensely satisfying.”
—Library Journal
Included in the Shepherd Express‘s Roundup of New Music Titles
“The inside story of the last great British punk record.”
—Jon Savage, author of England’s Dreaming
“We Are The Clash tells an important part of the story of both
The Clash and punk rock. The repercussions of what went down politically
both in the USA and UK back then are still very much felt today.”
—Kosmo Vinyl, former manager of The Clash
“At long last, The Clash’s final incarnation has been
definitively chronicled. Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki have
brilliantly filled in the blanks of the ‘Clash Mark II’ era, including
its eventual implosion. Beautifully constructed and brilliantly written .
. . I was riveted, unable to put it down.”
—The Baker, from the foreword
“Smash your television and buy this book! We Are The Clash
proves, once again, the importance of The Clash, even during their
rarely discussed and most maligned period. Situated in the
Reagan/Thatcher era, We Are The Clash illustrates why, when Reagan
called women like my mom ‘welfare queens,’ I bought a ticket to see ‘the
only band that matters,’ and then went on to start one of my own.”
—Michelle Cruz Gonzales, author of The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana
in a Female Punk Band
“The Clash are remembered as much for their blistering music as
their gritty yet hopeful message to listeners worldwide. In this first
serious look at The Clash’s music and meaning, post–commercial success,
the authors mix thoughtful reflection with grassroots political analysis
in an effort to inspire a new generation of music fans and activists to
Cut the Crap.”
—Craig O’Hara, author of The Philosophy of Punk: More than Noise!
