SOME NEW KIND OF KICK

An intimate, coming-of-age memoir by legendary guitarist Kid Congo Powers, detailing his experiences as a young, queer Mexican-American in 1970s Los Angeles through his rise in the glam rock and punk rock scenes.

His coming-of-age tale takes us into the heart of the iconic LA punk and glam rock scenes during the 1970s, and finds him rubbing shoulders with the likes of Iggy Pop, Jimmy Page, and Shaun Cassidy at underground clubs. Fans of books like Debbie Harry's Face It, Patti Smith's Just Kids, and Mark Lanegan's Sing Backwards and Weep will love the texture and new light Powers sheds on the era. As a queer youth and a second-generation Mexican-American, Powers' experiences will also expand on this expansive music scene and explore its intersections with marginalized communities in Southern California.

Kid Congo Powers has been described as a "legendary guitarist and paragon of cool" with "the greatest resume ever of anyone in rock music." That unique imprint on rock history stems from being a member of not one but three beloved, groundbreaking, and influential groups - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Cramps, and last but not least, The Gun Club, the wildly inventive punk-blues band he co-founded.

This memoir begins as an intimate coming of age tale, of a young, queer, Chicano kid, growing up in a suburb of East LA, in the mid-'70s, exploring his sexual identity through glam rock. When a devastating personal tragedy crushes his teenage dreams, he finds solace and community through fandom, as founder ('The Prez') of the Ramones West Coast fan club, and immerses himself in the delinquent chaos of the early LA punk scene.

A chance encounter with another superfan, in the line outside the Whiskey-A-Go-Go to get into a Pere Ubu concert, changes the course of his life entirely. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, a misfit Chicano punk from East LA who runs the Blondie fan club, proposes they form a band. The Gun Club is born. So begins an unlikely transition from adoring fan to lauded performer. In Pierce, he finds brotherhood, a creative voice, and a common cause, but also a shared appetite for self-destruction that threatens to overwhelm them both.

Quirky, droll, and heartfelt, with a pitch-perfect evocation of time and place, and a wealth of richly-drawn supporting characters, SOME NEW KIND OF KICK is a memoir of personal transformation, addiction and recovery, friendship and belonging, set against the relentless creativity and excess of the '70s and '80s underground music scenes. Kid has a devoted cult following across the world, especially in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Spain, France, and Italy. This memoir will be essential reading for them.

Chris Campion is a British author, journalist, editor, and music producer. His writing, exploring the extremities of popular culture, as well as its beating heart, has been published in The Guardian, LA Times, The Telegraph, Rolling Stone, Bizarre, and Vice.