BOOK REVIEWS
Tearing Down The Orange Curtain Nate Jackson and Daniel Kohn
★
Da Capo Press
Book Review By: Jaime Pina
A welcome tome telling the story of how the Orange County punk bands started something at home and then bum rushed their way into the LA punk scene, previously ruled by the Hollywood bands, and not only created a new kind of sound but created an enduring legacy. While the Hollywood bands took their musical cues from garage rock and glam, the OC bands brought in influences like The Beach Boys and surf music focusing more on melody and ear candy choruses.
The book starts out with tales of the legendary Cuckoo’s Nest. Formerly hosting disco and rock music the owner, Jerry Roach, took a chance on booking a punk shows and ended up packing his venue. While he had success with the punk bands it was not meant to be as the local police started to get involved. In addition to the cops there was friction with the locals who frequented a nearby cowboy bar called Zubies (as mentioned in The Vandals’ song “Urban Struggle”). Also covering the humble beginnings of bands like TSOL, The Adolescents and Social Distortion these early parts of the book are riveting to those who treasure their first pressings of records like “Dance With Me” “The Blue Album” and “Mommy’s Little Monster”. The latter part of the book covers the regrouping of Social Distortion and the rise of bands like Sublime and The Offspring.
Available in hardcover with a black and white photo section, music historians and fans of the OC sound will enjoy looking at its history and continuing influence. Includes a forward by Mike Ness.
Nobody: My Life In The Rock N’ Roll Trenches- Part 1 Mike Hodsall
★
Sharpstick Press
Book Review By: Jaime Pina
Multi-instrumentalist Mike Hodsall started out as a guy in Canada who just wanted to play in a heavy band mixing crushing doom riffs with expansive solos like in Pink Floyd. He worked his ass off playing the clubs but ended up finding greater success in an AC/DC cover band called BC/DC (get it?) where he dressed in a cow suit while playing his sizzling solos. He goes on to form Circle The Wagons and gains success in the Canadian punk scene but the cover band starts getting some big high paying corporate gigs and plays in America. Seeking artistic satisfaction he starts other bands and finds a kindred spirit in guitarist Paddy Duddy and they start to work together not knowing that their efforts will soon lead to them touring the world together in a legendary Canadian hardcore band. Hodsall tells his story like he is sitting across from you tossing in little bits of his everyday vernacular. I got a kick out of him describing something cool happening unexpectedly as DECENT! “Oh. Haha! Well yes,” he laughs. “I wanted it to feel like a conversation and I have a particular way of talking.” And there is a clear line drawn from episode to episode as Hodsall kept records of his live performances. “I have always kept lists of my gigs going right back to my first show,” he says. “I keep all of my calendars with my gigs on them so it was fairly easy to go through the calendars and remember roughly what happened and where I was. Which band etc.”
He covers a lot of things in the book, including the perils of life with a rock band on the road, marriage and raising a child, bike riding adventures, and living in rural Canada. But he goes into a dark place when discussing his bouts with depression leading to too much alcohol. Was it difficult putting it all out there for the world to read? “Yes and no. It’s a little uncomfortable sharing so much of my private life but at the same time I wanted to be honest about it in the hopes that it might help other people with similar issues,” he explains. “I have already had a lot of positive feedback regarding those parts of the book. I also wanted to make sure that readers understood what it takes to get to a professional level in music and how hard that can be on your personal life.”
So not only is the book a great rock music read but Hodsell’s confessions are also out there for a good cause. The book includes a list of his gigs dating back to 1999 and a generous amount of black and white photos from since he was a child to his current life as a member of Canadian royalty DOA with his musical partner Duddy. “We’ve both been in DOA for 12 years,” he chuckles. “As Joe would say, a life sentence!”