Kris Needs – författare

Appearing in early 70s New York City as primal prototype street punks, Suicide are now hailed as one of the most important and influential groups of the 20th century, inspiring that decade's major musical movements but too feared and shunned to be awarded their rightful acclaim at the time. Confronting shocked audiences with their electronic "New York blues", singer Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev fearlessly mirrored the city's sleazy underbelly and decay on blood-freezing gutter-scapes such as 'Ghost Rider' and 'Frankie Teardrop' while invoking doo-wop purity on timeless love songs like 'Cheree' and 'Dream Baby Dream'.The book charts Suicide's uncompromising roller coaster from formative days in performance art and avant garde experimentation to chaotic early shows at drug-infested downtown hotbed the Project of Living Artists.Along with detailed accounts of Suicide's influences, contemporaries and environment which spawned them, the book will position the duo as one of New York's most pivotal but derided outfits as the story moves through their pioneering first album, 1978's shockingly violent UK tour supporting The Clash and subsequent recordings, live sorties and respective parallel solo careers, going up to the present day.The author's eye witness accounts and extensive first-hand interviews with Alan Vega and Martin Rev are joined by conversations with producers Craig Leon, Marty Thau and Bob Blank, contemporaries including Blondie, Jayne County and the New York Dolls and fans such as Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie and The Clash; adding to a definitive account of this most unique group. With an introduction by Lydia Lunch

The biography of George Clinton, one of music's most fascinating, colourful and innovative characters, featuring a new cover and foreword by critic Miles Marshall Lewis. The most comprehensive history of the life, music and cultural significance of a great Black music pioneer and the era which spawned him.Clinton stands alongside James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone as one of the most influential Black artists of all time who, along with his vast P-Funk army took black funk into the US charts and sold out stadiums by the mid 1970s with his mind-blowing shows and legendary Mothership extravaganzas.The book contains first hand interview material with Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Jerome Bigfoot Brailey, Junie Morrison, Bobby Gillespie, Afrika Bambaataa, Jalal Nuriddin (Last Poets), Juan Atkins, John Sinclair, Rob Tyner (MC5), Ed Sanders (The Fugs), Chip Monck ("The Voice of Woodstock") plus other P-Funk associates and friends.An insiders' view of the rise of Parliament and Funkadelic from the doowop era and LSD-crazed early shows through to P-Funk's huge rise, the era of the Mothership and beyond.

Parallel Lives is the definitive biography of Blondie, the iconic New York band led by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. One of the most iconic groups of their generation, Blondie experienced an unparalleled rise to global superstardom during the late 1970s, topping charts and breaking moulds.This Omnibus Enhanced edition includes a Digital Timeline of Blondie''s career packed with audio, video and images of tour nights, memorabilia, music videos and interviews. Additionally, throughout the book are links to curated playlists allowing you to hear Blondie''s finest gems, their early influences and more.Beginning with their childhoods, backgrounds and influences, Parallel Lives charts the development of Blondie towards their global success and fractured break-up; followed by their 1997 reformation, critical renaissance and controversial induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.Drawing upon extensive and revealing interviews with Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and other significant players, the Omnibus Enhanced Blondie: Parallel Lives is the definitive, eye-witness account of the group’s long and tumultuous existence. Co-author Kris Needs had established a friendship with Harry, Stein and the rest of the band that endures to this day. Now, as a trusted confidante, he finally reveals the full story.

Part Two, of Kris Needs book, shows Kris growing up fast; including discovering and meeting David Bowie, Mott The Hoople and Iggy and the Stooges, seeing many more bands and exploring his love of Sun Ra, Can, the Doors, Pearls Before Swine, Spirit, Moondog, Love, Tim Buckley and Syd Barrett, not forgetting the Stones and Hendrix.

The first in-depth biography of one of music''s most fascinating, colourful and innovative characters. This book is the most comprehensive history yet of the life, music and cultural significance of the last of the great black music pioneers and the era which spawned him. Clinton stands alongside James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone as one of the most influential black artists of all time who, along with his vast P-Funk army took black funk into the US charts and sold out stadiums by the mid 1970s with his mind-blowing shows and legendary Mothership extravaganzas. The book contains first hand interview material with Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Jerome Bigfoot Brailey, Junie Morrison, Bobby Gillespie, Afrika Bambaataa, Jalal Nuriddin (Last Poets), Juan Atkins, John Sinclair, Rob Tyner (MC5), Ed Sanders (The Fugs), Chip Monck ("The Voice of Woodstock ) plus other P-Funk associates and friends. The book presents an insiders'' view of the rise of Parliament and Funkadelic from the doowop era and LSD-crazed early shows through to P-Funk s huge rise, the era of the Mothership and beyond.

Drawing upon extensive new first hand interview material from Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and many other significant players in the band's long history, a huge archive of personal materials and unpublished interviews, Blondie: Parallel Lives is the definitive eye-witness account of the group's long and often tumultuous existence.Beginning with their childhoods, backgrounds and influences, the book is also an evocative homage to the unique New York scene of the 1970s. It charts the development of Blondie to their massive popular success and eventual break up. How Debbie Harry set her career aside to nurse Chris through a debilitating and life-threatening genetic disease. It recounts the group's 1997 reformation, subsequent renaissance with their No Exit album, the controversies surrounding the 2006 induction to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, ending in the present with the release of Panic of Girls.Co-author Kris Needs established a friendship with Harry, Stein and the rest of the band that endures to this day. As a trusted confidante, he now recounts the full story.

Always steered by Alex Paterson, The Orb were the mischief-making pioneers of the late 80s acid house revolution. Inventing "ambient house", they took it to the top of the charts, before continuing its idiosyncratic flight path through subsequent decades, battling meteor storms en route. Babble On An' Ting, the first full account of Paterson's life, written by long-time friend Kris Needs in close collaboration with Alex, reveals a frequently astonishing journey from traumatic childhood through punk, Killing Joke and KLF to starting The Orb in 1988, then the five decade roller coaster that followed. Moving, shocking, hilarious and inspiring, at the heart of this story lies a true survivor doggedly following their musical passion.First-hand interviews include those with Youth, Andrew Weatherall, Primal Scream, Jah Wobble, Jimmy Cauty and a parade of friends, collaborators and starship mechanics.