Some New Kind of Kick - A Memoir - Kid Congo Powers

 

As I've said before, I can't pretend that I was ever close friends with the Kid but we were always on friendly terms and I always enjoyed seeing and talking with him, whether we were doing gigs together or simply hanging out at shows. He was always - and still is - an exceptionally nice guy, friendly and outgoing, and genuinely excited about music. I've been meaning to pick up this memoir since I first heard about it and when Kid did a reading here in Vegas - a special treat for this town, I have to say - I had to grab a copy while they lasted.

Growing up in suburban La Puente, Brian, as he was known then, was part of a musical family, both traditional Mexican sounds as well as the then-current 60's rock'n'roll, thanks to his hip, older sisters and cousins. Just a couple years younger than me, he was and still is hipper than I could have ever hoped due to his sisters' influence, his parents taking him to see wild 60's flicks (biker flicks, horror movies and drugsplotation films like The Trip) at the local drive-in, as well as his proximity to Hollywood. He moves fairly quickly from his childhood, giving us a good feel of his life at the time, to his adolescence, when he truly discovered his own self, his own music and his own sexuality.

Being an outsider, he became obsessed with the outrageous glam rock of the time, writing about it in his school newspaper - probably a reason why he is such a good writer these days - he's had a lot of practice! He soon discovers punk rock via the like of Patti Smith and especially The Ramones, and he heads their west coast fan club. Straight out of high school he visits France, England and NYC and immerses himself in the punk scenes there and, back in LA, moves in with the Screamers, whose fan club he is also running!

Eventually, he meets Jeffrey, who declares that Brian must be in a band with him and Brian learns to play open-E tuned guitar as they form the Creeping Ritual, that, of course, becomes the Gun Club (I kinda prefer the earlier name, but then I'm contrary). I love hearing about the formation of the group and its evolution, along with the cover songs they initially attempted before turning into the band we all know. He quickly moved onto the Cramps and then, after a couple of years, equally quickly returned to the Gun Club, who had since become quite popular, especially outside of the USA, with worldwide tours. The GC members eventually leave Jeffrey, form the short-lived Fur Bible (watching a live vid on Youtube - they were great! I'll have to find their EP), and after a bit of floundering, Kid ends up in the Bad Seeds, again by being a hep cat and knowing the right people.

Kid is a great storyteller, with plenty of wit, lots of tales to tell, some fun (and not so fun, sometimes) gossip, sex'n'drugs galore, and even a bit of redemption. The book ends in 1997 with Jeffrey's death, but he still has a lot more to tell, lots of music to make with lots of friends, and is living a happily married life in the Southwest desert. I know a lot of the characters and locations herein, but I think that anyone who digs the hippest of the underground music scene will love this tome! Highly recommended!