SICK ON YOU, MATHESON, ANDREW

The disastrous story of the Hollywood Brats, the punk group that was ahead of its time but perished in the attempt.
In July 1971, eighteen-year-old Andrew Matheson arrived in London from Canada, fleeing a grim job in a nickel mine and an even bleaker future, with the dream of forming a rock band and achieving fame. A fan of the Rolling Stones and the Kinks, Matheson began recruiting the most flamboyant and provocatively dressed musicians he could find through the Melody Maker notice board. He soon formed the Hollywood Brats, with Matheson at the helm: a colorful group of long-haired lads in baroque outfits bought from secondhand shops, lipstick, and platform shoes, in the vein of the New York Dolls, whom they regarded with a touch of envy from across the ocean. While their days slipped by in pubs, drinking like fish, shoplifting at grocery stores, and barely scraping by in rat-infested squats, they landed their first gigs, performing before astonished audiences unsure how to process their sonic affront—thunderous and abrasive. Their first fans arrived, along with groupies and flirtations with the record industry. They seemed destined for fame, but their aggressive, proto-punk sound emerged just months before the Clash and the Sex Pistols—for whom the Hollywood Brats were a major influence—and the band would fail spectacularly before fading into obscurity.
These hilarious memoirs, written with the best British sarcasm and humor, are among the funniest and most intense accounts of rock ever written.

• Number of Pages: 404
• Binding: Paperback
• Approximate dimensions: 15 × 22 cm.