NoMeansNo – From Obscurity to Oblivion, an Oral History, Jason Lamb with Paul Prescott
PM Press, P.O. Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623, Usa, www.pmpress.org
The author spoke to over 300 (!!!) persons who are in a way linked to NoMeansNo. With all ever in the band playing persons, family, record company worker, manager, technicians, friends, fans and beyond. Over 250 persons are quoted in this history of the band in chronically order to form a exhaustive retrospective. With such a huge cast of characters you can be sure to find out a lot about this amazing band. Some only praise their musicianship and their music and what great influence it had on their own bands – that’s all the musicians that have been questioned.
Among them are many from British Columbia, but also famous ones. I read Rob Wright saying something about Green Day, that they supported them so many times in their early years, but then later, when they became huge, never asked NoMeansNo to open up for them in a big stadium. Classic. Love it. Or when the later general manager of the San Francisco label Alternative Tentacles (where NoMeansNo released a lot of their albums) explains that he used to work for a talent agency in New York and his job was to look out for all the weirdos – Hunter S. Thompson, Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman and Jello Biafra. Interesting. Especially people from the lesser punk side of things, don‘t mince their words, what it can be like, to work for the brothers. And depending who you listen to, they have been either two selfish concrete heads that would know everything better than anybody else and not be able to compromise. Or they are two individuals that know exactly what they want and don’t wanna give in to the business side of things. Have they been hardcore punks by choice or just happened to coincidental fit in? Was their humor great or did just they thought it was funny? Where all of their albums masterpieces or not? Some of those questions can probably never be answered. But here you for sure get a wide variety of opinions. In order to make yourself a picture of this long lasting (1979 – 2016) great band. Find out how the brothers upgraded to a trio with Andy, why he left a few years later. When Tom became the new guitar player and the phase with second drummer Ken. Of course there is tons of story’s and anecdotes from their tours, their recordings of over 10 full length albums and numerous EPs and singles. To make things complete also the history of the „other band“ The Hanson Brothers is featured here in detail. You learn a lot about the punk and music scene in Victoria and Vancouver over the years. Actually, you learn a lot about a lot of things and most of the time it is really interesting. And on top of that there is tons of photos, posters, flyers, ticket stubs, cover art work and other memorabilia, a lot of it was never seen by public before. This is a amazing trip, I was reminded on a few NoMeansNo albums I forgot about and how great it was to see this band live. With their breakup the subculture lost one of their greatest bands, that is for sure. I was tempted to say some more great words about the persons and their awesome musical skills, but this is not an extension of the book, but a review. So you have to live with the more than enough opinions on NoMeansNo in the book. For fans of the band this is a must have and also for people who love band story’s. Here you find a truly original one if not one of the best. This is a book every band can only wish to have since it is a complete story from their inception until their retirement. The author did a great, great job. Period. It is available as paperback and hardcover. THE band book, about THE band. 322 pages, paperback/hardcover, $29,95/70,00, (dolf)
Isbn 9798887440149 / 9798887440187
[Trust # 226 June 2024]
