‘The Fire Still Burns: Music Inspired By The Post-Punk Message’ by David Gamage is officially published on 22nd November but as we're so excited about it we’ve been sending out initial first print copies to the bands involved, as well as key distros, stores and reviewers for some early coverage and to make sure they are on the shelves in good time for the launch date.
With that in mind, whilst walking around Brighton in The Laines just the other day I was delighted to see the book already in the window of Resident Music and proudly displayed on the shelves inside. Thanks James and Resident guys!
Then, bringing another smile to the faces of all at E I Books, the very first review of ‘The Fire Still Burns’ appeared in Mass Movement magazine. It’s a good one, so Thanks Tim and the Mass Movement crew, and here is what they had to say;
"Given the title of this book, I’m guessing that right about now you’re either scratching your head, and wondering in a slightly befuddled manner what post-punk is, or you’re down with the hippest and coolest of scenesters and know that it’s the bands and musicians who don’t quite fit comfortably in the ever-expanding confines of the punk scene, but where and are influenced by the music, ideology, and ethos of said scene.
Whether you know or don’t know what post-punk is, isn’t important, as all that really matters are the eighty stories of the life of some of the recording and gigging bands who make up a brief snapshot of the post-punk movement, revolution, scene, call it what you will, that lie between the front and back cover of The Fire Still Burns.
It’s those stories of needing to make music, of finding a way against the odds to record that music and hitting the road to take it to like-minded souls everywhere that make this book essential reading for punks, hardcore kids, indie folk, emo fanatics, and anyone else who has ever found joy in the sound of an amplified guitar turned up to eleven and the thunderous crunch of a rhythm section peppered by choruses and melodies that live unbidden in the memory long after they were first heard.
The Fire Still Burns is an incredibly personal and immediate journey through the lives of bands that most of you probably haven’t heard of, but will want to experience in all their raw unfettered glory after you’ve spent some time reading about their very real, and relatable, and sometimes fantastical lives. And thanks to each chapter including a QR code that makes it possible to listen, via your smartphone, to the band’s music as you immerse yourself in their disparate worlds, you can do that, and listen to them while you’re submerged in the narrative. So even though you may not know who any of the bands are before you begin their tales, by the time you reach the final paragraph of each, you’ll be intimately aware of who they were and are.
The amount of research and work that’s gone into writing, and making this book a reality, is simply staggering, and the author’s easygoing, fluid style and the heartwarming and equally heartbreaking, intriguing, weird, wonderful, and sometimes laugh-out-loud stories have transformed what could have been a staid, almost academic exploration of the post-punk movement, into an eminently readable page-turner that once started, you won’t be able to put down.
It even comes with the Ian Glasper seal of approval, as the noted punk and hardcore historian and author extraordinaire has written the introduction, and given it his thumbs up, and if that alone doesn’t make you want to read The Fire Still Burns, then you’re either, like Steven Morrisey’s erstwhile girlfriend, in a coma or you’re already dead. There’s no other acceptable excuse for not reading it…" Tim Cundle
The Fire Still Burns will be published by Earth Island Books on November 22nd and is available for pre-order now.
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