No Wave. Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980. (Abrams Image, late-June 2008, $24.95) is the first book to visually chronicle the collision of art and punk in the New York underground of 1976 to 1980. This in-depth look at the avant-garde movement of the 70s and 80s focuses on the true architects of No Wave from James Chance to Lydia Lunch to Glenn Branca, as well as the luminaries who intersected the scene, such as Debbie Harry, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Richard Hell. This rarely documented scene, the creative stomping ground of young artists and filmmakers from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Jim Jarmusch, as well as the musical genesis for the post-punk explosions of Sonic Youth, is here revealed for a new generation of fans and collectors.
The multi-faceted No Wave scene reflected the filthy, violent, noisy hellhole that was New York in the l970s, what Lydia Lunch describes in her introduction as "the end of the world." Bands were made up not only of musicians but also of people who came to the city to practice theatre, dance, visual arts, and performance art, and their sound influenced punk, new wave, and experimental music. Sensing that the scene was a brief burst of creativity, Brian Eno documented the bands on a controversial compilation album entitled No New York. By the time the album was released, the No Wave scene had mutated into new bands and other art forms.
Musicians, writers, and archivists Thurston Moore and Byron Coley have selected 150 unforgettable images, most of which have never been published and compiled hundreds of hours of personal interviews into an oral history for this exploration and celebration of No Wave. They also provide a detailed index of the people, bands, and places that were central players in the No Wave scene.
The publication of No Wave will be celebrated on June 13th with the opening of an exhibition of photographs and other ephemera from the book and signing at the KS Art gallery at 73 Leonard Street, New York City, (the exhibit runs through July 2nd) and a one-night-only reunion performances by Teenage Jesus and the Jerks (featuring Lydia Lunch, Jim Sclavunos, and a surprise guest bass player) and the Information at the Knitting Factory at 74 Leonard Street, NYC. Details available at www.knittingfactory.com.
BUY from AMAZON
Click here for the No Wave Book on Myspace
Click here for the NO Wave Book on Facebook
Contact: Liz Hermann/Abrams
About the Authors
Thurston Moore was born in 1958 in Coral Cables, FL. In 1977 he moved to East Thirteenth Street in New York City. From 1977 to 1980 he played in the Coachmen as well as in other various lineups throughout the early to mid 80s, including In Limbo with Lydia Lunch, Pat Place, Jim Sclavunos, and Richard Edson; Rudolph Grey and the Blue Humans, with Tom Surgal and Alan Licht; and ensembles with Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham. In 1980 he founded Sonic Youth with Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo. He curated Noise Fest at White Columns in 1981, co-wrote "Death Valley 69" with Lydia Lunch in 1985, started Ecstatic Peace record label (which released the Lydia Lunch/Michael Gira spoken word cassette Hard Rock), and later recorded the 1977 Red Transistor single "No Bite"/"We're Not Crazy" with Byron Coley. He edited We're Desperate: The Punk Rock Photography of Jim Jocoy, SF/LA 1978-1980, Mix-Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture, Punk House: Interiors in Anarchy with Abby Banks (Abrams Image), The Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal series, and published the mid-80s fanzine Killer. He also self-published Iron Crosses and Insect Paranoia: Poemz I Wrote in a Bethel Connecticut Bedroom in the Early/Mid 70s As an Acid/Glam Raunchy Rock Creem/Circus Teenage Punk (1998), Alabama Wildman (2001), What I Like About Feminism (2001), Fuck a Hippie...But Be a Punk (2002), Nice War (2003), Total Poon (2003) as well as many broadsides. He writes the Bull Tongue column in Arthur magazine with Byron Coley and currently resides in western Massachusetts with his wife, Kim Gordon, and daughter, Coco Haley.
Byron Coley was born in Manhattan in 1956. Among other things he has been a resident editor of NY Rocker, senior editor of the Mabuhay House Organ, managing editor of Take It!, West Coast editor at Boston Rock, jazz editor at Forced Exposure, and underground editor at Spin. His books include Chuck Norris, Lady Hair, and Ass Candles for Joni. Mr. Coley was also a member of the Kahunas, a No Wave-era bass and drum duo with Georgia Hubley, which performed one legendary gig. Coley currently lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, the inventor Lili Dwight, and their teenage children Hud (godson of Lydia Lunch) and Addie (who prefers the Shins).
No Wave:
Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980.
by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley, Introduction by Lydia Lunch
Abrams Image, late-June 2008
Hardcover/$24.95
144 pages, 10x8
150 black-and-white illustrations
ISBN: 978-0-8109-9543-7
Video
Thurston Moore and Byron Coley spend 12 minutes taking us back to that very special time in New York.
