Daniels, Neil: All Pens Blazing - A Heavy Metal Writer's Handbook (Book)

This latest endeavour from celebrated rock journalist Neil Daniels is a collection of interviews with 65 of the world's premier rock and metal writers, many of whom made their mark back in the early 80's heyday of Kerrang! Names such as Geoff Barton, Howard Johnson and Dante Bonutto will be familiar to many and in these snapshot interviews they recall how they got their first break, what it was like to be part of the Kerrang! team and some of their good, bad and indifferent experiences over the years including difficulties with publishers and the "suits". It is more than just Kerrang! that is discussed as several worked across a number of titles including Metal Forces, Raw, Metal Hammer and more latterly Classic Rock. Tim Jones, News Editor of Record Collector, provides a revealing insight into his thoughts on the rock and metal magazine scene and Mark Hoaksey of PowerPlay (100 + issues and going strong) details the trials and tribulations of getting a magazine off the ground from scratch. There is plenty here to delve into and this is a book that will be read in one sitting and revisited many times. Whilst some interviewees are more guarded the majority willingly recall their on the road stories when travelling with the major bands of the 80's and beyond.

Daniels has done a fine job in pulling everything together in an easily digestible format and this is one of the most original rock and metal books I have read this year. All Pens Blazing is available to order direct from Authors Online, linked below.

Added: October 16th 2009
Reviewer: Dean Pedley
Score:
Related Link: Authors Online
Hits: 1870
Language: english

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