I’ve been writing books for nearly a quarter of a century now. It can be a long, grueling, frustrating process, and (unless you’re a prolific best-selling author) it’s not a particularly lucrative pursuit. Still, there are few moments more satisfying than when the first edition of your new book lands on your doorstep.
Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross arrives in stores today; due to circumstances beyond my control, my author copies did not actually show up until last night… but the delay makes finally holding the finished product in my hand that much sweeter. It’s real! It’s alive! It’s totally awesome!
Despite what I said above, working on this book with Jeff and Steven McDonald was an absolute joy. I have never laughed harder while working on a book project; our interview calls were often the absolute highlights of my week, especially in early 2023 when the rest of my life seemed so uncertain and out of whack. The grueling part came later, via the editing phases, trying to secure photo permissions, etc. — but the hassles were all totally worth it.
The Redd Kross story is indeed an incredible (and hilarious and inspiring) one, and it was a real honor and thrill for me to help the founders of one of my all-time favorite bands tell the tale in their own words. I’m so proud of this book, and so stoked that it’s coming out the same year as their fantastic self-titled double album and Andrew Reich’s wonderful Born Innocent documentary. After 45 years, the stars have finally, miraculously aligned for Redd Kross, and it brings me great joy and satisfaction to have been part of that.
If you’d like to read an excerpt from Now You’re One of Us, FLOOD magazine has got you covered. And if you want to read the interview I did with
of the Remember the Lightning sub stack, you can find it here:
One of the great things about working on Now You’re One of Us was that, as a long-time, hardcore Redd Kross fan, I was able to ask Jeff and Steven pretty much every question I’ve always wanted to ask them. It’s definitely meant to be the sort of deep dive that other long-time, hardcore Redd Kross fans will appreciate.
On the other hand, it became clear to me once I stepped back and got a sense of the bigger picture that the Redd Kross story is also one of family, love, dysfunction, persistence and the importance of flying your personal freak flag — elements which all add up to a pretty engaging reading experience, even for readers who don’t know much, or even anything at all, about Redd Kross, their music, or the L.A. punk scene they emerged from.
(This is anecdotal, I’ll grant you, but my lovely girlfriend knew almost nothing of Redd Kross before she read an early edit of the manuscript — and now she’s totally obsessed with the band.)
Anyway, I hope you’ll buy a copy (or several) — it’s available from all the usual online suspects, but you can also special-order it through your local bookseller — and if you really dig it, I hope you’ll leave a positive review of it somewhere. Those things really do help…
And finally, I’d like to thank all my dear Jagged Time Lapse subscribers for the continued support. While working on this book, that five bucks a month (or $4.17 from those on the annual plan) from my paid subscribers often quite literally put gas in my tank — but the continued encouragement from all of you folks, paid and otherwise, kept my spiritual motor running. I really appreciate you.
See ya in a day or two with some Halloween stuff…
It's Alive!