Synopses & Reviews
?An American Demon is Jack Grishams story of depravity and redemption, terror and spiritual deliverance. While Grisham is best known as the raucous and provocative front man of the pioneer hardcore punk band TSOL (True Sounds of Liberty), his writing and true life experiences are physically and psychologically more complex, unsettling, and violent than those of Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk. Eloquently disregarding the prefabricated formulas of the drunk-to-sober, bad-to-good tale, this is an entirely new kind of life lesson: summoned through both God and demons, while settling within eighties hardcore punk culture and its radical-to-the-core (and most assuredly non-evangelical) parables, Grisham leads us, cleverly, gorgeously, between temporal violence and bigger-picture spirituality toward something very much like a path to salvation and enlightenment. An American Demon flourishes on both extremes, as a scary hardcore punk memoir and as a valuable message to souls navigating through an overly materialistic and woefully self-absorbed me first” modern society. An American Demon conveys anger and truth within the perfect setting, using a youth rebellion that changed the world to open doors for this level of brash destruction. Told from the point of view of a seminal member of the American Punk movement doused in violence, rebellion, alcoholism, drug abuse, and ending with beautiful lessons of sobriety and absolution this book is as harrowing and life-affirming as anything youre ever going to read.
Review
"Jack Grisham finally, irrevocably, puts to death the slander that the early Los Angeles punk scene was 'plastic.' The first true literature to come out of our pathetic little punk lives, American Demon is haunting and awakens monsters. But it should come with a warning label: its a dangerous book. Read Patti Smith's Just Kids. Then read this. But only if you have the courage to follow poetry as far as it can go." Paul Roessler, producer, composer, musician
Synopsis
Depravity, redemption, terror, and spiritual deliverance abound in this physically and psychologically complex memoir from the front man of the pioneer punk band True Sounds of Liberty (TSOL). Spanning the extremes between hard-core punk memoir and handbook for recovery and survival, this narrative documents a youth rebellion that changed the world and offered life lessons rooted in 1980s punk culture. At times unsettling and violent, this book is doused in aggression, rebellion, alcoholism, and drug abuse, culminating in tough lessons of sobriety and absolution. This captivating, dark, and ultimately redemptive life story will fascinate fans of punk and resonate with those who have suffered from addiction issues.
About the Author
"Jack Grisham finally, irrevocably, puts to death the slander that the early Los Angeles punk scene was 'plastic.' The first true literature to come out of our pathetic little punk lives, American Demon is haunting and awakens monsters. But it should come with a warning label: it’s a dangerous book. Read Patti Smith's Just Kids. Then read this. But only if you have the courage to follow poetry as far as it can go." Paul Roessler, producer, composer, musician
"If you’ve ever found yourself unable to turn away from witnessing an accident, crash or natural disaster, you’ll read America Demon straight through, like I did. Jack Grisham’s memoir is as original as it is horrifying. I couldn’t put it down." James Frey, bestselling author, A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning"[N]ot for the timid. . . . a meld of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray with Fight Club and A Clockwork Orange, [Grisham] offers a savage poetry with an undertow of wit. In his lens, not-so-quiet Los Angeles suburbs become awash with dysfunction, revolt, and violence. Yet in the end he offers a sense of recovery as well." Houston Press (May 5, 2011)[A] brutal and artful memoir. . . . [Grisham] is a poet of pathology, an uber-punk in a nest of vipers." www.popmatters.com (May 9, 2011)