When hardcore industrial rocker and Ministry supremo Al Jourgensen recruited Chris Connelly as a singer for the Revolting Cocks, the young Scottish lad could hardly have imagined the mayhem that was about to ensue.

As an integral part of Jourgensen’s Mad Max-like mutant family of musicians, Connelly joined a drug-crazed travelling circus. Live shows were transformed into an ear-splitting redneck disco from hell, under the influence of a mind-boggling cocktail of every conceivable narcotic, with sleazy strippers and even reports of live cattle on stage.

As well as Jourgensen and all the Wax Trax! crew, the book features cameo appearances by Ogre of Skinny Puppy, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Killing Joke, Jah Wobble, and Cabaret Voltaire.

Despite the unrelenting chaos, both Ministry and the Revolting Cocks have been immensely successful; Connelly appeared on two US gold albums (The Land of Rape and Honey and The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste) and worked as songwriter on the million-plus selling platinum album Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs.

Connelly’s superbly written, funny, irreverent, and sometimes downright scary memoir is one of the finest portrayals of a man trapped in the eye of a post-punk industrial storm this side of Armageddon.

Chris Connelly was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and now lives in Chicago where he has pursued a successful solo career.

• January 2010 Indie Next List
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• November 2009 Indie Next List