Absolute Newbie: Memoirs of the World’s Finest Least-Recognized Guitarist by Kevin Armstrong

Revealed by: Jawbone Press

Revealed 17 October 2023

264pp softcover

In Absolute Newbie, Kevin Armstrong recounts the painful lows and dizzying triumphs of a sometimes-tenuous life spent in an unpredictable and unforgiving music business.

Studying by way of the chapters retelling his first conferences with icons comparable to Bowie, Paul McCartney, and Iggy Pop, there may be typically the sensation of “all the time the bridesmaid and by no means the bride” with the best way missed connections and could-have-been have diverged in his life over time. However in opposition to some odds, he has solid a path by way of an business beset with notoriously difficult-to-dodge roadblocks, stood side-by-side with a few of the greats on a few of the world’s greatest phases (and even been a self-proclaimed catalyst for some turning factors in these paragons’ personal careers), and are available out the opposite facet as (in his personal phrases), “the world’s finest least-known guitarist” (and should you can’t boast just a little in your personal memoir, when are you able to?)

The early chapters masking his days spent listening to and enjoying music, principally misunderstood and by no means fairly assembly the expectations of his lecturers, set the stage for what’s to come back: a younger music fan’s miraculous rising by way of the ranks of the echelons of the very music he had grown up adoring. Absolute Newbie is a recounting of all he has realized alongside the best way, typically fairly drily about music gear (though fortunately for the uninterested, that is largely banished to an Appendix on the finish of the e book), and sometimes fairly sordidly, sparing no element of the intercourse and medicines that naturally got here together with the rock n’ roll.

One of many linking elements that dawns fairly regularly all through the e book is the sheer tenacity and rebelliousness of the envelope-pushing musicians he discovered himself backing up over time: the outspoken Sinead, the trailblazing Bowie, the wild man Iggy… Kevin’s personal insurgent spirit, while tinged with aforementioned hedonism, shines by way of in spades when he talks of touring the States with Iggy Pop, noting a very embarrassing second trying to stroll on the group as Iggy usually did. His is a rebelliousness of whole immersion in a pipedream resulting in triumph, all of the whereas refusing to offer in to the domesticity of an peculiar life or be advised no based mostly solely on an absence of conventional music coaching.

At its coronary heart, Absolute Newbie is a love letter to an business that held him, impressed him, created him, and outlined him, but in addition typically shunned him, pushed him, and crushed him. However finally, it was one which made him and one he’s clearly eternally grateful to.

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Phrases by Lynsey Wright. You may learn her Louder Than Struggle critiques at her writer profile or discover her on Instagram.