Life after the life

What happens when the volume finally drops?

What happens when the tour van breaks down for the last time, and you’re left with a thousand bad decisions ringing in your ears?

That’s the messy, beautiful, and honest territory that Joe McNally steers in his book, Poems About Love And Punk Rock. 

A guy who actually lived that life (Voodoo Glow Skulls, Green Day and The Offspring touring member as a trumpet player, and many more bands along the way), delivered a book that goes beyond the typical band memoir. It’s about the life behind the gigs, about addiction, chaos, and the long recovery that led to sixteen years of sobriety and a second act as a teacher and writer. This book is a collection of short stories and poems written over the years, but they originated as spoken-word performance pieces. They were literally hammered out on stage and at open mics, designed to be read aloud, read in a way that a simple, smart, and honest man would tell a story to a friend. You feel that  intimate connection on every page. The style just crackles with the energy of a verbal delivery. It’s brutally honest at times, wildly impulsive and sentimental at others. It reads like a conversation over a few late-night cups of coffee.

Read Thoughts Words Action full review of the new book here: https://thoughtswordsaction.com/2025/12/08/poems-about-love-and-punk-rock-by-joe-mcnally-earth-island-books/