Maybe it was rarer than it should have been to see black kids at punk gigs back in the day. We're glad to say that seems to be an issue that's sorted itself out now, with cosmopolitan, inclusive shows all over the place. But we thought it might be interesting to hear from a non-Caucasian point of view, from a guy who was involved in London's punk rock and alternative scene back in the '90s and kept a diary of all the gigs he went to and what happened at them. This became The Dark Chronicles. A straight talking account of James Christie's experience of punk rock in and around London in the nineties and noughties.
'The Dark Chronicles - The Punk Rock years 1988-2006: Music, racism and snogging birds' by James Christie is a very un-PC punk rockers diary. Written in his own words, with no holds barred, it tells it like it is, or was. At times the stories and reminiscences can be humourous, and at other times they can be disturbing. An insightful look back at a scene that holds itself above others, politically and socially speaking, but clearly had its own issues too.
He is 100% "anti woke, anti snowflake and 100% anti f***ing politically correct" as he puts it ("Hell, if you can't poke fun at yourself and then poke fun at the shit people that blight society, there's no point in having fun at all"). It's a biography. It's a diary. It's a music history lesson. It's all three things wrapped up and more. Added with savage, sarcastic humour, this is the story of a former punk as told from a non-caucasian alternative point of view, his time involved in London's punk rock scene and abroad throughout the entire 1990's and up to the early noughties. How there was, despite the fun and laughs, a more sinister side which is never mentioned, along with the hypocrisy and the occasional violence that tagged along with it. No holds barred. Warts an' all. It will shock. It will be disgusting. It will make you laugh and then it will leave you emotionally detached.
You can order 'The Dark Chronicles' by James Christie here.