Metal is not a cult or an ideological system but a scene, and a scene is always a cultural backwater of the mainstream. Kip’s takedowns of the pay-to-play fame seekers who cavort about the Whisky a Go Go’s stage on weekday nights to half-empty rooms with glitter cannons and paisley scarves, are scabrous enough to give the likes of Lester Bangs and Kickboy Face pause. “He couldn’t shake the feeling,” Wray writes, “that all it would take to bring the whole scene crashing down would be for someone, just one random person, to look around and start laughing.” (Though the band isn’t named, that’s the effect Nirvana had when it broke out in 1991 and sent hair metal back to the underground.)

Kip’s musical taste is defined by what he doesn’t like, and as he reinvents himself as a reviewer for a zine called Hair of the Serpent, he discovers plenty to dislike in the druggy lore of the Sunset Strip. She talks about “Hard+Fast,” a new collection of her photos. Melanie Nissen was there at the creation of L.A. punk’s house photographer remembers her best shots

These rumors are bolstered by Kip’s proclivity for slipping into a violent fugue-like state he calls the White Room whenever he’s threatened or stressed.īooks L.A. His arrival is attended by a raft of rumors about his incarcerated father and drug-addicted mother, as well as his own involuntary stay in a mental health facility. In his latest outing, he has nailed his milieu.Ĭhristopher “Kip” Norvald is the proverbial new kid in town, who moves to Venice, Fla., to live with his grandmother and finish high school. Wray is the acclaimed author of five previous novels, ranging from the voice-driven (“Lowboy”) to the historical (“The Right Hand of Sleep”) and the experimental (“The Lost Time Accidents”). This is certainly the case for the three main characters in “ Gone to the Wolves,” an outstanding new novel by John Wray set in the world of ’80s heavy metal. Enduring everything from insults to parking lot beat-downs, devotees of extreme music earn their fandom. This is why headbangers and punks are the most loyal fans on the planet. There is a direct relationship between the amount of crap you take for the music you love and the depth of your devotion to it. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores.

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