If one band could be said to symbolize British punk in its heyday, that band is The Clash. As a young journalist on tour with all of punk's biggest names, Kris Needs forged lifelong friendships with The Clash while witnessing their wild exploits firsthand. One of the first journalists to see the band live, Needs championed them from the start, becoming close friends with Joe Strummer and the rest of the group, accompanying them on many major tours, and being present at pivotal moments in their career. Combining his own anecdotal and press material from the era with a wealth of biographical detail and photographs, Needs illuminates the legend with accounts of life-changing gigs, on-the-road antics, and the recording sessions that produced the critically revered and ever-popular albums. The book pays special attention to the late Joe Strummer - his motivations and passions and his place as a punk pioneer.

Appearing in early 70s New York City as primal prototype street punks, Suicide are now hailed as one of the most important and influential groups of the 20th century, inspiring that decade's major musical movements but too feared and shunned to be awarded their rightful acclaim at the time. Confronting shocked audiences with their electronic "New York blues", singer Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev fearlessly mirrored the city's sleazy underbelly and decay on blood-freezing gutter-scapes such as 'Ghost Rider' and 'Frankie Teardrop' while invoking doo-wop purity on timeless love songs like 'Cheree' and 'Dream Baby Dream'.The book charts Suicide's uncompromising roller coaster from formative days in performance art and avant garde experimentation to chaotic early shows at drug-infested downtown hotbed the Project of Living Artists.Along with detailed accounts of Suicide's influences, contemporaries and environment which spawned them, the book will position the duo as one of New York's most pivotal but derided outfits as the story moves through their pioneering first album, 1978's shockingly violent UK tour supporting The Clash and subsequent recordings, live sorties and respective parallel solo careers, going up to the present day. The author's eye witness accounts and extensive first-hand interviews with Alan Vega and Martin Rev are joined by conversations with producers Craig Leon, Marty Thau and Bob Blank, contemporaries including Blondie, Jayne County and the New York Dolls and fans such as Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie and The Clash; adding to a definitive account of this most unique group. With an introduction by Lydia Lunch

Always steered by Alex Paterson, The Orb were the mischief-making pioneers of the late 80s acid house revolution. Inventing "ambient house", they took it to the top of the charts, before continuing its idiosyncratic flight path through subsequent decades, battling meteor storms en route. Babble On An' Ting, the first full account of Paterson's life, written by long-time friend Kris Needs in close collaboration with Alex, reveals a frequently astonishing journey from traumatic childhood through punk, Killing Joke and KLF to starting The Orb in 1988, then the five decade roller coaster that followed. Moving, shocking, hilarious and inspiring, at the heart of this story lies a true survivor doggedly following their musical passion. First-hand interviews include those with Youth, Andrew Weatherall, Primal Scream, Jah Wobble, Jimmy Cauty and a parade of friends, collaborators and starship mechanics.

The New York Dolls played an integral role in laying the foundations of punk rock. By taking the flamboyant sass of Jagger and Richards to outrageous extremes and combining it with down-and-dirty rock 'n' roll, the Dolls -- fronted by icons David Johansen and Sylvan Sylvain -- brought the punk scene to a fever pitch and inspired both fans and musicians like the Sex Pistols and Marilyn Manson. From their origins in the street gangs of New York's outer boroughs, through their recent rebirth and the untimely death of bassist Arthur Kane, "Trash! offers a comprehensive look at these gender-bending scenesters.
Featuring first-hand reminiscences, interviews with band members, revealing tour anecdotes, archival material, and 75 black-and-white photos, "Trash! covers every leopard-clad inch of these glamsters' heyday. Set mostly in the chaotic and creative maelstrom of the mid-'70s New York scene, the book also profiles the individual band members' post-Dolls careers.

"The World's Blackest White Man." "The World's Most Elegantly Wasted Human Being." "The Human Riff." These descriptions are all part of the myth surrounding the legendary songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the Rolling Stones. A veteran observer of the rock scene on both sides of the Atlantic, Kris Needs has interviewed Keith Richards regularly for 25 years. Drawing on archives, interviews, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the Stones' discography, he reveals the complex man behind the myth, from blues-infatuated working class kid to world-renowned musician nearly ruined by heroin to present-day elder statesman of rock who continues to find personal redemption in music.