The Rest is Propaganda – Steve Ignorant with Steve Pottinger

Southern Records Book, P.O. Box 59, London, N22 1AR, England, www.southern.com

While I would think ‚everybody‘ knows who Steve Ignorant is, I could be wrong…. he was one of the founders of the band CRAss and their singer (he would later play also in Stratford Mercenaris and Schwartzeneggar). CRAss was a highly political and active punk band from the early 80is (if you prefer, late 70is) and influenced alot of the second wave of Punk Rockers (indluding me) to this day. But, the book is not the story of that band, even thou the band, of course, has a section abut them…

But it is much rather the story of Steve who grew up on the streets of Dagenham and how he learned about life. Now, „life storys“ – everybody has them – can be very boring to read about, but not in this case! The reasons for this are various: first of all the author (& his co-author) goes back in his childhood and is not afraid to tell very private storys about him and his family growing up. Then there is interesting storys to share, especially obviously when Crass started and – it is well written to keep your attention and still be entertaining.

Sometimes in the beginning I thought storys went too „deep“ but in the end it makes all sense and I was thankfull for the richness of detail. There is so many good/funny/amazing storys in this book (or should I say in Steve’s life?) that it is hard for me to pick one or a few not to speak all of them (remember, this is a review, not extracts from the book!). You can come along with Steve on a intersting trip, guarenteed!

Storys about everything a life has to offer and one can learn also so much more about CRAss. I have to admit, for people who are not familiar with the band or the person it can be a bit lengthy in parts. But on the other hand, for fans who are intersted in what happend behind the curtains it is a recommended read! At least for me there was a few eye opening moments there, like learning how good friends Steve was with certain people until he understood they are a bunch of thugs.. Dude, this book has 300 pages (19×13 cm, paperback), how the fuck should I pick out a good story out of so many. If you by now dont know if this book is for you or not… I can not help you any further. (dolf)

Isbn 978-0956674609

[Trust # 147 April 2011]