Bang Bang Crash

by Nic Brown

Overview

A rock and roll drummer abandons his successful music career to pursue his true passion and discovers a deeper understanding of artistic fulfillment in this episodic memoir of swapping one dream for another

In the mid-1990s, fresh out of high school, Nic Brown was living his childhood dream as a rock and roll drummer. Signing a major label record deal, playing big shows, hitting the charts, giving interviews in Rolling Stone, appearing on The Tonight Show—what could be better for a young artist? But contrary to expectations, getting a shot at his artistic dream early in life was a destabilizing shock. The more he achieved, the more accolades that came his way, the less sure Brown became about his path.

Only a few years into a promising musical career, he discovered the crux of his discontent: he was never meant to remain behind the drums. In fact, his true artistic path lay in a radically different direction entirely: he decided to become a writer, embarking on a journey leading him to attend the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, publish novels and short stories, and teach literature to college students across the country.

Bang Bang Crash tells the story of Nic Brown’s unusual journey to gain new strength, presence of mind, and sense of perspective, enabling him to discover an even greater life of artistic fulfillment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640094406
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	02/21/2023
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	535,431
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

NIC BROWN is the author of the novels In Every Way, Doubles, and Floodmarkers, which was selected as an Editors' Choice by The New York Times Book Review. He is the fiction editor of the South Carolina Review, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and the Harvard Review, among many other publications. As a drummer, he has worked with Athenaeum, Ben Lee, Longwave, Skeleton Key, and Eszter Balint. A graduate of Columbia University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he has served as the Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi and is now an associate professor of creative writing at Clemson University.

Editorial Reviews

12/05/2022

Writing professor and former alt-rock drummer Brown (Floodmarkers) charts his rise from hopeful high school musician to professional percussionist in this mellow memoir. Detailing his early obsession with drumming and his first record deal at 19, Brown recounts feeling he’d “achieved all he wanted” before turning 21, but he eventually grew disenchanted with the music scene and turned to writing. He chronicles his path in episodic style, and in its most dynamic spots the narrative blossoms into a punchy portrait hinting at a deep-rooted passion for writing, evident in the way he describes the first time he notices hearing loss after a show (“my own nightly proof of self-destruction”) or when he fabricates a backstory for his band, Athenaeum, that gets picked up by the press. As well, his love for the people he encounters is palpable, among them famous actors, musicians he’d idolized in his childhood, and his many tour mates. Unfortunately, these events fail to coalesce, and when he finally lands a spot at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop (after having initially declined Ivy League admission to pursue music), it’s hard not to long for a touch more tension. Budding writers and former musicians who’ve long hung up their instruments are likely to find some resonance, but others will be underwhelmed. Agent: Nat Jacks, InkWell Management. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal, A Best Book of the Year

"As a coming-of-age memoir, Bang Bang Crash isn’t your typical Behind the Music episode. No sex or drugs, nor detailed accounts of drama with the record label or management. Instead, it’s a more thoughtful rendering of how a kid achieves his dream—so fast and so young, with his high school band—and then discovers that this particular dream isn’t the right fit for him." —Don McLeese, Little Village Magazine

"Charming . . . A nostalgia-rich ode to optimism . . . The joyous read reminds us that when art, whether song or story, leaves its maker's hands, it becomes something bigger, something that belongs to every fan." —CJ Lotz, Garden & Gun

"This poignant memoir will not only be loved by music fans but will also likely appeal to readers who want to go on a journey of love, ambivalence, and acceptance." —Library Journal (starred review)

"A stylish portrait of a life in search of a deeper rhythm." —Henry L. Carrigan Jr., BookPage

"This memoir, crafted in beautiful, vivid prose, explores a life devoted to art, and an artist with many facets and branches to his talent. Music fans will adore the behind-the-scenes look at a drummer’s life, but anyone who has ever radically changed course will find connection in Brown’s words." —Booklist

"Amiable . . . A well-written rock memoir that evades the usual clichés . . . Both former and aspiring rockers will find plenty to reflect on in Brown’s reminiscences." —Kirkus Reviews

"'What happens when you discover that you’re a grown man, living out the dreams of a boy?' Nic Brown asks a good question—particularly if you're a drummer. Some can't or won't wake up from those dreams, but Brown found a new one. Through ill-fated and yet redemptive forays into everything from rapping to tennis, our hero narrates the birth, by turns amusing and a little heartbreaking, of an inspiring second act of a very American life." ––Michael Azerrad, author of Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana and Our Band Could Be Your Life

"Bang Bang Crash is irresistible, a sly memoir that comes on like a great pop song—catchy, fast paced, witty—only to deepen into a meditation on creativity and the search for meaning. Music fans will, of course, devour the book. Anyone who has struggled to find their way as an artist will discover something deeper in Nic Brown’s wise, compassionate voice: a true companion." ––Steve Almond, author of Rock & Roll Will Save Your Life

"There’s Jean-Paul Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, and then there’s Nic Brown’s Bang Bang Crash. I’ve never read a more satisfactory memoir that concerned what-should’ve-been and what-should be. This is a journey that we all take, whether we like it or not. I loved this story completely, and although I might say I wish I’d taken it, I’m glad I didn’t. What a great memoir, the best I’ve read in years." ––George Singleton, You Want More: Selected Stories

"Most rock memoirs are about excess. But Nic Brown's Bang Bang Crash is about ambivalence: it asks, What happens if you get everything you ever wanted, and discover that you should have wanted something else? What should you do next? Well, in Nic Brown's case, he put down his drumsticks and wrote this charming, funny, rueful, wise book about the rock and roll life, and the life after the rock and roll life. An essential addition to the long, ongoing American story of second chances, second acts." ––Brock Clarke, author of Who Are You, Calvin Bledsoe?

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2023

Novelist Brown (In Every Way) used to be a drummer, which he often doesn't want people to know. He deftly brings readers along on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance in his raw and melodic memoir that introduces readers to a young boy passionate for drumming and the man who loses that passion. In the mid-1990s, fresh out of high school, Brown played drums in a rock 'n' roll band that was signed to a major label. He toured the country, appeared on television, and had a hit song. But he was not sure it was the path he wanted to be on. Realizing he wanted to become a writer, he quit music, went to college, attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and now has a successful career as a writer and creative-writing professor. Told with brilliant writing, this story is filled with introspection and both laugh-out-loud and cringeworthy moments. VERDICT This poignant memoir will not only be loved by music fans but will also likely appeal to readers who want to go on a journey of love, ambivalence, and acceptance.—Rebekah J. Buchanan

Library Journal

2023-01-06
Amiable memoir by a rock drummer–turned-writer.

“I never play the drums anymore, but they never cease playing me,” writes Brown, who found elementary school fame by slapping knees and desk in a creditable version of Ringo Starr’s drumming on “The End.” Ask the author about his career in rock, though, and he’s likely to demur—in large measure, he writes, because you wouldn’t have heard of the bands he played with despite the fact that they had a radio hit or two. Brown likens himself to a minor league ball player called up to the majors but never quite distinguishing himself: “I wasn’t one of the greats. I was just good enough.” An ardent music fan might be the judge of that, but Brown delivers a well-written rock memoir that evades the usual clichés. There’s not a lot of sex and drugs, for instance, but there’s plenty on how a nondysfunctional rhythm section works and how a drummer can get the yips as surely as can a golf pro. Egos, contracts, publishing rights, rolling along the interstate on a tour bus supporting the Foo Fighters—all figure in Brown’s pages. The author also tackles deeper issues, such as the racism that pervaded the music scene in the North Carolina city where he got his start and the musical differences that cleaved communities (“It’s just rock stuff,” he says apologetically to a jazz master). There are funny anecdotes along the way, as when Brown figures out a devastatingly difficult drum pattern before an audition only to discover that the band had actually used two drummers. The author also writes seriously without taking himself too much so, as when he recalls reaching a sideman’s apogee: “I’d made myself invisible.” Later passages of the book recount his friendship with mentor and writer Jim McPherson and how he developed his own writing chops while becoming a more appreciative consumer of music.

Both former and aspiring rockers will find plenty to reflect on in Brown’s reminiscences.

Kirkus Reviews