Noise Damage

James Kennedy

Being a winner is easy. It’s being a failure that’s hard

‘Harrowing, funny and 100% true’ Ginger Wildheart

The tale that follows is not another clichéd collection of rock’n’roll  debaucheries (sorry) nor is it another tired fable of triumph over adversity (you’re welcome).

It’s the story of a half-deaf kid from a tiny, remote village in South Wales who was hailed as a genius by the UK’s biggest radio station and headhunted by major record labels, only for the music industry to collapse. It crashed hard, taking with it an entire generation of talented artists who would never now get their shot. CNN called it ‘music’s lost decade’.

Along the way, there are goodies, baddies, gun-toting label execs, life-saving surgeons, therapy, true love, loyalty, hope, breakdowns, suicidal managers, betrayal, drummers and way too many hangovers. James Kennedy shows that the best lessons are to be learned from good losers. It really is all about the journey.

Part memoir, part exposé of the music world’s murky underbelly, Noise Damage is emotional, painfully honest, funny, informative and ridiculous. It’s also a celebration of the life-changing magic of music.

‘Easily one of the greatest books I’ve ever read about music and being in a band’ Eric Alper, SiriusXM

‘History, it’s said, is written by the winners, but this insightful, candid autobiography from Kyshera’s James Kennedy suggests otherwise. A journey through disillusion, the machinations of the music industry and hard-won self-acceptance, it’s required, revelatory reading’ Metal Hammer

‘The indefatigable Welsh misfit’s entertaining memoir of underachievement. His ebullient writing style and hard-earned hungover wisdom keep you turning the pages’ Classic Rock

‘An eye-opening insight into what keeps the music industry ticking, or rather what James Kennedy thinks keeps it rotting at the core. Funny throughout and thoroughly self-deprecating, Kennedy is both self-aware and confident [and] there’s a definite no-holding-back policy on swearing, drugs and alcohol…’ Buzz Magazine

‘Likeable, refreshing, heart-wrenching...This eye-opening story will appeal to more than just music fans. Before you know it you find yourself at the back cover, wondering if it’s too soon to pick it back up and start again’ Rock ’n’ Load

Paperback: 288pp

Publisher: Eye (October 2020)

ISBN: 9781785632143