Wording: The power of the internet – great picture of Ivy Rorschach, insane wallpaper and myself in a book entitled ‘Untypical Girls’. I only found out about Sam Knee’s book due to a sharp eyed pal, so I have no idea if I’m name-checked or not as the author didn’t make contact but it was nice to be included. I adored the Gregory/Kid era Cramps, they were one of the most powerful and pure evocations of rock n’ roll imaginable and I was fortunate to get to know the band in early days. Through meeting them I got the confidence to start writing. Rock n’ roll journalism was perceived as a rather unseemly thing for a young woman to do, it was still very masculine territory. When Wikipedia first went out, I was credited as being a groupie simply because I wrote about bands. It took months to get Wikipedia to change this – no one would ever have dreamed of describing Nick Kent who was a big influence or Lester Bangs as a ‘Groupie’ but because I was female, that assumption was made and then went on to the internet. There’s also an obsession that I was a singer – another distortion of fact. I was always a writer, contributing to numerous publications including Mojo/Uncut and Classic Rock as well as having 5 books to date, published. One foray into backing vocals that was quickly forgotten has set an inaccurate precedent and remains part of the quest to be taken seriously as writer. An ‘untypical girl’? Maybe or maybe not as there was always plenty of females at the gigs I went to, if they weren’t seen as equal participants that has more to do with the mind-set of the music press at the time. Outside of the performers, the rock n’ roll experience wasn’t solely the province of males as hopefully Sam Knee’s book attests. ( I don’t have a copy so can’t say ;))
Nina Antonia 