Happy Book Birthday! DIRTY WINDSHIELDS: The Best and Worst of the Smugglers Tour Diaries by Grant Lawrence will be available for purchase from Douglas & McIntyre on May 13, 2017!
From the publisher: “Dirty Windshields is the long-awaited memoir from CBC host and award-winning author Grant Lawrence, baring all the salacious and hilarious details from his touring days as the lead singer of Vancouver-based rock and roll band The Smugglers.
Formed when most of the members were still in high school, The Smugglers came of age during the height of the grunge explosion in the early 1990s, when Grant, working as a concert promoter, put on shows for Nirvana, Green Day and Bad Religion, among many others.
In Dirty Windshields, Grant chronicles the band’s booze-fuelled, sweaty, broke and wayward attempts at rock and roll glory as they trekked across Canada, the United States, and eventually, Europe and the Pacific Rim. In their sixteen years of touring, the Smugglers experienced all the highs and lows the road can offer, from playing a gig at New York’s legendary CBGB club to starting a riot in a Denver nightclub to having their performance tuxes stolen in Australia.
Through the fights, sexual misadventures, new friendships, dance contests and mayhem, the band grew up together on the road. Told with Grant’s signature self-deprecating wit, the anecdotes develop into a compelling story of the growth of an independent, do-it-yourself touring band, a community, and a musical movement. So crack open a semi-cold can of Black Label beer, stick a Smugglers tape into the cassette deck and let the good times roll.”
Don’t miss the book launch taking place on May 13th at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver! Doors will open at 7pm, and the show starts at 8pm. The “book launch” portion will be in the early evening, making room for the rock ‘n’ roll party to follow. Books will be on sale and Grant Lawrence will be at the signing table at the beginning and end of the night. Get more details at the following link: www.grantlawrence.ca/2017/02/details-smugglers-reunion-dirty-windshields-book-launch-vancouver
Advance Praise:
“This true tale of innocents abroad is a testament to the power of unshakable optimism in the face of utter cluelessness and should serve as a flashing red light warning to anyone who imagines that touring the world in a band is non-stop fun. But somehow the laughs keep coming. Told with equal measures pride and shame, this uproarious chronicle of vans, violence, alcohol, cops, fires, floods, blizzards, wrong turns, crooked clubowners, actual snakes, robbery, bodily fluids and calamities of all sorts is the perfect companion to the band’s mega-fun music.” — Ira Robbins, NYC rock writer (Rolling Stone, SPIN, Village Voice, Creem, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly, Mojo, Trouser Press)
“Grant Lawrence taught me everything I know about touring! Buckle up for an epic tale told by one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest storytellers. Dirty Windshields is a shotgun seat on a beer-and-body-fluid-soaked wild ride you’ll never forget!”– Lisa Marr, cub
“Wow! The details are different but the story is very similar to my own. Of course, I was on the east coast of Canada, and my band was actually pretty good, but the themes are universal.” – Chris Murphy, Sloan
Visit the Douglas & McIntyre website for more information about the book: www.douglas-mcintyre.com/book/dirty-windshields
Purchase the book at Amazon.ca: www.amazon.ca/Dirty-Windshields-Worst-Smugglers-Diaries/dp/1771621486/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493037077&sr=1-1&keywords=9781771621489.