Powder

Kevin Sampson clearly knows what he is talking about - the characters have some depth and the stories are are laugh out loud funny. One other thing to note - Sampson is obsessed with weird sex.

This book has NOT had commercial success in America which completely sucks. If you are into contemporary literature, this is for you. It's time people went out on a limb and strayed from all the mainstreamers who denigrate the art.In the form of great writers, Sampson makes you feel the characters and identify with their trials and hardships.The book is about a band, The Grams who are on their way to the top. Getting there proves difficult. Once they cross over into America, shi--er--stuff hits the fan. America wants to change them in it's typical theft-and-repaint, repackage-and-resell manner. People said the Grams are too brit for the states and so their artistic integrity was watered down. Similarly, publishers have claimed the book too Brit for America. Fie on publishers! Zounds, you'd think people could break out of their americentric modes long enough to breathe in greatness.Without initial intent to make a statement on AMerica, I guess I have anyway. The crux of this review, however, is that Powder is one of the finest reads of its time. It explores a culture that is brilliant and spoken only softly in America.

The way the book is written--with the idioms and speech spelled out so you can actually hear them talk--this book has a face and a sound. I feel like this work is gritty, right off the street and straight from the heart. IF you want to jump into brit life, start here. Kevin Sampson rocks the house...all blokes, journos, and punters should enjoy

Don't be put off by the gaudy jacket cover, this book is a rock'n'roll star. It charts the rise and fall of a scouse super group 'THE GRAMS' and in particular their troubled troubadour Keva McCluskey. I was initially suspicous of the book, it is bound up to look like a cheap holiday read, and I think this does it a great disservice. The characters in Powder could not be better drawn, Sampson's experience as a manager to the early nineties group 'The Farm' is obviously a great source of inspiration for the gallery of lunatics, chancers and ego-maniacs that trip between the pages. All the great themes are here; Drugs, sex, rock'n'roll with Death and Love thrown in, mashed together in a kind of grotesque road-trip. It is Sampson's array of character's that is the books strongest point and the whip-song pace is relentless throughout. Through england, America Ibiza and Amsterdam the band snort and squabble, Powder is above all a good yarn, told well and great fun to read.