My Damage: The Story Of A Punk Rock Survivor

Keith Morris with Jim Ruland DA CAPO. £19.29

Black Flag founder’s tales of punk, drugs and diabetes.

This picaresque tale is well titled: Morris is indeed a survivor, outliving many of his contemporaries and continuing to thrive, against the odds. His autobiography pulls no punches in chronicling his loving but dysfunctional family, his substance abuse issues, the punk rock pioneers he co-founded (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), his struggles with the music industry and his near-fatal bouts with diabetes. The book is characterised by sharp wit, abundant empathy and the wisdom of a man who has outrun his many demons, pelting by like an afternoon with a particularly garrulous storyteller, and reaching a brutal, no-nonsense peak when Morris recounts an illstarred early-’00s Black Flag reunion with notorious, mercurial guitarist Greg Ginn in the manner of Apocalypse Now: “My orders were to drive down to Long Beach and kill Colonel Ginn with all the knobs turned to 11…”