The stories in this here anthology may in fact be true true wild tales I’ve absorbed over time. Perhaps drenched with generous hyperbole? We’ll let you decide.
As one of the founding members of the seminal punk band Angry Samoans, Gregg Turner has seen his fair share of weird shit. From his time at Creem Magazine in the early 1970s to the formation of the Angry Samoans in Los Angeles, and all the travels, trials, and tribulations that occured after, Turner takes us through a wild ride of stories he's heard, stories he's lived, and some he may or may not have made up.
With illustrations by Emmy and Klein-award winning illustrator Gary Panter, Hallucinations from Hell is an onslaught of a book that will appeal to any reader who loves a good story.
Gregg Turner first emerged from the rock crit heart of darkness in the mid 1970s as a contributing writer to Back Door Man magazine, an LA-oriented fanzine gushing vitriol and bile per anything hard rawk and roll. The “bile” part of this was noticed by the astute editors of Creem magazine, who apparently needed someone to “chop meat” (Blondie producer Mike Chapman suggested Turner pursue butchery as a career for an unflattering Suzie Quatro review). Turner posted a relatively long meat-chopping tenure at Creem from 1976–1988.
He first cut musical teeth in the 1976 proto-punk band from LA called VOM (as in vomit) which lasted two improbable years and ultimately morphed into the Angry Samoans. The Sam’s gained a rather sizable following in the 1980s, purveying catchy tunes encouraging their fans to poke their eyes out (“Lights Out”) and consider saving “Hitler’s Cock.” Turner currently persists with solo recording misadventures, a third LP expected by August 2021.
Dr. Turner moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1993, still lives there, and has two teenage daughters, Nico and Scarlet. He was a tenured mathematics professor at New Mexico Highlands University until recently retiring. He received his PhD in mathematics from Claremont Graduate University in 1991. The title of his 1991 doctoral dissertation was Stabilization of Hybrid Control Systems in the Presence of Feedback Delays.” Lack of “Control” and “Feedback” seemingly an ongoing issue with the dude since he first set ears to the Velvet Underground’s White Light/While Heat at age fourteen.
288 page paperback
Rare Bird Books, 2021
