I Gotta Rock

Twenty Years of Tales 1965-1985Aerosmiths Joe Perry put it this way The new singer Cowboy Mach Bell was a rocknroll guy who grew up in the next town over from me (Holliston Massachusetts) and had a group called Thundertrain. He loved to rave and be in a band.In his tell-all journeyman rocker Cowboy Mach Bell lead singer with the Joe Perry Project (1982-84) Thundertrain (1974- 80) and the Mechanical Onions opens up about his bands meteoric paths his favorite rock musicians and how he found himself touring & singing alongside Americas quintessential rock star Joe Perry. This is a Twenty Year 1965-85 memoir and through a series of vignettes Mach Bell takes readers back to where it all happened: the little tent where he saw the Jimi Hendrix Experience perform; the jail cell he was tossed into after a teenage bust; the Thundertrain mansion and the spot where his first songwriting sessions with Joe Perry took place; the roadhouses and dragways where Thundertrain and the Joe Perry Project headlined nightly; the studios where Once a Rocker Always a Rocker was recorded; and the underground clubs that erupted whenever Mach Bell played. I GOTTA ROCK is packed with never-before-told stories about fans bands rockstars punks the Sunset Strip El Mocambo groupies backstage the Rat and the Boston/NYC rock scenes most vital years. Cowboy gives a fresh perspective on 20 years of the most provocative moments in his turbulent rocknroll career. Mach Bell also provides a detailed and stunning account of the time he spent on the road employed as a roustabout with Circus Vargas just prior to his joining the Joe Perry Project. Humorous run-ins with excited fans famous musicians and more than one angry club owner. I Gotta Rock is at once a rocking 60s time capsule of the counterculture in Boston and beyond a 70s reflection on what it means to find oneself as a rock performer and an 80s tale of a life lived on the wild side. Its not only a must-read for Cowboy Mach Bell fans but an essential volume of American pop culture history. I Gotta Rock492 pages Nearly 200 photographs