Max Décharné

Max Décharné is a rock'n'roll musician, author and journalist, probably best known for his being the drummer for Gallon Drunk and fronting his own band The Flaming Stars.

Music and writing

Décharné started writing short stories in 1989 but in 1986, inspired by the postpunk DIY ethic, Max founded the Malice Aforethought Press with Frank Key.^[1] Over the next few years they published a large number of short-run pamphlets. Titles by Max included "The Importance Of Being Harnessed" and "The Night They Invented Shampoo". Most of these texts were later collected in paperback. Max also appeared as a guest on Frank Key's weekly Resonance FM Radio show Hooting Yard On The Air in which the former publishing partners discussed their love of unusual literature.^[2]

He joined Gallon Drunk in 1991, touring with Morrissey and even gaining critical acclaim. However, the band didn't make any money, even though the tour was successful. After leaving Gallon Drunk, he formed The Flaming Stars, a band indebted to 1960's garage rock, Nick Cave and his love of film noir and exploitation B-movies. As well as a vocalist, Décharné played drums in Gallon Drunk, as well as currently playing piano and organ in The Flaming Stars. He is also a member of The Earls of Suave.

His writing career has encompassed short stories, journalism, songwriting, books on hipster slang and cinema. The latter two were an opportunity for Décharné to watch his favourite films and indulge his passion for pulp fiction novels from the 1950s and 1960s. He has written for magazines such Mojo and Bizarre, even writing on his North American tour with Gallon Drunk in the former. He was the last man to interview John Peel before he died (Peel and Décharné were mutual admirers). He has also acted in the film Pervirella, playing the role of the Curator.^[3]

Décharne now lives in London and Berlin.

Bibliography

• Beat Your Relatives To A Bloody Pulp & Other Stories, Malice Aforethought Press, 1989
• The Prisoner Of Brenda & Other Stories, Malice Aforethought Press, 1991
• I Was A Teenage Warehouse & Other Stories, Thirst Editions, 1997
• Straight From the Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary of Hipster Slang, No Exit Press, 2000
• Hardboiled Hollywood – The Origins of the Great Crime Films, No Exit Press, 2003
• King's Road: The Rise And Fall of the Hippest Street in the World, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005
• Rocket In My Pocket: The Hipster's Guide to Rockabilly Music, Serpent's Tail, 2010
• Capital Crimes: Seven Centuries of London Life and Murder, Random House Books, 2012

Discography

Gallon Drunk

• You, The Night... And The Music (1992) Clawfist
• From The Heart of the Town (1993) Clawfist/Sire (UK #67)^[4]

The Flaming Stars

Studio albums

• Songs From the Bar Room Floor (Vinyl Japan 1996)
• Sell Your Soul to the Flaming Stars (Vinyl Japan 1997)
• Pathway (Vinyl Japan 1999)
• A Walk on the Wired Side (Vinyl Japan 2001)
• Sunset & Void (Vinyl Japan 2002)
• Named and Shamed (Vinyl Japan 2004)
• Born Under A Bad Neon Sign (Big Beat, 2006)

Singles/ EPs

• "Hospital, Heaven or Hell" (tracks "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / Davy Jones' Locker / Like Trash / Revenge" - Vinyl Japan, March 1995)
• The Face On The Bar Room Floor / Get Carter (Vinyl Japan, August 1995)
• Money To Burn / Bandit Country / A Hell of a Woman / New Shade of Black (Vinyl Japan, December 1995)
• Downhill Without Brakes / Broken Heart / Eat Your Heart Out / Burnt Out Wreck of a Man (Vinyl Japan, May 1996)
• Ten Feet Tall / Spaghetti Junction (Vinyl Japan, December 1996)
• Bury My Heart At Pier 13 / Down to You (live in London) (Vinyl Japan, March 1997)
• New Hope For The Dead / Are You Being Served (Vinyl Japan, October 1997)
• Sweet Smell Of Success / The Day The Earth Caught Fire / Never Missed You Tonight / A Place in the Sun (Vinyl Japan, April 1998)
• Only Tonight (Vinyl Japan, November 1999)
• You Don't Always Want What You Get / Saturday Night Special (Vinyl Japan, January 2001)
• One Lonely Night / Days Like This (Alternative Tentacles, September 2001)
• A Little Bit Like You / The Man Who Would be B.B. King (Vinyl Japan, September 2002)
• Spilled Your Pint / Sixty Nine (Vinyl Japan, Bang! Records, 2004)
• Stranger On the Fifth Floor / New Hope for the Dead (live in Germany) (Vinyl Japan 2005)

Other albums

• Bring Me the Rest of Alfredo Garcia (Singles 1995-1996) (Vinyl Japan, March 1997)
• The Six John Peel Sessions (Vinyl Japan, 2000)
• Tijuana Bible, (Nippon Columbia, July 2000) (Japanese release only)
• Ginmill Perfume, (Alternative Tentacles, October 2001) (North American release only)
• London After Midnight: Singles, Rarities and Bar Room Floor-Fillers 1995-2005 (Big Beat Records, 2006)

Tracks on other compilations

• The Face on the Bar Room Floor appeared on "Various Artists do the Nuclear Tests in Paris and Beijing" (Vinyl Japan, 1995) NB The Earls of Suave track "A Cheat" also appears on the same CD. The Earls featured many of The Flaming Stars.
• Bring Me the Rest of Alfredo Garcia appears on the 'CD magazine' "Volume 15" (Volume, 1995)
• Back of My Mind appeared on "Cowpunks" (Vinyl Junkie, 1996)
• Like Trash appeared on "What Did You Come Down Here For? Music from Club Zitt" (Genki, 1996)
• A Hell of a Woman appeared on "Plan Boom" (What's That Noise, 1998)

References

1. ↑ Langford, David. "The Mysteries of Frank Key". The New York Review of SF. 
2. ↑ "Hooting Yard on the Air". 2005-09-28. 
3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1202418/ Internet Movie Database entry on Decharne
4. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (1999). The Great Alternative & Indie Discography. Canongate. ISBN 0-86241-913-1. 

External links

• Max Decharne's Myspace Page
• An interview with Max Decharne about his friendship with Spider Stacey.
• Interview With Max Decharne about his book, Straight From The Fridge Dad
• Author page, UK publisher (No Exit Press)