“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you”. Oprah Winfrey

Joe Matera’s book came through the post with an invitation to review. I took to the book easily because I identified a kindred spirit. Here was a person who followed his passion for writing about rock music in a similarly ‘excited’ way that I have written about theatre.  

Matera has written many hundreds of articles about rock music from the early nineteen nineties to the present.  

He has reviewed and interviewed bands like Rick Wakeman, Billy Corgan, Les McKeown of Bay City Rollers fame, Smashing Pumpkins, Sharon Osbourne, The Dirt, Hammer Of The Gods, Walk This Way, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Status Quo and Jackson Browne  and has been published in many music magazines such as Classic Rock.

A kind of memoir, the book takes us inside the articles and the world he is so fervently passionate about. The stories, the writing, just jumps off the page. There is an extra layer to his work, and that as well as being a spectator he is also a participant. He is an accomplished guitarist, having played in many bands over the years.

This guy knows his world. As per the title, there’s plenty of grit with the glamour. Sure there are the parties and the drugs but there are also the down times, the endless travel, the hard slogs, and much more.

I enjoyed this book, giving us a backstage pass into the world of rock music and what it is really like, and not just the hype and trope that we are fed.

BACKSTAGE PASS : THE GRIT AND THE GLAMOUR has been published by Empire Publications. ISBN 978-1-909360-92-1

Featured image :Joe Matera. Pic courtesy of Shepparton News. Pic Megan Fisher