Primal Screamer

It has been couple of weeks since I finished this book, but I will try to give it a fair rendering here.
My key interest in reading this novel is in the author, Nick Blinko, who was the driving artistic force and vocalist in the British punk band Rudimentary Peni.  I have been listening to punk for a long time and have met a lot of people who are likewise interested, but I have run into very few people who know or like this band.  Rudimentary Peni was a "Crass band" in the sense that they were lumped into a broader category of anarcho-punk that emerged in England the late '70s and early '80s.  Blinko's band is cacophonous and, at times, deeply disturbing.  The songs will often over-dub Blinko's voice many times on the same track, singing, chanting, whispering, speaking.  The instruments often drone in a way to underscore disharmony.  Blinko's lyrics can be political, but they are largely gothic.
Rudimentary Peni disappeared in the '80s, but I have always remained interested in Blinko's work.  Beyond the music, I was drawn to the artwork on the albums.  Nick Blinko himself drew all of the artwork, and it is intense.  The cover of Primal Screamer was designed by Blinko, using his own drawing.  His artwork is dense, predominantly monochromatic, and simply ink-drenched.  Everything that I have seen of his is intricately drawn and shows deliberation at every step.  He draws skulls, screaming faces, and knives into his hatchwork.  The blackened areas show deliberate and closely-knit crosshatching.  He draws endless overlapping contours to fill in space.
I have been so taken with his style that I have adopted many of his techniques into my own drawing.

 To the left are two of my partially-completed drawings.  Another one of my drawing is below.  My style tends more toward the geometric and layered.  I don't add the same gothic elements that Blinko does, but I feel an affinity toward it nonethesame.  I am very much drawn to the detail and neatness of Blinko's work.  Instead of screaming faces, I draw tiny boxes and cross-hatchings in mathematical progressions.

Getting back to the book, it is a semi-autobiographical novel written from the perspective of a psychologist treating Nathaniel Snoxell, a young man who bears a strong resemblance to Blinko.  The novel is written as case-notes, or a treatment diary of Snoxell.  The psychiatrist becomes interested in Nat's artistic awakening, eventually spurring his own awakening.  Blinko's writing is most impressive when he seeks to psychologize Nat's artistry and particularly his place in the punk scene.  Nat and Blinko are outsiders in an outsider genre.  Their music fits only because it doesn't really fit anywhere else.  Their aesthetic isn't quite right for the counter-culture they engage.
The novel is worth the read, the music is haunting and definitely worth the listen, and the artwork is beyond memorable and, for me, moving.  This is a novel that might be best enjoyed by those who are already familiar with Blinko and/or Rudimentary Peni, but I would encourage anyone interested in outsider art, in a forthright self-reflection, in genuinely macabre interests, and so on, to check this out.