Description
Killed (of Kids)
by Niki Elliott, Karen Hill, Jo Johnson, Chris Rowley, and Jon Slade
edited by Ethan Swan, designed by Matthew Walkerdine
Huggy Bear was a UK riot grrrl band that existed from 1991-1994. Outcast and outraged, they made a howling, squalling mess of punk, all the menace and freedom of flocking birds. The handful of records, zines, and memories that document this brief, bonfire lifespan sketch a blueprint for how to be in the world, for how to understand the forces of capitalism and patriarchy and capitulation and still resist. Huggy Bear was a group that let things be complicated, that considered themselves complicit, but never took that as a reason to surrender. There’s no band more important.
Killed (of Kids) is a book by the five members of Huggy Bear. It reproduces all seven zines made by the band during their lifespan alongside photos, correspondence, flyers and ephemera from their three year existence. This archive is joined by new text drawn from two years of interviews with the band members, carefully assembled into an extensive dialogue about intention, surprise, distress, encouragement.
Throughout Huggy Bear’s lifespan, they rejected major label advances and shunned contact with the music press. Following the band’s final concert, the members largely withdrew from public life. The subsequent 30 years has seen their legend bloom. And just as the warnings and incitements of their music continue to grow in relevance, the curiosity and distortion has also grown. Killed (of Kids) documents the chances taken, the psychic drains, the unique connections and the aftermaths of Huggy Bear. The book is a real reflection of the sharp edges and dissatisfaction and love that has always lived in the songs and the words. It is not a “rock biography.” There’s no swagger or grand narrative. It’s all small delight and protective energy. Drastic liberation. A reiteration of Huggy Bear’s propositions: It is always possible for people to trust their collaborators. It is always possible to make a song (book/painting/poem/dance/etc) about something that you’ve never heard anyone make a song about before. It is always possible to refuse to answer their questions.
Softback, 190mm wide x 250mm tall (7.5″ wide x 9.84″ tall), 352 pages, color and black & white
Co-published with The Grass Is Green In The Fields For You of Reading, UK. If you are located in the UK or Europe, please order from them for more favorable shipping rates.
***stores and distros please get in touch for wholesale pricing information
Related press:
“The members of the band come off as having it all figured out at a very early age, and that is maybe the most remarkable portion of their history: how absolutely sure of themselves they were. If it didn’t manifest as confidence full-stop, then their attitudes surely filled in the rest, their discoveries firmed the cracks between, and their abilities to codify this into a philosophy, an art practice, and a cultural phenom all at once deserves a work of this nature to unpack it.”
– from Heathen Disco Book Reviews #0001 by Doug Mosurock, published 29 November 2029 [LINK]
“The book seems like a well-taken opportunity for the band, with the distance of time, to tell their side of the story and to set the record straight about Huggy Bear in general. Non of the band have spoken much in the intervening years, all choosing to leave it in past where they felt it belonged. They do have an incredible tale and they were a powerhouse of a band, proper mavericks and people like that should never just be forgotten.”
– from Moonbuilding Weekly by Neil Mason, published 29 November 2029 [LINK]
“I’ve not really wanted to revisit it,” admits Johnson, of the Huggy Bear days, admitting that working on the book made her “understand why I’ve found it hard to put my head above the parapet since”. But while she says Huggy Bear “experienced thinly veiled misogyny and homophobia and some dubious journalistic ethics”, reimmersing herself in their history has helped her appreciate what their three-year mission achieved. “Our ‘out of placeness’ drew other misfits, and our shows became welcoming inside spaces for outsiders.” What more could friends bonded by their feeling “similarly different” ask for?
– from ‘We didn’t intend to create outrage’: Huggy Bear on radical politics, riot grrrl – and causing chaos on live TV by Stevie Chick, published in The Guardian 22 November, 2024 [LINK]
Podcast interview with Ethan Swan, editor of Killed (of Kids) by Joe Tunis, My Teeth Need Attention podcast [LINK]
“We haven’t seen the book yet, truth be told, most music books bore the hell out of me, they’re usually written by middle age trainspotters, I’m really really looking forward to this one.”
– from ORGAN PREVIEW: Is that a Huggy Bear book we spy? by Sean Worrall, published in The Organ 18 September 2024 [LINK]
