Hallucinations from Hell: Confessions of an Angry Samoan

by Gregg H. Turner, Gary Panter (Illustrator), Mindy Turner (Illustrator)

The stories in this here anthology may in fact be true true wild tales I’ve absorbed over time. Perhaps drenched with generous hyperbole? I’ll let you decide.As one of the founding members of the seminal punk band Angry Samoans, Gregg Turner has seen his fair share of weird shit. From his time at Creem Magazine in the early 1970s to the formation of the Angry Samoans in Los Angeles, and all the travels, trials, and tribulations that occured after, Turner takes us through a wild ride of stories he's heard, stories he's lived, and some he may or may not have made up.With illustrations by Emmy and Klein-award winning illustrator Gary Panter, Hallucinations from Hell is an onslaught of a book that will appeal to any reader who loves a good story.

239 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 10, 2021

Reviews

[Michael Tatum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to say what I was expecting here, but to begin with, when the subtitle promises you that the Angry Samoan in question will be "confessing," you find yourself looking forward to some snotty punk rock reminiscences. That occurs once, in the thinly disguised tour recollection "The Sheep Eaters," which lasts a mere twelve pages, with names changed "to protect the innocent" (more likely, to protect Turner from lawsuits and nasty telephone calls). The rest is comprised by true gross-out yarns culled from his time in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, many of which feel like Angry Samoans songs come to life. Some of these are fairly funny, like the poet cum cult leader whose charges demand him to "rate" words on a hilariously arbitrary ten-point system, or the "Deliverance" refugee who comes to exterminate "varmints" in Greg's rodent-infested house. The nauseating cautionary tale starring a rogue tapeworm is in a class by itself. Yet some of this is pretty weak tea, like sequence in which Turner mishears "black ice" for "black guys" (a dunderheaded pun on par with "updawg" jokes), and while I know Turner reveres Roky Erickson, playing his hero's schizophrenia for laffs seems pretty...mean-spirited. It's easy to get away with stuff like this in a thirty second punk ripper, but when you provide enough detail to turn a grotesque caricature into a real-life lost soul, it's another, and that happens far too often here. Though I have to admit, cajoling your psychiatrist and a former student to testify to your veracity in a pair of tongue-in-cheek appendices is a nice touch.

[Wade Oberlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read if you like stories swirling aroun' punk rock, humor, gross outs, psychedelic rock, academic foibles and am/fm hijinks. Tales involving Hunter S Thompson, Richard Meltzer, Roky Erickson and a slew of cretins. Cool illustrations, fun post-beat journo-remembrances. Neat-o!

[Peter Landau · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the mastermind who gave us “They Saved Hitler’s Cock.”