When a personal tragedy interrupted youthful dreams, a foundation formed around loose threads of music and memory. From the west coast of the United States, a storyteller found solace in the energy of a Ramones fan club. A chance meeting with a fellow Chicano punk who once managed Blondie at Whiskey-a-Go-Go redirected a life toward a new path. That meeting sparked a decision to build a band, and the Gun Club was born. In that moment, a fan began to evolve into an artist, discovering in friendship, a shared voice, and a mutual hunger for rebellion that would echo for years.
What followed was the beginning of a relentless musical journey. Kid Congo Powers, formerly of The Cramps and associated with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, envisioned a biographical project that would capture the delicious vice and the raw transformation of a life steeped in underground culture. This Saturday, at 15:30, Penélope Beach in Benidorm will host a special presentation during Funtastic, a chance to celebrate the memory and the momentum behind that evolution.
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Will accompany Kid Congo Powers, the artist formerly known as Brian Tristan, alongside Pablo Salgado, the director of Liburuak publishing. The blend of memoir and music promises to illuminate a time when addiction and recovery intertwined with unbridled creativity and the excesses of late 70s and 80s scenes.
The narrative is quirky, funny, and poignant, capturing the mood and voice of an era. It is a memoir about personal change, told through the lens of a musician who navigated the underground and emerged with a vivid story to tell.
Concert
Kid Congo Powers has created poster titles for the eighteenth edition of the Funtastic Dracula Carnival. The festival connects punk, rock and roll, garage, and international soul, with Benidorm as its vibrant hub through October 14.
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On this occasion, Powers will perform with his current band, the Pink Monkey Birds. The event also offers opportunities to reconnect with friends encountered along the long arc of his career. He has shared stages with Australian bands such as The Scientists and with fellow artists like Ian Svenonius of The Make-Up, The Nation of Ulysses, and Chain and the Gang, all of whom appear in references to his journey.