On October 1, Jake Brennan, host of the explosive rock and roll true crime podcast Disgraceland, will release his book debut Disgraceland: Musicians Getting Away with Murder and Behaving Very Badly. The book, an off-kilter, hysterical, at times macabre collection of stories from the highly entertaining underbelly of music history, will be released via Grand Central Publishing and is now available for pre-order.
“Writing this book opened up a whole new way of storytelling for me, separate and apart from the podcast, which rolls out to listeners as an anthology series… but with the book I was able to connect seemingly disparate characters from music’s past; Axl Rose, Chuck Berry, Norwegian Black Metal, Phil Spector and a host of others through the almost historical omnipresence of Elvis Presley. The result is a wild ride that is hopefully as entertaining as the subjects I chose to cover,” explains author Jake Brennan.
In his book, Brennan chronicles the often overlooked dark sides of artists like Elvis Presley, Sid Vicious, Gram Parsons and Sam Cooke. He tells tales of murder, drug trafficking, cannibalism and the occult, shining a light into the dark corners of fame revealing the fine line that separates heroes and villains as well as the danger Americans seek out in their news cycles, tabloids, reality shows and soap operas.
Disgraceland is a collection of the best of these stories about some of the music world’s most beloved stars and their crimes. It will mix all-new, untold stories with expanded stories from the first two seasons of the Disgraceland podcast.
“There’s something about the strong emotional pull of music, particularly rock and roll, that makes us feel connected to its creators, wanting to know every detail of their lives, especially the darker parts,” said editor Madde Caldwell of Grand Central Publishing. “In Jake Brennan’s distinctive point of view and ability to combine rock antics with thoughtful cultural commentary, we see a unique aspect to these musicians that brings their work to life. I’ll never hear Gram Parsons or Chuck Berry’s music the same way again and I couldn’t be happier.”
The Disgraceland Podcast is currently in the midst of its third season and recently hit #4 on the Apple Podcasts Top Podcasts Chart. Billboard said, “his shows feature just his voice, strong audio design and enough murder, mayhem and maniacal behavior to keep you on the edge of your seat,” while Complex said, “Disgraceland is the kind of podcast that will suck you in and make you binge half a dozen episodes before you realize what happened.” Following a sold out live performance in Boston, MA and a show in Denver, CO, Brennan will perform at Comedy Central’s Clusterfest in San Francisco which takes place on June 21-23.
Jason Price founded the mighty Icon Vs. Icon more than a decade ago. Along the way, he’s assembled an amazing group of like-minded individuals to spread the word on some of the most unique people and projects on the pop culture landscape.
