NEEDSY

About Kris Needs, by countercultural powerhouse and seditionary influence Rhienhardt Haydn:
Journalist, DJ, production artist and living leg end, Kris Needs has been present at many of the most significant events of the last thirty-five years. From running the Mott The Hoople fan club, to running from hordes of marauding teddy boys, to running a rabbit sanctuary, Kris has seen it all. Struck by the rock’n’roll thunderbolt on seeing the Rolling Stones live at the 1968 NME Pollwinners Party, Kris apologised to the lady in front for dropping his jubbly down her neck and set off in pursuit of the rock’n’roll lifestyle. When Hendrix played the Albert Hall the following February, Kris was there. As the late sixties psychedelic wave crested on the shores of Albion, Kris was there again - ready expand his consciousness and his similarly-expanding palette of influences armed with little more than unbridled enthusiasm, a packet of Job, and some Oxo he’d bought for two bob. As the editor of legendary rock’n’roll magazine Zigzag, Needsy drove the hippies into exile and established a punk beachhead on the newsstand, championing The Clash, Sex Pistols and the Ramones. With his unique and engaging take on Lester Bangs’ gonzo approach to rock journalism, Kris inspired an entire generation of young rockers to seek out new bands, go bonkers on Benylin and then go home and write about it. He did for me. The pivotal figures of the punk scene quickly realised that Kris was unique among journalists – without ego, pretension or the change to get home – they adopted him as their own and his adventures with The Clash, Blondie, Motorhead and a score of others have become legendary. Lured to New York by the fact that it was New York, Kris shacked up next door to beat poet Allen Ginsberg and embarked on a pan-cultural odyssey of new experiences, new music and old gear. His love of rock’n’roll and reggae expanded to encompass hip-hop, no wave and house. After a short but lucrative stint as a Florida Keys bathysphere pilot, Kris returned to the UK to pitch himself headlong into the acid house revolution – utilising his vast knowledge of contemporary and classic grooves to establish himself as a pioneering DJ which led to manning the decks for fellow sonic outlaws Primal Scream, leaving a path of debauchery, carnage and Texan chicken impersonations in his wake, as he Kris-crossed the globe as their resident DJ. He also toured with the Prodigy and spent two summers as resident DJ-casuality at Ibiza's infamous Manumission. This period formed the basis of Needsy’s acclaimed Scream biography ‘The Scream – The Myths, Music and Misbehaviour of Primal Scream’. Having already penned his compulsively engaging autobiography ‘Needs Must’ – described by Irvine Welsh as, ‘The best book about music I’ve read’ – Kris undertook his epic biography of his long time hero Keith Richards ‘Before They Make Me Run’. After a lie down and a rusk, Kris followed this up with his roller coaster history of The Only Band That Matters, ‘Joe Strummer & The Legend of The Clash’ Most recently, Kris has co-authored ‘Trash! The Complete New York Dolls’ with Tooting's foremost cutpurse, Dick Porter. He also regularly contributes to ‘Mojo’, 'Record Collector', ‘Trakmarx’, 'Clash' and ‘DMC Update’ as well as keeping his wiki-wiki hand in with an occasional stint of turntablism. Right now, Kris is rewriting and vastly-expanding the afore-mentioned autobiography with eight more years and a proper happy ending.
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