Customer Reviews

The Primal Screamer

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I am pleased to see that word is spreading (if slowly) on Nick Blinko's amazing artistic/writing/lyrical abilities, but it seems that all of the reviewers seemed to miss the most crucial detail of the book...Although the book was written in the form of the pyschiatrist's journal, it is an autobiography about Nick's own life. He is writing a NON-fiction piece about his life, from the view of his doctor. Although the entire novel may not be non-fiction, the majority of it is entirely true. I do not want anyone to reply and ask me how I can be so sure of this, but I have personally met with Nick, and I have asked friends of his in the UK about the history of Rudimentary Peni. I also own EVERYthing released by them, 2nd pressing or better. His artwork is quite hard to come by, but with some drudging through the internet doldrums, I'm positive that one may stumble upon some peices. If you haven't read this book, or heard of anything that I have mentioned above, find this book at any cost. It is incredible to say the least. Oh, and for those of you that HAVE read the novel, reread it, and see if what I tried to explain makes any sense...

WARNING: Spoilers in this review!

I was pleasantly surprised with this, Nick Blinko's thinly-veiled autobiography-cum-horror novel. Turns out he's a pretty great writer when he wants to be!

This book is told from the point of view of a therapist treating a recent suicide attempt (Nat Snoxell, who is really Blinko's representation of himself). The novel is told in the form of therapist's notes, in fact, which is an effective narrative choice on Blinko's part. To cure the troubled young man, the therapist convinces him to undergo primal scream therapy. It's like hypnosis, but the patient regresses to a primal, almost fetal state, and begins screaming out all his/her pent-up anger, rage, and despair.

The therapy doesn't seem to work. Blinko--er, I mean Snoxell--begins hanging out with vegan anarchists (the Crass Records group in real life), forms a band (aka Rudimentary Peni), and continues with his death fixation. The suicidal thoughts continue. The therapist has a very droll sense of humor; Blinko's writing here excels. In fact, it can be quite humorous, and one wonders if Blinko isn't really simply taking the piss out of his whole experience with the world of therapy in writing this book. One wonders how Blinko's real life therapist felt about how Blinko portrayed him. "Must record this in my sex diary tonight," the therapist scribbles to himself when thinking of some of the young man's problems. Little touches like this reveal Blinko's cynical wit.

My complaint: About 1/3 of the way through the book Blinko has set the tone for a good psychological horror novel. Just what is this disturbed young man up to? What is he really involved in that he isn't revealing to his therapits, his confidant? Is he manipulating the psychiatrist somehow? What is the story behind the secret compartments in his family's ancient house that he keeps his morbid playthings in?

After 120 pages, one gets the sense Blinko simply wanted to end the book, however, without playing up any of these potential directions for the book. A fan of HP Lovecraft, Blinko forcesa lot of Lovecraftianisms into the ending, and after some verbal pyrotechnics the novel abruptly ends, leaving many questions frustratingly unanswered. Instead of a purely psychological tale, therefore, we are left with the idea that there had been supernatural influences at play in the Snoxell character all along. But even these are not explained -- instead there's passing mention of cosmic evils, black magic, etc. To me, that's less frightening than the psychological stuff hinted at before, and much less tangible. It's also less interesting than what Blinko actually went through as a real mental patient and vegan anarcho-squatter who hung out with Crass and others.

Like most of Lovecraft's narrators, the therapist simply "goes mad" at the novel's conclusion. I found this to be a bit disappointing--although, to be honest, Blinko pulls it off better than Lovecraft ever did in the majority of his stories! If you're as big a fan of Rudimentary Peni as I am, this novel is a must. If you like Crass, Britpunk, etc, you should get this, too. And if you like psychological horror, or are an HP Lovecraft nerd, again, this is a must. Blinko's writing talent is impressive. If he put his mind to it, he could probably write even better stuff than this.

This book details the fictionalized life of a punk rock singer who has been institutionalized throughout his early adulthood after his many suicide attempts. After starting a punk rock band and honing his creativity into bizarre art, even his therapist threatens to go insane. Absolutely brilliantly original. Written by the lead singer/guitarist and sometimes lyricist of legendary punk rock band Rudimentary Peni. Check out the artwork for more mind-blowing excitement!

I just bought this book and am an ardent peni fan and have to say I was completely taken back by what I read in this book. Everything I had heard about it still left me completely amayzed by what I read. Blinko's artwork alone was reason enough to buy a copy of this book. And evrything I knew about Nick and the music that he wrote never prepared me for this insight to his mind. A must own for anyone open to insight.

Blinko's "Primal Screamer is a whirlwind journey through the mind of a truly tortured man. Autobiographical, in most regards, you can learn, not only about a man who later thought he was the Pope (see Rudimentary Peni's "Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatrich"), but also a small sample of the true anarchistic punk scene. Truly amazing artwork accompanies a completely original book.

Rudimentary Peni front-man Nick, quite possibly the only person to have written an album whilst sectioned under the mental health act, reveals some remarkably ironic and humorous accounts of the anarcho-punk movement, not to mention some of his interesting "episodes". They say there's a fine line between genius and madness, well Nick has taken that fine line, snapped it off, and wrapped it around his neck as a noose, but in a darkly intelligent way...

Further book, film and music reviews, plus general shenanigans can be found at: www.mindcrash.co.uk and http://blog.myspace.com/mindcrash

My husband is a HUGE Peni fan and recommended this book to me. I have been a fan of Peni for a few years and was interested to read something by the reclusive Nick Blinko. Blinko is a great artist, both his music and his drawings show originality that can only come from a talented mind. I can't say that I think of him as a talented writer after reading this book. It is obvious that Blinko did not write this book for the reader. The whole book reads like a diary entry to me. Important story-telling features are omitted, almost as an assumption that the reader and author share the same mind.
I'm guessing that most people who pick up this book are big enough fans to suffer through it and think it was great because of their love for the author. Unless you fit this category, you might want to avoid reading it.

got this book a few years ago and never get tired of it, or anything else by Blinko/ Peni. (am listening to Cacophony as i write this) and for those of you who cant get tired of them either there is also a short story and a bit of art by Nick Blinko in the book "Gobbing, Pogoing, and Gratuitous Bad Language"; i think it might be somewhat hard to find, though i have seen it at the Epicenter in S.F. anyway, a great book and a great journey

I finally managed to obtain a copy of this masterpiece yesterday, and stayed up all night reading it. It's absolutely enthralling, right up to the mysterious and abrupt conclusion!

I know that I will never be able to forget the bizarrely surreal scenarios that I have experienced in "The Primal Screamer." I also can't help but wonder exactly how dissimilar the horrific (yet strangely beautiful) Nat Snoxell is to the infamous author...

what can you say about this book, other than it is extremly well written, and his art is awsome as always. i have been a peni fan forever, and picked up the book a few years ago.i must have read the book five hundred times. The end made the whole book worth while. If you haven't read it yet, go steal it from somewhere, put on death church and dont put the book down till your done.