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"A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A."
"One of the strongest legacies of the hardcore punk movement in America was its emphasis on the local and the seeding of the country with self-supporting scenes. Every town has a story to tell itself about itself and Punks in Peoria explores this in magnificent detail for the hardcore scene in Peoria, Illinois. While more storied scenes from bigger cities may get the most ink, this book shows how the ideals and power of the music penetrated every corner of the land but was only ever sustained by the grit and ingenuity of the people involved on the ground level. We need a book like this for everywhere." - Guy Picciotto (Fugazi)
Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett's upcoming book Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland chronicles the punk scene in Peoria, Illinois in the 1980s and 1990s, looking at both the small town's local heroes and the more internationally renowned bands who came through.
The book comes out in June (pre-order), and while you wait for it, here's a sneak peak at the book via a photo essay featuring pics of Fugazi, 7Seconds, The Jesus Lizard, Planes Mistaken For Stars, Minsk, The Forecast, Doug McCombs (Eleventh Dream Day, Tortoise), and more, with anecdotes accompanying each pic:
There's also a compilation album accompanying the book: