- Steven Wells
Steven Wells is a British journalist and author currently based in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ,USA .Born in Swindon, England in 1960, Wells moved to the northern English city of Bradford with his family in 1968. Leaving school with minimal qualifications in 1977, Wells worked in a factory and as a bus conductor while becoming involved with
punk music , including the radical socialist Leeds art-punk band The Mekons. In 1984, he began appearling as a punkpoet and stand-up as a support act to various Northern punk bands, such as The Fall, the Mekons, Gang of Four andJoy Division ., appearing under the names "Seething Wells" or "Susan Williams". In this last guise, in which he would sometimes wear a dress, he received fan mail fromKathy Acker who saw Susan as a fellow radical female writer.Later he moved to
London and began to write for the "NME ", initially under the name Susan Williams. In this guise he championed American hardcore bands such as Black Flag and theButthole Surfers . Later on he championed British bands which merged thrash, hardcore and heavy metal, such asExtreme Noise Terror ,Napalm Death and the various bands that followed them. He also championed disposable pop artists, such asDaphne and Celeste , as successors to the punk aesthetic. In the 1990s, he diversified, occasionally writing comedy (for shows such as "The Day Today ") and other non-music related journalism.In 1992, he formed GobTV, a music video directing partnership, with Nick Small. GobTV videos were characterised by extreme visuals, rapid edits, political agenda and humour. GobTV made promos for
The Wildhearts ,Manic Street Preachers , andSkunk Anansie amongst others and were the top UK directors in 1994 and 1995.Fact|date=September 2008 The partnership ended in 1996, but the influence of the GobTV style is evident in music video some ten years on.Fact|date=September 2008In 1999 he started the
Attack! Books publishing house. His debut novel "Tits Out Teenage Terror Totty" soon followed.Currently Wells is active as a sports columnist for "
The Guardian ", "FourFourTwo ", "90 Minutes ", the Quietus music website and the "Philadelphia Weekly ", and is in the process of writing several books. In June 2006, he wrote in the "Philadelphia Weekly" about his treatment forlymphatic cancer . [cite news | first=Steven | last=Wells | coauthors= | title=The English Patient | date=2006-06-21 | publisher= | url =http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=12446 | work =Philadelphia Weekly | accessdate = 2007-11-18 |quote = "A man gets lost in the Philadelphia health system"]References
External links
* [http://www.playlouder.com/feature/+swells/ Swells Features - PlayLouder]
* [http://www.3ammagazine.com/magazine/issue_5/articles/attack_books.html Steven Wells interviewed about ATTACK! books]
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