Any metal fan who reads that title will immediately recognize the Whitesnake reference. If not, you might want to skip this book. Set in the 1980s when hair metal ruled the Sunset Strip (and the world), the novel follows Rikki Thunder’s rise from the orphanage to passing out flyers in Los Angeles for his garage band Qyksand to becoming the drummer for one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Rikki’s love interest’s name is Tawny – if that doesn’t instantaneously take you to Whitesnake music videos then this book is definitely over your head!
Side note 1: Coincidentally, I started reading The Whyte Python World Tour four days before Ozzy Osbourne passed away and finished it three days after. Ozzy is casually mentioned a few times in the book. Timing can be really interesting sometimes.
Side note 2: In February, I was hired to edit a book about a woman and her family’s escape from communist Poland in the 1980s. So of course, in addition to being a metal fan, the Eastern Bloc/Cold War/Iron Curtain aspects of the narrative caught my interest – especially how much music, television, and pop culture in general were banned in an effort to control people’s thoughts and decimate freedom of speech at the time.
Author Travis Kennedy clearly did his research and is an 80s metal fan because Rikki is written as and speaks just like the David Lee Roths/Axl Roses/Tommy Lees of this era. He’s here to rock, party, and get laid but is also funny and relatable! Thankfully, Kennedy was insightful enough to also write Rikki as a thoughtful, self-aware, smart, kind human being. Our protagonist grew up without a family but is able to make the best of a terrible childhood and make something of himself. He’s a good person who, like any musician in their 20s, wants to be in a famous band, play stadium shows for a living, and have fun. “Metal was our religion.” I can hear the cadence of Rikki’s voice and picture what he looks like based on his dialogue – both in the first person and third person chapters. “Music became the place I could go when I needed comfort. I wasn’t afraid when I was drumming.”
While Rikki is an entertaining protagonist who is enjoying the rock and roll ride and cares about being “so metal,” this book is not just about 80s rock and roll. It turns out that there is a whole other level of meaning behind Whyte Python’s music, album, songs, and tour that has to do with the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, and government agencies. I realize that sentence sounds insane but it works because Kennedy made sure this was more than a Behind the Music novel. The author is also not above poking fun at the metal cliches i.e. Project Facemelt.
Bands like Van Halen, Poison, Black Sabbath (RIP Ozzy), AC/DC, Iron Maiden, and Motley Crue are name-checked throughout the story – which lends to the authenticity and camaraderie of the era. It’s done in a way that convinces me that Rikki loved their music, listened to their albums as a kid, and then became friends with some of these people. One minute he’s speaking soulfully about how learning to play the drums saved his life and the next he is having a hilarious and illuminating conversation with Bret Michaels about how groupies don’t care about the rock stars they sleep with – they just want to be able to say they slept with them. It’s solid gold. Even Red Rocks gets a mention on page 112! Rikki says, “I was in awe of how lucky I was to be there.”
What struck me most about Whyte Python is how, even though this is a work of fiction, it shines a light on how music has the power to change things. To start or end a revolution. “The Whyte Album was hard to come by all of a sudden…The band’s music, in any format, seemed to vanish overnight with no explanation, joining the swollen ranks of Western music deemed too subversive for East Germany’s youth.” This issue came up in multiple chapters throughout my client’s book so it was intriguing to read Rikki explain, “I understood that our music was inspiring people living in shitty circumstances in all of these countries…We didn’t give them strength – we showed them their own strength.”
Another overarching theme is the importance of family (either the one you’re born into or the one you find for yourself) and a sense of belonging. Rikki’s search for family and belonging informs his entire life and, thankfully, contributes to him being an upstanding guy rather than the angry maniac he could have become. It also gives him a larger understanding of the power of music, how it connects people, and the impact it makes all over the world. Kudos to Kennedy for highlighting the importance of family and music because that it really what makes this book both memorable and so metal.
Quotes
“Before drumming, being scared of whatever was gonna hurt me next had filled me with rage; but now I was using that feeling to make something beautiful. My outlet brought me joy, and I think that, over time, it just turned my whole attitude around. Now that I have drumming, I’m probably the happiest dude I know.” Long live the power of music.
“Qyksand was modeled after the likes of Motley Crue and Ratt. They had that reckless garage band sound, with snarling vocals and dirty guitars. Whyte Python was prettier and more polished, closer to Van Halen or Bon Jovi.”
“Something about how much Davy needed the music – how hard he clung to it, and how protective he was of it – felt familiar to me in ways I just didn’t see in the other guys.”
“Our operation believes that we can use metal to raise the spirits of young people in the Eastern Bloc and engage them in the revolution.” This sentence blew my mind when I read it.
“Being angry does that to you: it uses up way more energy than being happy.”
“I like to think my life actually began the day I got my record player.” ❤️
“The moment was obviously solemn as fuck.”
“Metal Bruce Wayne, my dudes.”
“Nostalgia’s a bitch, bro. It doesn’t just go away because you’re mad at somebody; it gets stronger.”
“Nothing brings strangers together faster than singing the same song.”
“We metalheads need to stick together.”
“Sometimes you get to know somebody so well that you can recognize their knuckles on the other side of a door.”
“Punk is for crybabies and British people.”
best quote collection you’ve ever published, hands down so glad this was a hit for you! it was surprisingly great, and it sounds like timing was everything.
Thanks for reading and for always being my book guru!