Goneville

In his award-winning memoir, New Zealand writer and musician Nick Bollinger talks with complete candour about his unorthodox childhood, his obsession with music, the impact of a family tragedy, and the journey that would decide the course of his life. Bollinger was just 18 when he went on the road with the band Rough Justice and its smoky-voiced, charismatic leader Rick Bryant. The next two years were sometimes uplifting and exciting, other times enervating and depressing. It was the 1970s and pot was plentiful. Often, though, the band was short of other things: money, food, shelter, and petrol for its increasingly ramshackle, broken-down bus.

Goneville is both a coming-of-age story and an intimate look at the evolving music scene in ’70s New Zealand. It shows how this music intersected – sometimes violently – with the prevailing culture, in which real men played rugby, not rock. Nick Bollinger draws on his own experiences, seeks out key players and unsung heroes and vividly portrays a divided country, set to shatter apart for a generation.

Winner of the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing.

Available now!