Author: Roger L. Trott

Publisher: Coral Press

Distributor: Independent Publishers Group

Publication: June 28, 2008, $14.95, Trade paperback

ISBN13: 978-0-9708293-6-8

Fiction, 297 pages, 4 black and white photographs

Image Artwork

Author Photo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Publication Date: June 28, 2008
Contact: Jessica Baucom
Senior Publicist
Coral Press
530 West End Avenue 7A
New York, NY 10024
914-466-9849
jess@coralpress.com
www.coralpress.com

Crank Up the Volume and Hit the Road With the Killjoys in Roger Trott’s Getting in Tune

NEW YORK, NY (May 1, 2008) -- Rock musician and former music critic Roger L. Trott’s new novel, Getting in Tune, is a wild romp through the world of ‘70s rock ’n’ roll and pop culture. Propelled forward by the whispered wisdom of the Who’s Pete Townshend, Getting in Tune follows the driven but erratic Daniel Travers as the 20-year-old guitarist drags his unwilling band onto the road in pursuit of fame and Townshend’s vision of the elusive Universal Chord.

As Kathi Kamen Goldmark, author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You and founder of the Rock Bottom Remainders, describes it, “Good gigs and bad gigs, girlfriends and groupies, poseurs and punks: Getting in Tune will ring deliciously true if you’ve been in a band—and deliver a rare glimpse behind the curtain if you’ve ever longed to be. Crank up the volume and enjoy Roger Trott’s wild rock & roll ride.”

It’s the fall of 1976, and Daniel Travers’s life is a mess. His band, the Killjoys, is essentially going nowhere; the pills he’s popping are making him crazy; and the voices banging around his head have him convinced that he’s a bleedin’ quadropheniac. On top of everything, what he calls the Real Me, his true self, has disappeared—and he’s lost without it.

Then the phone rings, a new agent offering a weeklong gig at the exotic Mai Tai Hotel, in Puente Harbor, Washington. Told by the agent that Jimi Hendrix and Heart started out at the Mai Tai, Daniel sees the weeklong gig as his best chance to get the Killjoys on the road to success. And for Daniel, it’s about seeking—as his unlikely guru, Pete Townshend, whispers to him—the redemptive promise of the Universal Chord, the perfect set of notes that will restore harmony to his life.

A novel full of the low grit of small-club rock ’n’ roll, Getting in Tune captures the fire of the rock ’n’ roll dream as well as the tantalizing notion that music can transcend chaos, that it can bring perfection to our messy lives.

Getting in Tune, Trott's first novel, is based on his experiences playing gigs with West Coast rock bands, from San Francisco to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. For more information on the author, who resides in Northern California, see his personal Web sites at www.rogertrott.com or www.myspace.com/rogersbook. For interviews, the author may be contacted directly at 916-434-8575 or rltrott@mindsync.com.

Roger L. Trott is a former rock music critic who has played bass and guitar in bands throughout northern California. Getting in Tune, Roger’s first published novel, is loosely based on his experiences playing with these bands, from gigs in San Francisco to club engagements on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

Roger was born and raised in the small Sacramento Valley town of Lincoln, CA, where his father published a weekly newspaper. Roger subsequently attended high school in Redding, CA, and studied English and journalism at Shasta Community College. After taking three years off from college to play music, he attended Sonoma State University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics, and the University of California, Davis, where he earned a master’s degree in economics.

Roger lives in the Sacramento, CA, region with his wife, Lisa Rea. He is currently working on a second novel of musical fiction and continues to play music, including mentoring a local youth rock band.

For more information, contact Jessica Baucom, Senior Publicist, Coral Press, at (914) 466-9849 or jess@coralpress.com. For an interview with the author, contact him directly at (916) 434-8575 or rltrott@mindsync.com.

It’s the fall of 1976, and 20-year-old guitarist Daniel Travers’s life is a mess. His band, the Killjoys, is essentially going nowhere; the pills he’s popping are making him crazy; and the voices banging around his head have him convinced that he’s a bleedin’ quadropheniac. On top of everything, what he calls the Real Me, his true self, has disappeared—and he’s lost without it.

Then the phone rings, a new agent offering a weeklong gig at the exotic Mai Tai Hotel, in Puente Harbor, Washington. Told by the agent that Jimi Hendrix and Heart started out at the Mai Tai, Daniel sees the gig as his best chance to get the Killjoys on the road to success—and also to ditch his own troubles.

Getting in Tune is a novel that captures the fire of the rock ‘n’ roll dream as well as the dream that music can transcend chaos, that it can bring perfection to our daily mess. And for Daniel, it’s about finding—as his unlikely guru, the Who’s Pete Townshend, whispers to him—the Universal Chord, the perfect set of notes that blesses life with essential harmony.

A book full of the low grit of small-club rock ‘n’ roll and the high spirit that the music soars upon, Getting in Tune is an exciting read. Step in, can you hear it? The band is tuning up right now. . . .

“Good gigs and bad gigs, girlfriends and groupies, poseurs and punks: Getting in Tune will ring deliciously true if you’ve been in a band—and deliver a rare glimpse behind the curtain if you’ve ever longed to be. Crank up the volume and enjoy Roger Trott’s wild rock & roll ride.” —Kathi Kamen Goldmark, author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, and founder of the Rock Bottom Remainders

“Getting in Tune is an honest and energetic story about one musician’s crisis as he suffers at the hands of ambivalent bandmates while in pursuit of his dreams.” —Mike Lankford, author of Life in Double Time: Confessions of an American Drummer

“This novel from former music critic Trott tells the tale of fictional mid-1970s California rockers the Killjoys, who travel to a rundown hotel in Washington State to chase their dreams of musical superstardom. High school dropout Daniel Travers is a self-confessed Pete Townshend junkie, daydreaming about rock stardom, when he gets a call from a promoter who wants his band to follow in the footsteps of musical legends Jimi Hendrix and Heart by playing the Mai Tai Hotel. Travers’s band mates, including lead singer Mick (no coincidence there) and henpecked bassist Rob, warily agree to the gig. However, they arrive to find the hotel is a Hell’s Angels hangout and an incubator for plenty of alcohol- and drug-related trouble. When the group’s week-long run comes to an end, they are offered an even better gig, but at what cost?” —review from Publishers Weekly