What others are saying about Getting in Tune
“It’s obvious from page one that the book you’re reading has been
written by someone who has lived the life. It’s Trott’s own personal
experiences that enable him to so perfectly capture what it feels
like to be in a band. This is one of those music books that is about
as necessary to any book collection as [Led Zeppelin’s] Houses of
the Holy album is to any album collection. Yes, I’m that
serious. Anyone who has ever used music to help pull them through
the darker days of youth will find a piece of them spelled out in
Getting in Tune. A must read for every music lover.”
“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
“Set in 1976 and focusing on twenty-year-old Daniel Travers and his
ragtag band of punk upstarts who make up the fledgling, yet fumbling
Killjoys, Trott’s novel captures the speed of adolescence, the rush
of backstage strategies and romances, and the frustrations of being
an aspiring musician…. Daniel loves The Who, and Townshend’s elliptical
advisements may be a self-confected byproduct of his drug ingestion
or divine rock and roll intervention—either way, the formula works….
It’s heartfelt, clever and fast paced—like all good punk songs should
be.”
“Anyone who’s been in a band can appreciate the details author Roger
Trott uses to flesh out Daniel’s dysfunctional family of musicians….
Daniel’s spiritual and musical guide comes in the form of Pete Townshend,
who comes to him in dreams and in hallucinatory Benzedrine whispers…a
muse, smirkily taunting his young protégé….The band dynamics and
the music of the time are all nicely rendered, and Trott keeps the
story rolling along with some colorful plot twists and a great sense
of humor. Part road trip and part coming-of-age story, Getting in
Tune engaged me and drew me into the band’s adventures. It’s a great
read…”
“The Killjoys are like one in a million: They want to rock like the
big boys, and roll like crazy mothers…. And then they get their lucky
break, and it comes with a ring of the telephone, an opportunity
for a gig…. Thus the [novel’s] theme and it groove: fortune presents
itself not on a silver plate but at the other end of the phone line…
[Getting in Tune] is especially recommended to bands singing
in English. Take it to heart, or at least put it into your guitar
case.”
—excerpt from review by Matthias Penzel in Rocks Magazine
(Germany)
“When opportunity knocks for his band, the Killjoys, to get a week-long
gig at the Mai Tai Hotel, Daniel knows this could be the chance he
has been so desperately waiting for. From that point on, you are
thrown into the lives of not only Daniel, but the whole band…. With
Pete Townshend’s voice in [Daniel’s] head as he searches for the
Universal Chord, [Daniel] deals with it all with two things: music
and pills…. The book is written so well you will feel like you were
right there with the Killjoys. I absolutely loved every bit of this
book, and will probably read it again. And maybe by the end, you
might even find the Universal Chord for yourself.”
“Getting in Tune is a musical coming-of-age novel dealing
with the fuzzy line between real and fake. Even through the drug-
and alcohol-distorted world Daniel lives in, there is something so
genuine about his character…. I enjoyed the deeper, almost philosophical,
meaning behind the novel… Daniel exemplifies this search of sorts
for the truth through his internal struggles…. Getting in Tune
appeals first and foremost to all rock music lovers…”
“I really enjoyed this story, because I’m a huge music fan in general.
Aren’t we all? The balance between the band drama, the love story,
the comedy, and the business side was spot on, making it easy to
fall right in and take the ride with Daniel. It wasn’t a typical
sex, drugs, and rock and roll book. Even though all those things
take place throughout the story, there is real emotion behind the
actions of the characters that isn’t represented in most ‘musical
fiction’ books. Getting in Tune is a true rock and roll story…”
—excerpt from review by Brooke Reviews
“This book is definitely a music lover’s must read…. Roger Trott’s
insight into the subject was fascinating to read. I, along with the
main character Daniel, have a great love of music and use it to get
us through hard times… If you love rock and roll and a great read,
then Getting in Tune is the book for you.”
“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