Steven Wells

Steven Wells (1960–24 June 2009) was a British journalist and author, who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA at the time of his death. He is best remembered for his provocative, unapologetic music writing, in publications such as NME and Playlouder.com.

Biography

Born in Swindon, England in 1960, Wells moved north to 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 appearing as a punk poet and stand-up as a support act to various Northern punk bands, such as The Fall, The Mekons, Gang of Four along with fellow ranting poets Attila The Stockbroker, Swift Nick and Porky The Poet where he performed under the names "Seething Wells", "Swells" or "Susan Williams". In this last guise, in which he would sometimes wear a dress, he received fan mail from Kathy Acker who saw Susan as a fellow radical female writerVorlage:Fact.

Later he moved to London and began to write for the NME, initially under the name Susan Williams. In this guise he championed socialist soul/punk band The Redskins along with American hardcore bands such as Black Flag and the Butthole Surfers. Later on he championed British bands which merged thrash, hardcore and heavy metal, such as Extreme Noise Terror, Napalm Death and the various bands that followed them. He also championed disposable pop artists, such as Daphne 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, and Skunk Anansie amongst others and were the top UK directors in 1994 and 1995.Vorlage:Fact The partnership ended in 1996, but the influence of the GobTV style is evident in music video some ten years on.Vorlage:Fact

In 1999 he started the Attack! Books publishing house. His debut novel Tits Out Teenage Terror Totty soon followed. His illustrated history Punk: The Stories Behind the Songs was published in 2004. In 2009 he contributed a story to the Love Hotel City anthology.

In later life Wells was active as a sports columnist for The Guardian, FourFourTwo, 90 Minutes, the Quietus music website and the Philadelphia Weekly, and was in the process of writing several books. In June 2006, he wrote in the Philadelphia Weekly about his treatment for lymphatic cancer. He died of the disease on 24 June 2009.

External links

• Swells Features - PlayLouder
• Steven Wells interviewed about ATTACK! books
• Steven Wells RIP from author/psychogeographer Stewart Home