Ticket To Ride by Graham Sclater



The Reeperbahn, the notorious red light district of Hamburg, Germany in the 1960s became the veritable porch light drawing bands from England in droves with the promise of becoming the next Fab Four. Ticket to Ride (Flame Books), by Graham Sclater, tells the tale of The Cheetahs, a band put together on the promise of a gig in Hamburg. This story is not about the Beatles, this is a story about a band that didn't make it.

The Cheetahs immediately find themselves awash in the sea of all that the 60s mod scene had to offer - prostitution, drugs, booze, venereal disease and even underground abortion. The band finds their sound and loses themselves in the neon lights of the various towns in Germany where they find gigs. At one point, one of the characters perfectly sums the Hamburg experience up as not being about the music, it's about the vices of the Deutschland.

Ticket to Ride has a great pace to it and difficult to put down. I had read another review of the book prior to writing this and they had used the phrase "kitchen sink drama" - this is spot on. The book is not high brow grammatical acrobatics, it is just a story seemingly told from the perspective of a barfly observing this band falling apart and getting chewed up by the scene. All in all, the book exudes the optimism and "damn the torpedoes" attitude of any young rock and roller from any era - definitely recommended.


Order your copy at Flame Books