[kj] Mont Sherar and his elusive products

[Matt Tibbits]

I really don't get it.

In the process of writing an autobiography centred on his life as an alt/punk DJ in Miami in the 80's ( he hosted KJ at his club in '89 - the Kitchen Club footage on YouTube was filmed by him - and has been close to them since) Mont has created and posted some excellent, extremely high quality free content to the various Killing Joke facebook fan groups including some brilliant footage with and about Big Paul.

Inspired by the positive response from many about his band photos he decided to try and publish a book of them. This got the endorsement of the band to the extent that they have each recorded and submitted individual pieces of music to be pressed on 7" vinyl and included as part of a deluxe edition. He has delayed his autobiography to include the story of how he went from being a fan to a friend to publishing a band-endorsed book about them.

These two books will be his first publications. They are not some kind of scam and he has no expectation of making much profit from them. Everything he has put up on FB so far has been for free without expecting or demanding anything other than the hope that people would enjoy and appreciate it as fellow fans of the band. It all helps to promote his two projects of course but given that he has recently given up a lucrative job and suffered serious ill health I think it's pretty understandable that he pushes them quite heavily to his target audience. No-one is under obligation to look or like, although I highly recommend it, it's great stuff.

I am struggling to understand why the man is getting grief from some people. If you don't appreciate his work, fine, but why the need to bitch and moan on social media? It just comes across as petty envy. I have seen zero evidence of him being unpleasant to anyone but quite a bit of the reverse. Even after all that I know for a fact he is open and willing to have a civil relationship with those who have had disputes with him in the past. Why can't we all just get along? There's enough fucking crap in the world right now without Killing Joke fans fighting amongst themselves. 

Apologies for the essay.


Sent from my iPhone