We check out the fictionalised biography...
On the surface, Chicken Town is a pretty straightforward storyline of a 22-year-old lad who works in his local brewery, has a wife and two-year-old son, and plays guitar in the Nottingham punk band Some Chicken in the seventies. It's a fictionalised biography that is mostly truthful, but certain names, characters and events have been changed to protect privacy, and the overall volume has probably been turned up a little to enhance the story.
Pollo excels when writing about the minutiae of an event that invites the reader into his experiences
Chicken Town is a really enjoyable piece of writing that is, at times, both comfortable and challenging. Easy in style, but difficult as being around during the times being described, I can personally recall the events surrounding the punk explosion. Some Chicken were desperately trying to get noticed, and the only answer seemed to be playing more and more gigs until, eventually, they gave up, disillusioned, exhausted and ripped off by their management.
Pollo excels when writing about the minutiae of an event that invites the reader into his experiences: the soggy feel of a beermat, the smell of a room, or his feelings of self-doubt and pre gig nerves. This really helps to create an expectation that the end will not go well, and I particularly loved the description of Nottingham's music scene in the late seventies, along with Pollo's critique of every pint of beer he sips along the way. In beer ratings terminology I give it 4.65/5.
Chicken Town is available on Amazon now
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
