John Olson

Tony Cohen

'The most obsessive, single-minded character I've ever seen, outside of the mirror' -Nick Cave 'I first met Nick Cave ... at Richmond Recorders in January. I appeared shoeless, red-eyed and late. As usual. The grand piano was overflowing with bits of metal, microphone stands, anything that wasn't nailed down. "That should sound interesting," I said. It was the start of a great love affair.' Masterful music producer-engineer Tony Cohen defined Australia's punk and rock sounds in the late '70s and '80s. His long and celebrated career took him from the studios of Melbourne and Sydney to West Berlin and London's Abbey Road, working with innumerable bands up until his death in 2017. In candid reflections, Tony's decades-long relationship with Nick Cave and his bands - The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - -is well documented, along with behind-the-scenes classic recordings by The Ferrets, Laughing Clowns, Models, The Reels, The Go-Betweens, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel, Beasts of Bourbon, The Saints, X, The Cruel Sea, Paul Kelly and so many more. Half Deaf, Completely Mad is an exuberant, hilarious, tragic and triumphant memoir that reveals a chaotic genius who lived hard and LOUD.

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