Released on the 29th December 2023 Riveting: Adventures in Industrial Music is a 156 page journey through the mid-late 90’s Industrial scene and London clubland. Written by Jo Weber, whom I don’t think I ever personally met (although given the state of most of the people in London’s Industrial clubland at the time I may very well have at somepoint!) it’s a series of band interviews and personal retrospective.

Jo ran an zine, with friend Claire Abrey, from her teens to mid-20’s which initially started out covering Indie music but soon morphed to industrial as her personal tastes changed. Riveting looks at a number of the bands she interviewed over the years and collates the interviews into a single volume that is an interesting read for anyone who enjoys the industrial scene.

Zines were everywhere in the 90’s, having been born decades before. Usually typewritten affairs with pasted on photos, and then photocopied up and sold at a handful of speciality stores or from the depths of the editors bag when you met them at pubs, clubs, gigs, or wherever they managed to get the zine in front of your face.

Riveting starts off in May 1993, whilst Jo was still at school, and travels forward through the years as she moves to London, discovers the Electric Ballroom, Gossips, Slimelight and the myriad of underground venues offering a cacophony of noise either to watch or dance to.

Her interviews cover a host of the scene’s greats – Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, Filter, Pigface, Front Line Assembly, Strapping Young Lad, Cubanate, and Pig to name but a few. She brought a fairly gonzo approach to interviews and in many you get a deeper personal reaction from her inteviewees, many answers that feel more honest than you may have gotten with a different approach. Jo also seems to have formed friendships with a number of those she interviewed, so her style and friendliness must have stood out and left a mark.

The book is an interesting, and easy, read. A trip down the murky elctro-punk alleyways of a gritty past fuelled by art, over indulgence, and a desire for noise to lose yourself to.

Riveting: Adventures in Industrial Music is available to buy on Kindle for £4.99 (or free with KindleUnlimited) through Amazon UK.