Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz looks back on his life in the prog rock band SKIN ALLEY, reflecting on both his musical adventures through the years, and the origins of his family, who came to the UK from Poland after the conclusion of World War 2. Along the way we learn of the band’s highs and lows, the making of their albums, and such memorable occasions as playing the first Glastonbury and even jamming on stage with Jimi Hendrix.
We are also given a glimpse into Krzysztof’s brushes with the likes of Hawkwind, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and the Comic Strip gang, Tracey Ullman and Shakin’ Stevens. This revealing and honest memoir is a treat for fans of classic rock and European history, and will delight anyone interested in a good story well told.
What made you want to write this book?
My life has largely been determined by “Random Chance and Coincidence” The sequence of events is as follows.
Chris Wade’s dad remembered Skin Alley from the seventies. Chris then did an online interview with me about the Band for his Hound Dawg magazine about five years ago. This prompted me to put together a narrative describing the life of the band, especially as I had been reading all sorts of weird and incorrect stuff written about the band by various reviewers and commentators. This also led me to create a web page with the correct version of events.
Having done this, I began to realise that I had also been involved in a variety of other musical ventures throughout the seventies and so I started to jot these down. These, it turned out, comprised of quite an exotic mix of experiences. And so it transpired that I had in writing described my activities throughout the seventies, which also kind of described those times we were living in.
It occurred to me that people might wonder what a bloke with my name was doing in the UK in anyway. I also understood that very few people had the vaguest idea what really happened to Polish people during the ww2. This led me to tag onto my account “The Origins of a Polish Rocker” which for me are a description of a truth that very few people were aware of in the UK
Was it fun looking back at those heady years?
From today’s perspective our generation was the lucky one. The 60s and 70s were indeed times when younger people had so many even ‘alternative’ life options opening up for them. With the arrogance of youth we had an impression that we could change the world for the better. “Cut out the jams and just do your thing”. It is not so much ‘fun’ to look back at those times, but more a sad feeling that today’s realities for young people are so much less optimistic than they were for us then.
Is it odd looking back retrospectively in this way, seeing your life split into sections?
I have never thought of this I these terms, but retrospectively, events in your life do tend to formulate into different sections. For myself it took the form of a kind of evolution, having recognised the end of one set of realities, one moves on to the next. The only redeeming feature being that I consciously made these options for myself.
What do you hope people take away from reading your book?
I hope people take away an impression of how things actually transpired in those days and that perhaps a few more details of the historic truth can be garnered.
What are you personal favourite Skin Alley recordings/songs?
I remain doggedly proud of all of creative work we were involved in with Skin Alley. It all represented an ’honesty’ of expression. I suppose two stand out tracks for me were “Living in Sin” and “Bad words and Evil People”.
Skin Alley and Beyond by Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz is available from Wisdom Twins Books.
