J.J. Anselmi is the author of Doomed to Fail: The Incredibly Loud History of Doom, Sludge, and Post-metal; and Heavy: A Memoir of Wyoming, BMX, and Heavy Fucking Music. He’s played drums in several heavy bands, including In the Company of Serpents and Former Worlds. He’s currently the drummer of Drainage, a sludgy metalcore band from Long Beach, California.

Lou Brutus, for lack of a better term, is a Professional Music Fan. He’s lives the dream of millions by traveling the Earth attending concerts and interviewing rock stars. He’s spent his life blasting tunes on the radio, becoming the first to play all your favorite bands, and gaining access to literally thousands of music events. He has severe hearing damage. Lou has smoked weed with Hunter S. Thompson and Snoop Dogg, chugged ale with Spinal Tap’s “Stonehenge” dwarfs, been in a tour bus that ran over a guy on the NJ Turnpike, and puked on the floor of many of the world’s most prestigious concert venues. He also sings in a couple of crazy bands, one of which has gotten him death threats. If he sells enough copies of this book, he will buy a KISS pinball machine. Brutus lives outside Washington, DC with his family, including Darla the Wonder Dog, subsisting on a diet of black coffee, Rock N Roll, and tinnitus.