“We realized very early on that Tom is much more unpredictable than any rock star.” Kate Spicer is talking about her brother and focus of her feature documentary. Made alongside their brother Will, Mission To Lars is their story of trying to set up a meeting between Tom and his hero, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Tom has Fragile X syndrome, a condition described by Kate in the trailer as “autism with bells on” which created massive challenges for all of them.

Before she found herself adding Filmmaker to her business card, Kate was a lifestyle journalist; far from the heavy metal junkie she had to become. In a surprisingly honest interview, Kate talked to me about those challenges in making the film, our culture’s attitude to people with learning disabilities, and her relationship with her brothers.

Geeks of Doom: Are you excited for people to see the film now it’s finished?

Kate Spicer: Excited isn’t the word because we’re doing so much of this on our own, which means there’s quite a lot to worry about. I enjoy a lot of it in hindsight, but I feel like if I stop to enjoy it, it will all go wrong!

Looking Back At Me
Hardcover
By Wilko Johnson with Zoe Howe
Cadiz
Release date: May 30, 2012 (UK)

Musician, actor, amateur astronomer: Wilko Johnson is many things but one thing that he certainly is not is boring. Alongside author Zoe Howe, Johnson’s life is laid out in typically hilarious honesty in his autobiography, Looking Back At Me.

As befits a man of Johnson’s hectic life and mind, this is not a straight forward autobiography. Each page is packed with photos of his life and possessions in a beautiful coffee-table book. Each short, detailed chapter is brimming with Johnson’s enlightening personality.

For over 30 years he has been best known as the wild-eyed guitarist for English rock and blues band Dr. Feelgood, but a couple of years ago his popularity skyrocketed when he was cast as the King’s mute executioner, Ser Ilyn Payne, in the phenomenally successful TV show Game Of Thrones.

Eviscerated Panda – A Metal Tale
By Sarah Tipper
Kindle: U.S.
Paperback: UK
Upfront Publishing
Release date: May 21, 2012

As a huge fan of heavy metal music I’m a sucker for a “˜metal tale’. I’ve read more than my fair share of the things, but often come away from the page, eyes suitably rolled at a whole book based around a simple premise along the shaky lines of, “what story? Didn’t you see I just wrote “˜Satan’ and “˜horns’ in the same sentence? In a book!” and my faith in my metal-loving friends with an ability to use a typewriter wilts in despair. So it was with understandable caution that I approached my next book, Eviscerated Panda – A Metal Tale.

All anxieties were swiftly blown away by an imaginary Marshall stack: Hell’s Bells is this good!

Depending on who you talk to, the ninth album by rock band KISS is either a hugely brave and accomplished album which marks the band’s unsurpassed greatest moment or a steaming heap of pretentious bile (admittedly, the former is quite rare). Still, 31 years later one man has taken his love of the album one step further than the average Knight In Satan’s Service and decided to turn Music From “˜The Elder’ into a movie, simply titled The Elder.

And not just a short film, either. This will be a feature “post-apocalyptic road movie” by Seb Hunter, the British writer of the excellent book Hell Bent For Leather – Confessions Of A Heavy Metal Addict. Hunter has recently released two new posters for his movie and you can check them out below.

It’s always a unique event talking to Wilko Johnson. His accent and way with words is distinctly British and profoundly eccentric. The last time we spoke (you can read the interview HERE) the ex-Dr. Feelgood guitarist was about to start touring the UK with his solo band, had recently finished shooting Game of Thrones season one, and was secretly beavering away on his autobiography.

Said autobiography, entitled Looking Back At Me, is out now and it is absolutely, expectedly brilliant. I caught up with the British bluesman to discuss his book, reading sagas in Old Icelandic, and what the future holds for his Game of Thrones character, Ser Ilyn Payne.

Geeks of Doom: The first thing I want to ask you about is your autobiography. Are you happy with how that came out?

Wilko Johnson: Well yes and although you call it my book, my autobiography, in fact Zoe Howe put this thing together. Although I am the subject of it, as you say, so a lot of it is me blathering on about various topics, but yes I’m very, very happy with what Zoe did with this material.

Geeks of Doom: It’s not a conventional autobiography, is it?