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  • Published: 28 February 2027
  • ISBN: 9781529948851
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $59.99
Categories:

Shooting Up and Making Out

A Memoir




A raw, exhilarating memoir of life at the frontier of punk music, from the inimitable bassist of 90s punk rock legends L7, Jennifer Finch.

Jennifer Finch ran away from an unstable home at the age of twelve. She turned to hustling and drug dealing before migrating to the streets of LA’s 80s punk scene. Boyfriends like Dave Grohl and Billy Corgan inspired her to pick up a guitar. Driven to express herself, despite neglect and abuse, Finch carved an artistic path.

Known for their wild hedonism and headline-grabbing performances, Jennifer’s band, L7, created headlines wherever they went. A bunch of punk rock women playing metal, they pioneered a new sound and a new attitude. World tours, drugs, death and mayhem all followed.

Shooting up and Making Out is a thrilling, unflinching account of Jennifer’s turbulent life at the heart of the LA and Seattle music scenes, which left on indelible mark on the culture. A classic rock'n'roll story, it is a testament to the power of music, the strength of the human spirit, and the relentless pursuit of artistic freedom.

  • Published: 28 February 2027
  • ISBN: 9781529948851
  • Imprint: Doubleday
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $59.99
Categories:

About the authors

Jennifer Finch

Jennifer Finch (1966-2026) was a cultural instigator, punk rock icon, and multi-disciplinary artist whose work spans sound, image, and story. Best known as the bassist for the groundbreaking band L7, Jennifer built a career that defied categorization, merging raw energy with emotional intelligence across music, photography, writing, and performance.

Jeff Alulis

Jeff Alulis is the co-author of the New York Times best-seller NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories and the acclaimed memoir of Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, Set the Night on Fire. He holds an MFA from USC’s Graduate Screenwriting Program, he has directed several award-winning music-based documentaries, and he has toured as the vocalist for seminal punk bands Dead Kennedys and Reagan Youth.

Praise for Shooting Up and Making Out

'A great book that among many other insights tells us exactly what it was like to be a maker of abrasive, semi-underground guitar music . . .Full of vivid anecdotes.'

The Quietus

'With Shooting Up and Making Out, Jennifer Finch has left us with a memoir that reads like a Fear and Loathing for the punk rock generation. An inspired account of resilience, determination, and unwavering courage. Her legacy defined. A hero’s journey turned up to eleven.'

Dave Grohl, Nirvana / Foo Fighters / author of The Storyteller

'A memoir as raw and searing as the music she put out in the world. Finch was one of a kind, with a voracious intellect, her path always colliding with adventure, danger, music, and art. A sensitive and generous spirit, I wish she were around to feel the love and appreciation this book will surely garner.'

Carrie Brownstein, Sleater-Kinney / Portlandia / author of Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl

'Shooting Up and Making Out is a self-portrait of a woman moving through a scene, a movement, an era, and a sound, with a voice that is as unguarded as it is unrepentant. This book is evocative, profound, and an absolute thrill.'

Lili Anolik, author of Didion & Babitz

'I knew Jennifer and I thought I knew her well, but this book unfurled entire universes in her life that were a total revelation to me. The term ‘fearless account’ may land as a cliché, but I think it’s an apt description of this incredible examination of a life.'

Ian MacKaye, Minor Threat / Fugazi / The Evens / Dischord Records

'Jennifer Finch was a FORCE, and her memoir is the powerful story of how her radiant goodness emerged from the depths of the LA underground to shine brightly around the world.'

Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine

'A glorious and gratifying testimony from one of punk’s greatest bad-girls-gone-good. Finch’s essence, her vitality and indomitable feminist spirit, pops off the page and plunges us into her life on and off stage. I am hugely grateful for this book and that this account of her artistry and activism is here for all of us to study.'

Jessica Hopper, author of The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic

'Shooting Up and Making Out never romanticizes punk, fame, or addiction, and it never asks permission. It’s Jennifer telling her own story, through her own lens. The story of a woman who fought to be the author and archivist of her own life.'

Brett Gurewitz, Bad Religion / Epitaph Records