THE ROXY OUR STORY: THE CLUB THAT FORGED PUNK IN 100 NIGHTS OF MADNESS MAYHEM & MISFORTUNE BY ANDREW CZEZOWSKI

The Roxy Our Story

“The Roxy Our Story are the diaries and memories of this infamous club.”

From the founders of the club itself comes The Roxy Our Story. Flashing through the London underground music scene of the late seventies, Punk Rock was the ultimate anti-movement, anti-fashion, anti-rock, anti- establishment. Its bands consisted of players untrained in music, looking to explode the heavy over produced rock of the previous generation stripping music down to its core. The music was banned from every venue and club in the United Kingdom from fear that it may dissolve the remains of Unity in the fragile political back drop of the time. The ROXY Club stood alone in its wish to promote this music against all odds, it survived just 100 nights but during its short reign cut through the pomp and self-satisfied operators of the music business who finally saw they had no clothes.

The Roxy Our Story are the diaries and memories of this infamous club by Andrew Czezowski and his lifelong partner Susan Carrington. How it all came about, looking out from the centre of the maelstrom at the impact they were having during the most crucial 100 nights in PUNK rock music. It tells the fascinating story of the radical, anarchic ‘ROXY CLUB’ in 1977’s Covent Garden, London. With its home-made ethos Andrew and Susan had no political agenda other than to live on their own terms, all they expected from others was to do the same. The ROXY Club’s sounds, style and ideas still reverberate through alternative culture to this day. Illustrated with over 100 rare and previously unseen personal archive photos, flyers, rare artwork and newspaper clippings, diary entries, band contracts and other ephemera of the time, featuring exclusive quotes from some of the PUNK bands that played this historical club. The ROXY book will be a highly entertaining and visually stunning guide to a pioneering alternative to the mainstream UK music scene, a handbook of pluck and determination, and a refusal to accept the norm while painting on a new canvas without brushes.

Rare are the clubs that make their mark on history; those few that have left behind an indelible imprint include The Cavern, The Marquee, Whisky a Go Go, Max’s Kansas City, CBGB’s and The ROXY. Although widely disparate, each was the flagship of a scene. From the Beatles to the Doors to the New York Dolls and The Clash, iconic pop culture is rooted in club land. Despite The ROXY’s rapid ascension as the ‘in’ place to be, Czezowski and Carrington barely scraped by. Behind the scenes they staved off an unscrupulous landlord with criminal affiliations, take-over bids by fashion and music scene elite not to mention threats of physical damage by bolshie band management and two robberies. Going beyond the perimeters of most rock histories, ‘The ROXY Book’ charts punk’s integration into mainstream culture through first- hand accounts. Although The ROXY’s lifespan was all too brief, by the time Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington were evicted from the venue in April 1977, they had made their mark on club-land. Andrew and Susan, the dynamic couple went on to create the most successful and influential independently owned club of the 80’s and 90’s, ‘The FRIDGE’ in Brixton London, another BOOK for another time.

Read our book review on The Roxy Our Story 

If you’re interested in the punk music scene, we also recommend: Ripped and Torn by Tony Drayton and 100 Nights at the Roxy by Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington