Panther Rock Books
Once a Rocker Always a Rocker
My NEW book I GOTTA ROCK!
"Absolutely Exhilarating" ..."A Rock and Roll Jack Kerouac-style Journey"... "Hits on ALL Cylinders"
“I Gotta Rock” is based on 20 years of my road journals and diaries. I’m a journeyman rock singer but started off (at age 10) as a cellist. After attending the Boston Tea Party debut of the Jeff Beck Group in 1968 and the Jimi Hendrix Experience that same summer in Framingham - the rock got me. I watched Jimmy Page in ’69 with Led Zeppelin in a half-filled tent (for free) and ate dinner with Monkee Michael Nesmith. I crashed the glam-rock scene on Sunset Strip in ’74. I became a rock singer and my group Thundertrain recorded "Live at the Rat" in ’76. We rocked with the Runaways, Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott and Willie Loco in Boston’s Kenmore Square. Then we hit CBGB’s alongside the Dead Boys in ’77. I toured the USA southwest with the three-ring Circus Vargas in ’81. But I got fired from my circus job. So I rocked America, singing with the Joe Perry Project in 1982 and ’83. Just a taste of the non-stop action in my candid, rocket-paced, occasionally shocking, 20 year memoir. I Gotta Rock! 492 pages. Nearly 200 photographs.
Twenty Years of Tales 1965-1985
“Mach Bell's first book Once A Rocker, Always A Rocker, is one of my all time favorite music memoirs. Being a huge fan of Aerosmith and Joe Perry, it was the incredible inside look at one of my favorite and often elusive rock icons that I had craved for so many years.
What more could Mach Bell have to say after such an impressive and definitive tome?
A Hell of a lot actually....
Mach conjures up an eloquent and descriptive depiction of the New England music scene that began in the late Sixties and flourished in the Seventies with awesome bands like Aerosmith, J. Geils, and yes, Thundertrain.
It is a rock and roll Jack Kerouac style journey through the post hippie rock landscape of America during one of its most captivating eras. Along the way, there are tales of excess, police brutality, jail, groupies galore, and brushes with David Bowie, Iggy Pop... All of these tales absolutely exhilarating.
Of course, the Aerosmith fan is well served as Thundertrain's ascension into Massachussetts musical legend often paralleled the Toxic Twins.
Final chapters on the Joe Perry Project serve as fine compliment to the first book.
I loved both of them as a music fan.
Check them out soon.” Amazon reader My2cents
By popular demand...
"I Gotta Rock" AUTOGRAPHED BOOKS! order with PayPal!
I'll autograph my new book to you personally & send it out in the morning mail! One price $27.99 includes EVERYTHING: the book, shipping and I'll even throw in a kustom BookMach too!
Be SURE to include your mailing address and the name you want my autograph personalized to. Send $27.99 to
"Once a Rocker" is my first book. It came out at the end of 2019. A 326 page Diary that reveals how I managed to join Joe Perry and his Project... and the 2+ years I spent singing, writing & touring all over the place with Joe & the Project during '82 -'84. These are true-life, rock'n'roll bedtime stories!
ONCE A ROCKER ALWAYS A ROCKER: A DIARY
On the Road with The JOE PERRY PROJECT in the Big 80’s.
The Untold Story, Unveiled in Amazing Detail.
Rock’n’Roll’s Most Freewheeling - but Ultimately Doomed Band.
Outrageous, Uproarious and 100% Genuine.
True Tales from the Trenches of American Hard Rock.
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry needed a singer for his Joe Perry Project.
Out of nowhere, I got drafted.
It was like winning the lottery. Much better though - because lotteries
only pay cash. For the next two years I experienced things that money
just can’t buy. Living on the road with America’s quintessential
rock star, playing adventurous, rebellious music on big stages to huge
crowds, signing autographs, finding romance and partying with my idols.
I was suddenly on top.
At that same moment Joe Perry was spiraling downward.
Health failing, marriage dissolving and deeply in debt.
In order to stay one foot ahead of the tallyman, the ex-Aerosmith star jumped
into a van and hit the road. Taking me and a few other newbies along on
a mad dash across North America - and beyond.
Taking any gig he could get.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cowboy Mach Bell is the lead singer and co-writer (with Joe Perry) of the
1983 Joe Perry Project album Once a Rocker Always a Rocker (MCA/Geffen).
As of last year, the recording has been re-released 18 times
(and counting) in North America, Japan, Europe, Australia and Russia.
This is the author’s personal diary, kept during his years singing and touring
with the Joe Perry Project during the early eighties.
Panther Rock Books 326 pages 18 rare photographs
"Once A Rocker" AUTOGRAPHED BOOKS. Pay with PayPal.
Personalized & signed to YOU by rock singer & author Cowboy Mach Bell
- autographed copies of Mach's five star rated book. One price includes EVERYTHING: The original paperback Diary, free shipping and even a kustom BookMach to help save your place.
Order with this Paypal link and be SURE to INCLUDE your MAILING ADDRESS and the name you want the author's autograph personalized to. Fast, free Shipping!
Send $24.98 per book to: paypal.me/CowboyMach
Sorry, we can ship to USA only.
FIVE STAR RATINGS FOR THE NEW AUDIOBOOK
CLICK THIS POSTER AND HEAR IT FOR YOURSELF!
The deluxe, expanded AUDIOBOOK of “Once a Rocker Always a Rocker: A Diary” is now available at Audible, Amazon and iTunes/AppleBooks.
Featuring monumental Boston rocker Greg“Earthquake”Morton as Mach's co-narrator. The whole Diary is included PLUS...
Boston radio personality, author and rock historian Carter Alan joins in with his Thundertrain and Joe Perry Project insights (& some buried treasure)…
But there’s more! Joe Perry Project members Danny Hargrove and Charlie Farren drop by to spin personal road tales.
Vivid, new stories are shared, old questions are finally answered, and a gripping, new Final Chapter is premiered…
Some Favorite MEDIA APPEARANCES
Jan. 17, 2021 Mach Bell Meets Mitch!
Mitch goes in-depth with Cowboy on "Once a Rocker Always a Rocker: A Diary"
“It’s a fascinating, FASCINATING story.”
- MITCH LAFON
"Once a Rocker" Track by Track Album Analysis 2/14/21
Digging deeper into the creation & recording of songs like “King of the Kings” “Women In Chains.” Hear the real story behind that weird, strange lyric in “Walk with Me Sally” and much, much more. Kudos to host Thomas S. Orwat Jr. for giving Cowboy the chance to set the record straight!!
AUTOGRAPHED CDS
Once a Rocker Always a Rocker
New edition of 1983 Joe Perry Project classic. Printed in the Netherlands. I will break the seal & sign it to you.
AUTOGRAPHED CD $29.99
THUNDERTRAIN 1979 - RECORDED LIVE!
Starfleet mobile production, originally aired on WCOZ-FM.
Gulcher Records released this no holds-barred live 2/1/79 Thundertrain concert at the Summit, Peabody MA.
Liner notes by Mach Bell. Includes Hot For Teacher, Dirty Water, Mama Weer All Krazee Now, Counterattack, I Gotta Rock & more. Autographed CD $19.99
MACH BELL'S WILD BAR BAND FROM 2005!
Lawless Records. Mach Bell went back to the city in 2004 and Mach 5 happened! Great sounding arena-punk-hard-rock from Mach, Dee Stroy, Jeff and Jimmy Birmingham.
Liner notes by Mach Bell.
Get It Up, Quincy Girl, Kenmore Square and seven more! Autographed CD $19.99
PAYPAL me HERE. With your paypal, payment include your (USA Only) mailing address, the CD(s) requested and the name(s) you'd like me to inscribe my signature to! You can also contact me here on the page!
- Always rocking, Mach