Claude Bessy (writer)

Claude Bessy (20 June 1945 – 2 October 1999), also known as Kickboy Face, was a French writer, magazine editor, singer, video producer, and painter. He is noted as an early organizer^[2] in the Los Angeles punk scene in the mid-1970s^[3] and was involved in the British post-punk scene in the 1980s.

Bessy was born in Normandy, France. Bessy was kicked out of the Sorbonne after showing up drunk at nine in the morning, brandishing a bottle of brandy, and threatening a teacher.^[4] Bessy moved to the US in 1966 and to Los Angeles in 1967.^[4] Bessy later left for Afghanistan to "deal" hashish.^[4] Bessy later detoxed from methedrine in a French asylum.^[4] In 1970 Bessy returned to Los Angeles, finding work first as a busboy in Santa Monica, then as a waiter as well as other jobs,^[4] and founded Angeleno Dread, L.A.'s first reggae fanzine.^[5][6]

In May 1977, he helped Steve Samiof^[7] launch the monthly punk rock magazine Slash, which he edited until it ceased publication in 1980.^{[8][9][10][11]}

• "FACT 125 Bessy Talks Turkey". Cerysmaticfactory.info. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013. Christmas video of Factory acts, discussed and presented by Claude Bessy. Short video clips (many excerpted from previous promo vids) include James [live], Section 25, Thick Pigeon, 52nd Street, Quando Quango, The Wake, Kalima, The Jazz Defektors, Stockholm Monsters [live], Durutti Column [live], Marcel King [live], and some of Bessy's work. Other bands mentioned in passing: New Order, Abecedarians, Shark Vegas, Streetlife, A Certain Ratio, Life, The Royal Family and the Poor and Red Turns To. Originally titled Factory Video Hype.^[12]

As Kickboy Face (a pen name adopted from, Kick Boy Face a song and album by Prince Jazzbo), Bessy was the lead singer for the band Catholic Discipline, the film The Decline of Western Civilization includes a Bessy interview, and two songs.^[13][2]

"The scene was not fun anymore, so I bailed on L.A. and the USA, never to return the day Ronald Reagan was elected." — Claude Bessy^[14]

Bessy left California in November 1980.^[15] moving with his lifelong partner Philomena Winstanley to the U.K. where he landed a job as a press officer at Rough Trade record label. There he championed American groups such as The Gun Club^[6] and Panther Burns.

In 1982 Bessy was hired as the resident VJ at The Haçienda in Manchester. He went on to produce music videos and films for The Virgin Prunes, The Fall and William S. Burroughs,^[6] and work with Factory Records' Ikon FCL video label, producing a Factory Records Christmas video trailer Bessy Talks Turkey.^[8]

Bessy returned to London^[16][17] where he worked for Forbidden Planet and wrote record sleeve notes. He contributed vocals to records by Sonic Youth, Howard Devoto, Wire's Graham Lewis and trumpeter Marc Cunningham.^[6]

In 1987 Bessy moved to Barcelona, Spain where he took to painting and earned a living teaching English. He died of lung cancer in 1999.^[6]

• Unanswerable Lust (1988), Luxuria
• Trying To Make It To The End Of The Century (1991)
• The First Letter (1991) Wire
• "Adios Jupiter" (1994) Raeo
• Underground Babylon (2004) Catholic Discipline

• "Barbee Doll Lust" – The Decline of Western Civilization (January 19, 1980)
• "Underground Babylon" – The Decline of Western Civilization (January 19, 1980)

• Bessy, Claude; Cervenka, Exene; Morris, Chris; Carillo, Sean; Doe, John (1999). Forming: The Early Days of L.A. Punk. Santa Monica, CA: Smart Art Press, 95 pp., illustrated.

• Track 16 Gallery exhibition^[18][19]

• Gabel, J. C; McKenna, Kristine (2016). Slash: a punk magazine from Los Angeles, 1977-1980. Hat & Beard. OCLC 935195068.
• Snowden, Don; Leonard, Gary (1997). Make the music go bang!: the early L.A. punk scene. St. Martin's Griffin. OCLC 36916508.
• Muñoz-Rojas, Ivar; Winstanley, Philomena (April 2019). Underground Babilonia : el sorprendente viaje de Philly y Claude [Underground Babylon: Philly and Claude's surprising journey] (in Spanish) (First ed.). Madrid. ISBN 978-84-948305-9-4. Retrieved 23 September 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Feldman, Andrea. "From Los Angeles to the Haçienda: The Ballad of Kickboy + Philomena". Warpedrealitymagazine.com.
• Mark Vallen. Portrait of Claude Bessy 1979. Acrylic on paper. 22" x 30"
• John Potwora, "Harmony In Disharmony: Spike Jones As A Punk Rock Prototype" 2019
• John Savage, "England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond" New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992
• Wolf, Mary Montgomery (2007). "We Accept You, One of Us?": Punk Rock, Community, and Individualism in an Uncertain Era, 1974—1985 (Thesis). The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries. doi:10.17615/e26e-6m88. Retrieved 17 August 2015. dissertation, Ph.D., History PDF Open access

• Jenny Lens

• Claude Bessy discography at Discogs
• Claude Bessy at IMDb