Too Much Too Young –

Registration number: 1883982
Film  Adaption by Paul Hallam &  Sandie West

Britain’s tribes were defined by differences in attitude, attire, musical allegiance, philosophies, territories and behavior.

The Nation’s youth took to the streets with music and fashion to avoid the bleak reality…, this is the story of a turbulent time in British history where unemployment, riots, racism, football violence and class war were the headline news . This generation wanted to party. Wanted it all. And at times they wanted
Too Much Too Young..

A Subculture Classic Based in part on original novels by Steve Piper, Pete McKenna and Craig Brackenridge

21st Century Pop Pulp Fiction !

 1979-1982.  Three youth subcultures intertwined in a story of the lost generation of youth, with three distinct subcultures colliding, yet individually forming an opinion and an epiphany of coming of age with the pleasure of friendship and music.

The two-tone phenomena and the northern soul music scene as well as Psychobilly formed the backdrop of anticipation that pierces the clouds of desperation.  Journey with us along a rocky road of torment, fun, and real London gangsters.  Throw in some drugs, some rebels without a cause, combined with a desolate future, the cause of the Orwellian times are even more relevant in today’s age..

Film begins May 1979 with Margaret Thatcher in power & ends in 1982 with the Falklands war. Youth cultures were cool and underground and almost everyone was a part of the scene. Here we see three distinct youth cults that intermingle throughout the story. Their lives cross and either enrich or result in riot-like behavior. From the southern beaches of South End to the beaches of Blackpool and throw in Stevenage, the promised land for ex-Londoners. In between the constant quest for music and friendship fueled sometimes by drugs or apocalyptic futures, these teenagers laid the groundwork for the youth to come. Explore the journey of the early 1980’s, this film will shed a light on our true nature for years to come and will have you reminisce about the coming of age in your own lives.

 

About Pete  Mc Kenna

Sandie and Pete began working on Too Much Too Young  as well as Who The Hell is Frank Wilson and Jersualem.  Pete said most publishers thought it a little dangerous for Jerusalem  and  wanted to steer clear of Jerusalem but Sandie likened it to a script she was already working on,  similar in style to Natural Born Killers.  However, on seeing Pete’s work, Sandie was enamored and decided to produce Pete’s screenplay which is  far superior and one to bank on.  Consequently, Pete’s publishers’s decided the same and published his book.

Pete McKenna – Who the Hell is Frank Wilson , part of the trilogy of the movie, Too Much Too Young, includes Psychobilly and Too Much Too Young, 3 very different scenes of youth culture that collide, Two Tone, Northern Soul and Psychobilly.

WHERE QUADROPHENIA MEETS THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY Spring 1982. Italian banker Roberto Calvi known as “Gods Banker” was found hanging under a London bridge with a pocket full of bricks and nearly £20,000 in cash. It has been hinted that Mr Calvi had connections with the Mafia, The Freemasons and the Vatican itself. And this morning hundreds of northern soul fans woke up to the shock news that Wigan Casino was gutted by a mysterious fire in the early hours of the morning. Following the grim discovery of a man’s badly charred body in the ruins, speculation is rife that the fire was the work of an arsonist. And the question on many people’s lips is just Who The Hell Is Frank Wilson? Now in its 1st Edition after a sold out Limited Edition

About Steve  Piper

Piperhttp://www.eyeplug.net/magazine/author-steve-piper/

  • Sandie and Steve met on Sept 5th 2015 on the birthday of Paul Hallam, the publisher of Old Dog Books but they probably had met previously because of their love of 2 tone music.  Paul Hallam’s birthday party was at the Old  Fox Pub in London and Sandie was filming a segment of  “We are the Flowers in your Dustbin”.  That ominous day was a blessing,  as Sandie lined up several people to film for Flowers, such as Riaz khan and Garry Johnson etc, Steve Piper, remembered he has a manuscript to get to Paul Hallam, called Too Much Too Young, by November 2015, Neville Staple of The Specials wrote a foreword in the book and Paul Hallam published Too Much Too Young.  The rest is history.

November 1979. The lines are clear. Things so black and white, at least to the eyes and ears of Britain’s youth. The ragged edges of punk rock had been smoothed into the sound of new wave and inner-city housing estates had yet to decompose into the crumbling and neglected smack and crack saturated slums of the ‘90s. Britain’s tribes were defined by differences in attitude, attire, musical allegiance, philosophies, territories and behavior. Mods were mods, punks were punks. The Labour party was the Labour party and the Conservatives, Conservatives. The workers kept working and the bosses planned their retirement.

That November on BBC’s ‘Top of the Pops’ three bands performed. Conceived by different mothers; the Midlands of England and its capital, and yet intrinsically linked by the same sire; ska music imported from the West Indies, they signal in a new era and the arrival of the 2 Tone records gravy train.

Championing a stable of fresh fledgling upstarts pumping out a punchy hybrid of ska-punk tunes, 2 Tone records grabbed the pop charts by the throat. The nation tired and tested after two terms of turbulent Labour government voted in a Conservative administration; at its head Britain’s first ever female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

And she was out to spoil the party…Now in its 5th Edition!

  • About Craig Brackenridge

  • Loving all the writing from Craig at Sounds Magazine, Sandie asked Craig to write several of his “Tongue in cheek” style articles, in addition,  Sandie and Craig,  are working on a script of his book “Rave On”, which was published by Old Dog Books around the same time as ” Who the Hell is Frank Wilson” By Pete Mc Kenna and “Too Much Too Young” by Steve Piper.  The combination of these 3 writers styles and especially Craig’s punchy style brought the birth of the film – working title “Too Much Too Yong” which embraces all 3 street cultures.  Craig’s book Rave On is  generally seen as a part two of Too Much Too Young as we follow the characters in the music culture of 1979-1984 and 1985-1997

Psychobilly by Craig Brakenridge

Author – Craig Brackenridge

Stevenage. 1986. The Psychobilly disease is spreading across the UK and Harry Powell and his mates have got it bad. They are followers of the brutal blend of Rockabilly & Punk that is sweeping across Britain’s musical underground and from the Klub Foot to Morecambe Bay, they will go anywhere for wrecking and rumps.

Along with the booze, brawls, and bunk-ups, Harry finds something even more special but a dark secret within the crew threatens to tear them apart. However, no matter what they face, their lives revolve around the adrenaline-fuelled, pounding beat of Psychobilly.

Craig Brackenridge has been writing about cinematic sleaze and demented Rock ‘n’ Roll since 1995 and his first novel ‘Psychobilly’ is a solid slab of youth culture pulp soaked in knee-trembling smut. The book you can read with one hand

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