Max Décharné is an English rock musician and singer, and the author of nine books, mostly non-fiction, and numerous short stories.

Music and writing
Max Décharné has written about music regularly for Mojo magazine since 1998, prior to which he wrote extensively about film for Neon. In addition, his work has also appeared in The Spectator, the Sunday Times Colour Magazine, the Observer, the Guardian and the TLS, among others. He has interviewed a wide variety of cultural figures, including Mary Quant, Nick Cave, Christopher Lee, Wanda Jackson, Mick Farren, Colin Wilson, The Trashmen, Ingrid Pitt, Dion DiMucci, John Peel, Cynthia Plastercaster, Sonny Burgess, Wreckless Eric and Dick Dale. Décharné has also produced sleeve notes for numerous record reissues of box sets, albums and singles by artists such as Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Little Richard and Sparkle Moore, and also the acclaimed 6-CD Nikki Sudden box set The Boy From Nowhere Who Fell Out Of The Sky.

In 1985 he started writing short stories and in 1986, inspired by the postpunk DIY ethic, co-founded the Malice Aforethought Press with Frank Key. Over the next few years they published a large number of short-run pamphlets. Titles by Décharné included "The Importance of Being Harnessed" and "The Night They Invented Shampoo". Most of these texts were later collected in paperback. He also appeared as a guest on Frank Key's weekly Resonance FM Radio show "Hooting Yard on the Air" in which the former publishing partners discussed their love of unusual literature.

In his musical career, Décharné has released eleven albums and something in the region of twenty singles since 1989. He played drums with his friend Nikki Sudden before joining Gallon Drunk in 1991, with whom he toured the world. Since 1994, he has been the singer and principal songwriter with The Flaming Stars. In a long and varied career in the music business, he has also recorded nine John Peel Sessions and played shows all across the US, Canada, virtually every country in Europe and also in Japan. One of his songs made the 1995 John Peel Festive Fifty (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by The Flaming Stars), then two more of his songs were in the 1996 John Peel Festive Fifty (Ten Feet Tall and The Face On The Bar Room Floor, both by The Flaming Stars).

Décharné is probably one of the only people currently writing about music to have played on BBCTV's Later... with Jools Holland show, on the main stage at the Reading Festival, at Madison Square Garden and at the Hollywood Bowl.

Bibliography

Books
King's Road: The Rise And Fall of the Hippest Street in the World (second, extended edition), Omnibus Press, 2023  (); (Special edition )
Vulgar Tongues: An Alternative History of English Slang, Serpent's Tail, 2016  ()
Capital Crimes: Seven Centuries of London Life and Murder, Random House Books, 2012 (Arrow Books 2013)  () 
Rocket In My Pocket, Serpent's Tail, 2010  ()  NB Ace Records (United Kingdom) issued a compilation CD with sleeve notes by Max to tie in with this book.
King's Road: The Rise And Fall of the Hippest Street in the World, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005  ()
Hardboiled Hollywood – The Origins of the Great Crime Films, No Exit Press, 2003  ()
Straight From the Fridge, Dad: A Dictionary of Hipster Slang, No Exit Press, 2000 (2nd edition in 2004, 3rd edition in 2009)  ()
I Was A Teenage Warehouse & Other Stories, Thirst Editions, 1997  ()
The Prisoner Of Brenda & Other Stories, Malice Aforethought Press, 1991  ()
Beat Your Relatives To A Bloody Pulp & Other Stories, Malice Aforethought Press, 1989  ()

Selected Reviews of his Books
King's Road - Omnibus Press, 2023
"A gloriously forensic expansion… happily the vanishing art of investigative writing survives in this magnificent tribute now destined to sit with the UK’s great socio-cultural chronicles 4****" - Kris Needs, Record Collector 
Vulgar Tongues – An Alternative History Of English Slang, Serpent's Tail, 2016
"Max Décharné's engaging book Vulgar Tongues is a spectacular feat, collating information from a mind-boggling range of sources - from jazz lyrics to dime novels, from 18th century brothel directories to 1960s criminal autobiographies." - Lynne Truss, New Statesman
A Rocket In My Pocket – Serpent's Tail, 2010
"The definitive book on rockabilly.. tells you all you need to know." - Andrew Weatherall, BBC 6 Music
King's Road – The Rise And Fall Of The Hippest Street In The World, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005
"As a trawl through the glitz and glamour of the King’s Road, this is hard to beat. Décharné’s research, which takes in everything from political weeklies to underground pop magazines, is impressive and unimpeachable, and he whisks the reader along in brisk and witty prose." - Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
Hardboiled Hollywood – No Exit Press, 2003
"Full of "unauthorised cash withdrawals" and people dying of "lead poisoning", this tome thankfully eschews the pompous subtext and strained metaphors of most film books, leaving what any good detective wants: just the facts, ma'am." - Phelim O’Neill, The Guardian
Straight From The Fridge, Dad – No Exit Press, 2000
"If you are the kind of hep cat who harbours a burning urge to gas the slobs, then the righteous Max is the man. He shoots the works to fascinating and often hilarious effect." - Esquire

Malice Aforethought Press Booklets
The Petrified Florist, pamphlet, Malice Aforethought Press, 14 February 1991  ()
The Little Sheep of Horrors, pamphlet, Malice Aforethought Press, 30 September 1990  ()
Slogans for the Unhinged, limited edition pamphlet of 50 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 29 September 1990  ()
UFOs - Who Gives a Flying One?, limited edition pamphlet of 50 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 3 August 1990  ()
Epigrams, limited edition pamphlet of 50 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 3 August 1990  ()
The Sheep of Things to Come, limited edition pamphlet of 47 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 3 February 1990  ()
Hello Jung Lovers, Wherever You Are, limited edition pamphlet of 27 copies (hand-singed (yes, singed) by the author), Malice Aforethought Press, 3 April 1989  ()
Beat Your Relatives To A Bloody Pulp, limited edition pamphlet (some on tea-stained paper), Malice Aforethought Press, 1988 ()
The Night They Invented Shampoo, limited edition pamphlet of 35 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, 1988 (re-issued in July 1990)  ()
The Importance of Being Harnessed, limited edition pamphlet of 25 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, February 1987  ()
Smooching with Istvan, (with Frank Key) - limited edition journal of 100 copies, with hand-painted covers, Malice Aforethought Press, Spring 1987  ()
Stab Your Employer, (with Frank Key) - limited edition journal of 50 copies, Malice Aforethought Press, Autumn 1986

Stories by Max in various anthologies
The Woman At The Late Show in the Cornell Woolrich-inspired crime anthology Black Is The Night, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Titan Books, 2022. ()
Midget Submarines in the collection Bullman, Janine, ed., Punk Fiction - An Anthology of Stories Inspired By Punk, Portico, 2009. ()
Chelsea Three, Scotland Yard Nil in the collection Unsworth, Cathi, ed., London Noir, Serpent's Tail, 2006. ()
The occasional magazine Massacre, compiled by Roberta McKeown, contained several stories by Max - namely I Was a Teenage Warehouse (Massacre 1, 1990), The Black Shape of the Family (Massacre 2, 1991) and Dining Out in Paris and London (Massacre 3, 1992)

Discography

Solo albums
Sixteen Coaches Long (Bandcamp, September 2020)
New Shade of Black (Bandcamp, May 2020 and on vinyl from Dangerhouse Skylab, July 2022)

The Flaming Stars

Studio albums
Born Under a Bad Neon Sign (Big Beat, 2006)
Named and Shamed (Vinyl Japan 2004 - Vinyl and CD)
Sunset & Void (Vinyl Japan 2002 - Vinyl and CD)
A Walk on the Wired Side (Vinyl Japan 2001 - Vinyl and CD)
Pathway (Vinyl Japan 1999 - Vinyl and CD)
Sell Your Soul to the Flaming Stars (Vinyl Japan 1997 - CD only)
Songs from