Jeff Turner To Release “Cockney Reject Vol 2: I Love Being Me” Biography

Formed from the dog end of Punk and playing an incendiary musical style lovingly named and known around the globe as Oi! The Cockney Rejects have continually delivered, thumped and rattled along to their own unique East End beat for almost fifty years. As well as playing Top Of The Pops, touring the land and appearing on the cover of Sounds, the rebellious Rejects generally caused mayhem and made headlines wherever they went. These authentic pavement punks only did things at 100mph. For context, while this unhinged early rollercoaster was tearing around the UK, Jeff “Stinky” Turner wasn’t old enough to legally buy cigarettes. The band broke into the charts and the mainstream’s horrified eyeline back in 1980, and what followed was the high highs and low lows of a young band and their career path in the shark-infested music industry. In his second book, Cockney Reject Vol 2: I love Being Me, we discover what really happened to Jeff after the dejected and disillusioned original Rejects naturally disintegrated. Work, marriage, drugs, kids, and the band he loves. The Rejects reform, and once more fall apart. The sad passing of valued friends and loyal band members, a disastrous tour of America, Bridge House 1&2, unlicensed mini-cabbing, the CSA, boxing, playing Upton Park twice, Rebellion, divorce, side projects, streaming, podcasting, a monumental family fallout, the 2023 tour, sciatica, Brazil, the bassist, Billy Bonds, painting, warships, East End Babylon and finally teaming up with a new and reinvigorated Cockney Rejects line-up. How, why, and when- it’s all in here, unfiltered, transparent and brutally forthright. Written with music journalist Guy Shankland, the author of the critically acclaimed I Danny McCormack, Once A Wildheart, Always A Wildheart and feature writer for Vive Le Rock magazine, this is the proper street-level Stinky Turner story. Buckle up, buckle in and keep punching because it’s gonna be one hell of a bumpy and bubbly old ride. Cockney Reject Vol 2: I love Being Me will be released on the 26th November and can be pre-ordered via Cadiz Music

“To tell the truth, after the release of my first autobiography, Cockney Reject, in 2005, I never thought that there would be a follow-up, especially some 21 years later. To be honest, I didn’t have the appetite, inspiration, or energy to do so. Then, in early 2024, the Cockney Rejects split- well, imploded and I was left high and dry; I tried my best to be magnanimous and show no hard feelings towards the other three swiftly departed members. That changed forever when, before the smoke had cleared, my brother Mick immediately formed a new band with the other two. Betrayal is a strong word, but betrayed is what I felt and still feel. Fast forward to autumn 2026, and with a fresh vigour and zest for band and life in general, my thinking and attitude had changed. Richard England from Cadiz Music approached me, and I agreed, as long as it was a brand-new book and not a rehash of the old one, though I was a little stuck on how it would work. Enter Guy Shankland. Richard suggested Guy, and after we all met at the Cadiz offices, I knew we were on the same page, so we got to work immediately. Guy did his homework, probed my memory bank and got me talking; I could never have done this without him. This book is about so much more than that one unforgivable band revelation and the family fallout that followed. On these pages I’ve given an honest account of life’s highs and lows, coming to blows and powder up my nose. I hope anyone and everyone who reads it enjoys the roller coaster, Rejects-fuelled ride. Buckle your belt, hold on to your hat and one more thing: keep punching!” (Jeff “Stinky” Turner)