Steve Mascord is a respected rugby league reporter and a provocative rock'n'roll critic. He's a fan and an incessant traveller, prepared to fly anywhere to experience a match or concert, whatever the cost. He gets close to stars such as Johnathan Thurston and Ace Frehley, interrogates CEOs and millionaire promoters, and enjoys standing in grimly-lit venues watching men and women play for love but no acclaim.
In early 2016, Steve set out on a quest: 52 games and 52 gigs in a year. He'd document the adventure, the characters and controversies, highlights such as Axl Rose fronting AC/DC and Cronulla winning their first premiership, combine it all with his edgy opinions, and turn it into a book.
It became a journey of self-discovery. Steve was an adopted child and a boy with no direction until he found journalism. Why then do the things that matter most to him today relate to things that captivated him in his youth? This question becomes a quandary when he is suddenly introduced to his birth family, to his own bloodline.
Old venues, heroes and landmarks that mattered to him when he was a kid ... these are what Steve calls Touchstones; they fuel his writing and unconventional lifestyle. Alongside a new perspective that comes with meeting a mother and sister he never knew, they have inspired a book like no other, one that will intrigue and excite fans of rock'n'rugby league in equal measure.
