Nic Brown, a creative writing professor at Clemson University, the fiction editor of the South Carolina Review and the author of “In Every Way,” “Doubles” and “Floodmarkers,” recently released his fourth book, “Bang Bang Crash.” In this new project, Brown takes on a different genre: nonfiction. Even more, he writes this memoir about himself and his life as a successful rock ‘n’ roll drummer.

Long before the author came to Clemson, his high school band received a record deal from Atlantic Records in New York City. This memoir serves to explore that part of Brown’s life, as well as his life after rock stardom. 

“It’s a story about being a drummer, and in one way, it’s a story about being an artist, about trying to figure out who I am,” Brown explains.

The book did not begin as a book, however. Brown originally sat down 13 years ago to write an essay about his time as a musician. That original essay grew to become “Bang Bang Crash” and is included in the book.

“It branched off in so many different ways that I saw a path to writing more about it, and at first, I didn’t see that it was going to be a book,” Brown said, “It came together in a way that I didn’t expect.”

Writing in nonfiction made “everything feel sort of fresh,” according to Brown.

“What was cool about it is that since it is a slightly new form, it did feel artistically more exciting,” Brown said. He believes that the different stylistic choices he makes “allows each chapter to stand on its own.” For example, some chapters are styled as a how-to guide, inspired by an exercise in one of his classes here at Clemson.

One of the most interesting stories Brown includes in the book describes the voyage of a fake ID. According to Brown, this memory “helped me formulate the arc of my memoir because it’s all questions about identity.”

“Bang Bang Crash” was released Feb. 21 and can be purchased online or in stores.