Signals

I’m right in the very middle of my book. How do I feel? Like Macbeth, where he fancies himself in a vast reservoir of blood, and he concludes that going back is as horrifying as going on.

Yep, writing books is a lot like committing regicide.

I suppose the good news is that, were I to drown in said crimson reservoir, half of the thing is done so at least a partial version of the book could emerge, as if it were a sketchy Tupac Shakur release.

This post is really simply to let everyone know two things:

1.     I’ve got a title and I think I’ve got a subtitle too (pending another contretemps with my editor about it, of course). Revealed shortly.

2.     The book is due out March 2017.

Currently, I’m deep into writing about the early-mid 90s British post-rock scene. I’ve got a trilogy of chapters on it. I think I’m achieving what I set out to do: getting people’s stories out, retaining their voices, while pinning down wider trends. I'll keep this short, since I better save my words – 1,200 of the bastards, every day – for the main event. Still, like one of those underwhelming Simpsons clip show episodes, I thought it might be nice - since I'm here - to share four videos of the period I’m currently writing about. Comments from my interviewees for context.

Keep well in these horrible times.

Insides, ‘Distractions’

‘We had an incredibly unpleasant couple of days doing that bit with stop-motion. There was a yellow paint we were using. We looked at the bottle. It said, “agent for cancer”.’ Kirsty Yates

Moonshake, ‘Capital Letters’

‘Me and my girlfriend Kate lived on this big council estate, at the end of Hackney Downs, in these five massive towerblocks. Twenty-one floors high, and it really was kind of Escape From New York. Kate was at home once, she looked out of the window, she heard this crack, a really loud bang, and suddenly someone had jumped off, there was this tomato splattered on the ground below. There was another time when there was this spate of burglaries, people would edge round the two-inch concrete strip round the side of this block and break in through the balconies. And people would fall off. That happened once, as well. I got chased into the lift and just managed to close the doors before a gang of kids mugged me. But we decided to film a video on this estate. All the kids came over and asked what we were doing. One of these little kids said, “what are you filming it here for?” and Julie [director] said, “it looks good on the camera” and showed him the playback, and he said, “my estate looks cool!” David Callahan

Seefeel, ‘Industrious’ (Live at Britronica, Moscow)

‘We got there and we got picked up and driven from the airport through, probably about fifty miles of monolithic tower blocks, what a place, blimey this is grim. In fact, as soon as we got to the airport they were having to bribe people to get trolleys so we could get our gear off the airport and into the van.’ Sarah Peacock

Bark Psychosis, ‘Big Shot’ (Live at Britronica, Moscow)

‘First and last time I’ve been to Moscow. It was an absolute fucking nightmare.’ Graham Sutton