SOCIAL MEDIA

Interview with The Devil Wears Prada

Tuesday 3 December 2013

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I was lucky enough to have a few words with Chris from The Devil Wears Prada a few weeks ago check it out here or below.


We caught with The Devil Wears Prada’s guitarist Chris Rubey ahead of their last show of their 2013 UK tour in Sheffield. Touring their latest album ’8:18′ we heard how the new tracks are going down, maturation of fans and upcoming tour footage.

HTF: So tonight is the last night of the tour, what have the highlights been?
Chris: I don’t know, all the shows have been kinda the same-ish. It was nice to get back into England after playing Ireland, Scotland and Wales. I actually noticed the difference, like we do a little bit better. I guess whenever we play London that is always the best.

HTF: You’re relentlessly touring at the moment, does it ever take its toll? 
C: Yeah, we have been working a lot, the other guys more than me as I didn’t do the last US tour so I got to have a little break to help with the baby. But yeah we already have all of next year booked up already so I’m sure we’re never going home!

HTF: Does this mean there could be a tour DVD on the way?
C: Yeah actually our guitarist Jeremy and bassist Andy kinda collect video and they just bought a bunch of new cameras and everything so we’ve been filming a whole bunch of stuff,  we have tons of ideas but the main goal is to just release stuff constantly – like every week rather than one DVD.

HTF: You’re back on tour next month in North America, how do American shows compare to the UK?
C: We tend to do a little better in America, but it is where we used to put most of our focus so we are more established there. It is  always nice to come over here and it is like proving yourself,  trying to gain new fans and win people over by the end of the set whereas in America people always sing the words back so I just like that in a way we have already kind of conquered America and we’re working on it over here.

HTF: What has the response to 8:18 been here?
C: Very recently a couple of songs like ‘Sailors Prayer’ which is like very singy with a poppy chorus has been sung back and the tracks we released before the record people tend to know those a little bit more but it is definitely slow. It’s not like it is crazy everyone singing the words back at us every night but I am starting to notice it more and more.

HTF: We’ve grown up with TDWP so do you see your audiences getting older?
C: Yeah, that is kind of the point in like evolving with music, we were never like alright so on this album we sounded like this so with this album we have to sound like this. It is pretty much just what bands we listen to and what we want to play. We just try to write the stuff that we want to hear.

HTF: So as you’re evolving so are your fans?
C: Definitely – the people that are our age or were whatever age when they started listening to us are not necessarily craving that same sound. Like if we put out the first record again people would be like oh this is weird but I think we are keeping those same fans so we may not have the scene kid buzz right now but we still have the fans that are going to buy our next record and the one after that and that kind of is the point, that is what we are going for

HTF: After the ‘First Sight’ video what can we expect for the next video?
C: I think that video turned out awesome too – it was kind of a hands off experience for us. We picked a director based on their previous work, let them come up with the idea  and then she actually drew storyboards. We were intentionally not in it as something we wanted to try – almost a mini movie for a song. I like doing music videos and when I see a music video I would want to see the band so were not necessarily not going to be in them from now on but were going to try and make more like ‘First Sight’.

HTF: British bands have been on the rise the past few years, what do you make of the support bands, Dead Harts and Napoleon?
C: Honestly I’d never heard of either of them before this tour and I watched them night after night on tour. I think I hear more bands that interest me over here than from the states – there are definitely a lot of talents bands. Napoleon – super good Dead Harts – super good. I especially like Napoleon , they come across really well on record.

HTF: Do any of your instruments have nick names?
C: Not really but I do have a star wars theme, I have a black guitar with an Imperial symbol and one of my guitars has like the Mandalorian, Boba Fett type thing and then the Rebels symbol.

HTF: Have you ever had any weird riders or gifts?
C: Some people think it is weird that we get socks on the rider, a brand new pack of black socks – I mean if you could have new socks every day wouldn’t you? When we went to South America people made like little stuffed doll versions of us they weren’t too weird they were pretty cool.

HTF: Finally, tonight is the last show can we expect anything different?
C: Honestly no, do you want something? We’ll play Spongebob Grindpants for you.

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Live Review - The Devil Wears Prada, Dead Harts, Napoleon - Corporation Sheffield, 2013

Saturday 30 November 2013

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I recently got the chance to interview and review The Devil Wears Prada Sheffield, you can check it out here or below.

[Rhian Westbury]

In a week of insane clashing line ups we caught The Devil Wears Prada on their last date of their UK tour at Corporation , Sheffield. Being in the midst of so many tours saw the show moved to the small room at Corporation, sell out to then be followed by an in flux in ticket demand. We doubt any Prada fans will leave it to the last minute again.

Openers Napoleon lurch across the stage as they attempt to warm up the room and although they fling every limb and thrash through every track the crowd just doesn’t seem to shift more than the gratuitous head bob. Despite this awkwardness musically and vocally Napoleon give everything they’ve got till we are desperate to hear what they’ve recorded. So despite fumbling presence with the audience Napoleon’s sweet blend melodic hardcore is something to listen out for.

And lest we forget ladies and gents that we were on Dead Harts territory here as the room heaves before they even begin.As vocalist Matthew Baxendale sweeps up the mic the crowd is swaying unleashing to ‘Leech’ and never relenting through walls of death, circle pits and flailing limbs. Dead Harts hit the spot unlike anything to tongue your ears at the moment, grooving through deviating riffs as Bax relays the mic because everybody already knows the words. And the vivaciousness doesn’t stop there, drummer Anthony Allen has an alluring way of keeping time that leaves the tinkering of the drum rim to accidentally fill spaces that you’d almost miss if it wasn’t for the impeccable breaks in ‘Pit Talk’. As they close on the renowned ‘Smoke Wagons’ the room is in uproar – primed for TDWP.  Regardless if the track is new or old the crowd and DH are giving all they have got and with a new album due for next year there are big things to come for Dead Harts.

The audience at Corp feels a little older, with the odd youth floating about showing that maybe The Devil Wears Prada have developed as we have matured reviving a secure fan base that weren’t just there for the older tracks. As ‘Gloom’ sends Corp wild it proves ’8:18′ is a Prada album not to be reckoned with as ‘Martyrs’ and ‘First Sight’ see the room heaving. And it seems to be a pattern ‘War’ and ‘Sailor’s Prayer’ hold the room in reverence as ‘War’ beautifully lurches in melodicmusicianship and ‘Sailor’s Prayer’ intertwines pop elements that has Jeremy DePoyster vocally conducting the crowd over the intricate agile riff that could easily sway over any fans sitting on the fence. Although the new tracks tear the place apart songs like ‘Escape’, ‘Danger’ and ‘Assistant’ get more chaotic and crushing as they come with frontman Mike Hranica clawing the air with every beat.


With it being the last show of the tour we requested ‘Spongebob Grindpants’ and ‘Still Fly’ but Sheffield was treated no different from the rest of the tour and ‘Dead Throne’ and ‘Mammoth’ split the carnage that was TDWP’s encore. An insane ending to an amazing show that saw The Devil Wears Prada prove that you can evolve and still tear it apart.

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Live Review - The Dillinger Escape Plan - Nottingham, Rock City - 2013

Sunday 24 November 2013

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So in my recent wee trip Nottingham I got interview and review some amazing bands and one of these was The Dillinger Escape Plan. You can read it below or check it out here which includes some amazing shots. 

[Graham Berry]

Culminating a two month European tour saw The Dillinger Escape Plan bring Nottingham’s Rock City to a stand still. White lights and disorientating bass left us in unsettling darkness between each erupting blindess for ‘Prancer’ to ambush the crowd with its jagged riff and renowned lyrics. Despite this being the last date of the tour DEP are as tight as ever ripping in ‘Farewell Mona Lisa’ as the crowd continue to shout every word back, flinging their bodies with every embedded riff in their person.

If you didn’t take a Ben Weinman to the face after walking the crowd at KOKO you certainly did at Rock City, sliding the throngs of people as security lashed at his ankles. Epic Dillinger tracks such as ‘Milk Lizard’ and ‘Panasonic Youth‘ had the room in fits swinging with every grooving bass strung with Liam Wilsons vivacious moves and the syncopated riffs of ‘Panasonic Youth’. Dillinger continued to work their way through their anthems with ‘Fix Your Face’ and ‘Black Bubblegum‘ jolting through  volatile time changes in perfect unison whilst throwing every limb and vaulting off everything they could.

With every track came a distortion of absurd moving images. With each haunting picture came another abberant image that left you wincing at the stage but desperate to watch DEP. The looming introduction to these eerie figures left us seduced, unrestrained and cornered by Dillinger, making each track more twisted and more vicious than the last. As Greg introduces ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’ with ‘Lets make some babies‘ it’s slow, grooving motions settle in heaving within each person there.

Proceeding to make a crowd lose their shit is possibly the best kind of encore. As the band covered Aphex Twin’s ‘Come To Daddy’ fans eyes met and tore the place apart lunging at every object as the illustriously mental opening riff to ’43% Burnt’ saw t-shirts flying and bodies launching. No one left unscathed.
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Hull, Chuck Palahnuik, City of Culture 2017.

Wednesday 20 November 2013

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Last Friday I braced all the trains to Hull for Humber Mouth literary festival with Chuck Palahnuik. I write this on the day that Hull was announced city of culture 2017, which is amazing. Whenever I tell people I went to University in Hull they squirm in the name it picked up for itself in previous years, but it is so much more than that. Every time I visit something has gotten bigger or better, more and more shops are coming to Hull whilst its avenues still remain independent and the heart of the city. So with this and countless arts projects bringing more and more to the city Hull is showing the world what is has to offer and Humber Mouth was one of those.


In all my life I never thought I would be witness to a famous Palahnuik reading of 'Guts' but I was and although I don't think anyone fainted someone in the balcony claimed they felt a bit whoosy. It was an amazing insight into Chuck's writing, structure and life but even more amazing to witness it at The University of Hull.

I wish I could have been in Hull for the whole festival but unless something miraculous happens, oh like handing my notice in tomorrow I don't think I will get another chance to visit until 2014.


I always said I didn't want to live in Hull after Uni but I love visiting and with the announcement of City of Culture 2017 a wave of articles hit of the amazing and interesting things to do in Hull. So to all those who squirm at thinking of visiting and to all those programs that have used it as a punch line. Go visit, you will soon change your mind.

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'Wetlands' by Charlotte Roche

Wednesday 13 November 2013

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Charlotte Roche's debut novel is not one for the faint hearted but definitely one you will not be able to put down. Surrounding the world of the protagonist Helen through her stint in hospital after an anal injury is a place of open thoughts, bodily fluids, sexual fulfillment and the quest to find more names for female parts. Sometimes men do get all the fun.

Get it here: Wetlands
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Interview with Landscapes

Wednesday 5 June 2013

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Whilst rarely leaving the press suite at Hit The Deck Festival I also got to catch up with Landscapes, check out what happened:

Landscapes are a band that tour relentlessly and with ‘Life Gone Wrong’ hitting our ears last summer and a new release on the cards Landscapes truly never stop.

We caught up with vocalist Shaun ahead of their set at Hit The Deck Festival. See what he had to say about Europe, Canada and olive paste.

You can find out more about Landscapes via their official facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LANDSCAPESUK

HTF: How was Bristol?
Shaun: It was good, to be honest it was a lot better than we expected. We don’t really have much of a following in Bristol so we didn’t expect much, but in terms of the amount of people that were there to see us it was really cool. Personally I think the venues could be worked a little bit better, things were too spaced out but other than that it was a really good show.

HTF: Do you reckon Nottingham can top it?
S: Definitely yeah, because things are so much closer people can just come check us out. This is the first time we are playing Nottingham,  we were supposed to play here about two months ago on The Ghost Inside, Rock Sound and Impericon Tour but it was the first show of the tour and because we had to fetch drums from London and then we met rush hour traffic we missed it.

HTF: How would you describe a live show?
S: At the end of the day I only look at us as another band, so anything that we can bring to the table is a bonus. I do think we sound different but we are all trying just as hard as one and other, we used to be quite a fast sort of hardcore punk band but these days we’ve mellowed out and found more of a common ground so we are finding ourselves as a sort of hardcore kind of emotional rock… to a degree.

HTF: Have you had any unusual riders?
S: Sometimes you get some weird ones, on the Counterparts tour we were in Italy and a guy turned up with our food.  We were starving as we’d driven from Vienna and this guy came in with olive paste, bread and potato chips and we were like I don’t know what to do with this, you can’t mix those things together.

HTF: Weirdest tour incident?
S: So the first time we toured Europe and we played in Forst, Germany. Nobody knew who we were and the venue was in a derelict building so there were a lot of interesting characters there. People just kept flicking the lights out so I ended up sleeping in the van to be away from it all,  but as people left the venue they all kept banging and pissing on the van, I was pretty freaked out.

HTF: So how was the rest of Europe?
S: It’s really good, we did a European run before we really toured in the UK so we’ve always looked at Europe as our main interest as to where we want to tour. They’ve always treated us with great hospitality, given us great opportunities and met tons of people along the way. They look up to bands from the UK and USA so you can’t take it for granted.  When you go over to these countries you can count it as a bit of a holiday and the next you know it’s lads on tour getting really drunk and it can upset a few people and sometimes outstay your welcome so it’s something we tread very carefully with. We try to keep it very respectful but a lot of bands including my band as well can be a nightmare sometimes. European promoters and audiences are more grateful that you’ve made the effort, they make sure you have a good show as much as they want a good show, they always give you a place to sleep flat and the promoters will often go out of their way to make sure you’re fed. They look after you in every way possible.

HTF: Excited about your upcoming tour with Polar Bear Club?
S: We met those guys briefly towards the end of last year at a show in the Bristol.  We played The Fleece with This Is Hell and Polar Bear Club played at The Exchange which was about 20 minutes down the road. The shows coincided but they were not meant to clash, it was there as a whole show but in the end it made one venue empty and the other very packed. But at the same time it was cool to hang out with those guys. We already knew their drummer Steve Port through a band he used to be in and we had helped them out in the past when they got stuck on the road in the UK so we struck up a friendship through that anyway. So were really excited to be out with those guys, I’ve liked that band for a long time.

HTF: We’ve heard there are plans to tour Canada?
S: It’s in talks, we toured with Counterparts who are from Canada and we hit off with them really well. They’re very similar to us in music style we had the same crowd reaction so there was no idea of ‘oh you got a better crowd than us tonight’ it was exactly the same for both of us. So we sort of talked about touring together and getting on their release tour. And no they are recording their new album we confirmed so it’s all still in talks at the moment, but it is definitely in the making.

HTF: What’s next for 2013?
S: So there is the Polar Bear Club tour, a number of festivals, Canada plans. I am the mother of the band so I liked to know what’s going on. We are in talks of other tours so I don’t want to say anything about them at the moment. We always writing and working on releasing another full length for early 2014.


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Interview with Attack! Attack!

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I was one of the few lucky people to get to speak with Attack! Attack! on the day they finally split up, it was also my first ever proper interview with a band after The Colour Line warmed me up. Check out what happened here:

After various line –up changes we met with new vocalist Phil Druyor and guitarist Sean Bell of Attack Attack! before their set at Hit The Deck festival this weekend.
Prior to their announcement that Attack Attack! were calling it a day it is easy to see now why they were so  ambiguous about their future. Check out what happened with one of the last interviews with them here.

HTF: How’s the UK treating you?
Phil (Vocals): This is my first time here and I love it the culture is awesome.
Sean (Guitar): The band was last here about a year ago and we love it.
Phil: The buildings are sick, London was sick, Bristol was sick, I got my hair cut!

HTF: How do UK shows compare to American?
Phil: It’s actually not a huge difference honestly.
Sean: We kind of came in not knowing what to expect from the crowds with a different vocalist coming over so who knows.

HTF: How was Bristol? Do you think Nottingham can top it?
Phil: Awesome, we stayed in a hotel on a canal.
Sean: But we had to pay for the internet. But we’ve heard a lot of good things about Nottingham, we’ve heard this is the place to play shows and the venue is awesome so were looking forward to it. Although there is always room for improvement, so even if you play the most awesome show you can always top the last one but from what we’ve heard Nottingham is the place to do it.

HTF: You don’t tour the UK that often, how does it feel to be back?
Sean: All of us tour the US so much but we are all so used to the same venues,
Phil: But when you show up to the venues you always know where the bathroom is, you know where the bar is, you know where load in is, you know where you can park for most shows,
Sean: The wifi password is already saved in your phone!
Phil: So when we are here it’s like everything is new and everything is something that has to be figured out for the first time.
Sean: Plus it’s really cool having an accent,
Phil: It means are a little bit nicer to me when I ask for directions.

HTF: Who are you excited to see today?
Phil: This or the Apocalypse but our set times conflict!

HTF: What’s the best tour rider you’ve ever had?
Sean: With this band the rider tends to be pretty typical, but the weirdest rider I’ve ever had was in China, we didn’t ask for a rider and they gave us what they thought Americans would want – a lot of Spam.
HTF: Do any of your instruments have names?

Sean: All of them have names! It just comes to me, I just see the guitar and know what it’s called. Actually my guitar for this tour has the least interesting name, it’s the Seanigan.  I think I’m going to name my next guitar Aladdin.
Phil: That’s a pre-emptive name now you don’t even know if it’s going to call for that!
HTF: Any advice for surviving festivals?

Phil: At home it’s so hot so I’d say drink a lot of water, but it’s really dim here so it’s not like everyone is sweating all the time so maybe sleep.
Sean: Which we are a band are really bad at, we find ourselves most productive between the hours of 3am and 6am.

HTF: What’s next for 2013?
Phil: Honestly it’s going to be a bit of a ride for us, there are a few things that we can’t talk about just yet but the latter half of the year is going to be full of surprises.
Sean: Unfortunately our tongues are tied but good things are to come! There is so much stuff that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t realise. There are the inner workings of being in a band which is also has to be business unfortunately, realistically it sucks to think about it like that but if you can’t make enough money you can’t tour, you have to be able to support yourself. So you have to do all the behind the scenes stuff to make it work and it’s been interesting but it’s working out.


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Interview with Empress

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I got to interview the lovely Empress at Hit The Deck Festival this year, check out what happened and try and give them a listen these guys are going to be massive.

It is impossible to pin down Empress as a band, the juxtapose lashing guitars with pensive time changes amalgamating into a whole new sound that Empress have paved the way for.
With new releases on the horizon we caught up with Empress after their set at Hit The Deck  and ahead of their tour with Bring Me The Horizon. See what happened here.

You can find out more about Empress via their official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Empressband

HTF: So how was the set? Did you prefer Bristol or Nottingham?
Ollie(Guitar/Vocals): Nottingham definitely, the venue was better and there were more people.
Alex(Bass): We are more established in Nottingham from what we’ve heard.

HTF: So who are you excited to see today?
Alex: Canterbury
Ollie: Feed The Rhino

HTF: Do any of your instruments have nicknames?
Ollie: Mine is just my baby,
Tom (Guitar): Your bass has a name right?
Alex: John Ellis? Everyone usually gives them girls names and mine is called John Ellis. It is a ridiculously old bass from 1973 so  at some point somebody called John Ellis has put their name on it.

HTF: Weirdest tour incident?
Ollie: They all involve our drummer basically.
Alex: He just loses his mind when he drinks.
Ollie: He had so much Jager I started on him it was that bad. I probably shouldn’t say anymore because he’ll read this, so he is lovely apart from that.

HTF: Any advice on how to handle festivals?
Ollie: We can’t even handle them, yesterday it got to nine o’clock and I was ready for bed. At the start of the day I was like ‘I’m going to get smashed today’ then it got to nine o’clock and I was done.
Tom: He was eating porridge in the service station.
Ollie: Yeah, just not speaking to anyone.
Alex: We just got cups of tea because we were knackered.
Ollie: It’s just not drinking loads, we knew we had to play today so we wanted to be on it.
Alex: Don’t drink too early, or drink too early but hammer it and keep up that pace till the end of the day.
Ollie: If you drink all day you just get to that stage where you go full zombie.

HTF: Are you all prepared for your upcoming tour with Bring Me The Horizon?
Ollie: No doubt something will happen to Ed our drummer.
Alex: We do like to party.

HTF: What is an Empress live performance like?
Ollie: We’re trying to convince people should like us.
Alex: Not that it is a sound that people get it, and I think people liked it when we played with Cancer Bats and we were worried they might not. Like it’s big and it’s dynamic and it kind of goes between soundscapey and then really heavy then ambient stuff like that. I guess it is a bit of a journey.
Ollie: Our main thing is to just be honest because we want to write music we want to hear, and it is the same thing live, don’t try to be something you’re not.

HTF: What is next for 2013?
Ollie: Our album is coming out, and then releasing videos and singles.
Alex: Download, that’s going to be huge for us.
Ollie: Our album is the main thing and getting our name out there.
Alex: We did spend a lot of time getting our shit sorted before, everyone looks at us as a knew
Ollie: We’ve been playing for about four years together
Alex: Before anyone even knew we were a band.


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We are not friends we are strangers with memories, inspired by HBO’s Girls Jameela Jamil Company column (March 2013).

Saturday 16 March 2013

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I sat down to write something about Girls,  something about the relatable characters and scenarios, the little intrinsic moments that define them that I had felt defined me and how brilliantly written and directed it is. However, ever since the episode ‘Boys’ and bells rung after reading Jameela Jamil’s March Company column I’ve been thinking about friends and growing out of them.



Towards the end of the ‘Boys’ episode Hannah calls Marnie after she left Booth’s party apparently inspired to work on her eBook.  I wanted them to console each other rather than the lie but it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen. Marnie hid that she had just discovered that she was not a girlfriend but a mere hostess to Booth Jonathan yet she claimed that she was in his garden watching fireflies rather than seeking comfort from Hannah. What struck me was that although long standing friends are meant to be people you lean on in times like those it didn’t shock me that they didn’t, because I would do exactly the same with certain friends. It wouldn’t be because I no longer liked the person or because of an argument but that we had just grown away from each other and Jameela put perfectly:

Suddenly you are looking at that person you once considered one of your limbs and you just think. ‘I have no idea who you are.’

Ever since Marnie moved out they had no reason to converse as they had nothing else left in common except the decency to try to keep to their lengthy friendship. And I am feeling this now:

“But why doesn’t anyone prepare you for outgrowing your friends as adults? And why is it so much more awkward and politically incorrect than when you want to break up with a lover?”

You know to break up with a boy if you no longer have anything in common so why does this not happen with friends? It is as if we feel some sort of loyalty to our memories yet the relationship weakens to the point where you either are just trying to impress each other or rely upon reliving memories for conversation. We may lack problems with these friends but we still don’t want them to know if we are doing as well as we once were, regardless of what is was, and why is that? Why feel the need to put up a fake exterior? I find myself taking comments I would never stand for and keeping myself to myself all to be the old me, so I wonder if they putting up the old them?

  
Don’t get me wrong, I love these people and cherish the memories we have together, but with some of them it is all we have left and you can have as many lovely reminiscent evenings as you want but that isn’t going to sustain the friendship it once was. I think  since school, since uni we all find what we want, what we like and who we are so we surround ourselves with people that support that. So whilst at school or uni those friends fitted and they will always be a part of that. 

So why didn’t anyone tell me this before? We get life chats about sex and boys but never about friends or what to do when you start to outgrow friends, but after 21 years I think I am starting to get it, if only a wee bit! 
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Neruda

Wednesday 13 March 2013

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Whilst at uni we did a module entitled 'Experimental Fiction' and out of the three years I think it was the most helpful, insightful and actually creative part of creative writing. Recently I have been challenging myself to do some more, so whilst I pluck up the courage to blog that here is one of my favourite from the module.

Neruda is a combination of my favourite parts of the module, taking something else and changing its phrasing and meaning with your own work to make something so much more remarkable. The following is a blend of Pablo Neruda and W.H Auden so forget about your breath and read aloud with speed, comments are appreciated:

Neruda

I run with the hunted,

crave your mouth-voice-hair.

I hunger,

the pale stones of your fingernails

whole almond,

like your skin I want to eat.

Snared at my veins,

it’s about time

i think

you pulled them out.

A vine,

compressing my chest

heading west as it

crawled inside

my mouth with your bruises,

you know we all wear them,

in my knuckles

clenched nails in the swollen stones

his back.

Stand stand at the window

in the basin

there there

water

dipped to the wrists

as if

we could only

blame it on our hands.
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'Trainspoting' by Irvine Welsh

Friday 8 March 2013

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Spud shitting the bed.
Rents crawling from the shit demon toilet.
A dead baby crawling across the ceiling.
Running down the street to Iggy Pop with the infamous ‘Choose Life’ list.

The book is better than that. 


I think you can judge a writer on their ability to make you laugh at something you shouldn’t, Bret Easton Ellis made me laugh at things I would never even think and Welsh is no different. In fact Welsh has mastered the art through excruciatingly bleak moments to ones that have you caught up in hilarity or fear. He has cut each iconic character in a way that you can’t help but empathise with them (except Begbie). It is the mix of these characters through the guessing linguistics of each chapter that draws you into these feelings, as if each page pulls them from the common junkie pool they all originally blur to into. 



And although I hate comparing novels to their films as they have such different constraints, the novel carries so much more than the film that you cannot pass the chance to read it. It is always the small, people orientated stories that are the best, the little lives that could easily be yours as they are the characters. 


What I also love about Trainspotting is the Scottish dialect, purely because just like when I am reading Iain Banks, if you try to talk to whilst I am reading it, I will probably reply in a Scottish accent.

x

I don't really know what this was, a wee ramble about Trainspotting but neither a real review or a synopsis. Sorry!

Get the book here: Trainspotting 
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'An Education' by Lynn Barber

Sunday 13 January 2013

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Autobiographies and memoirs have this effect on me, an effect that I realise sometimes makes me appear a  little bit odd. But they make me feel like I know the author, as if I could refer to them in conversation like we are good friends and not some overly attached avid reader. I worry because for example when conversation at the pub gets a bit drab I retreat back to the book and the adventurous lives others have had.

(I just read this back and I am leaving it unedited, yet I seem rather mental but at least I am not content talking about new bus seats or something.)

an education, lynn barber, book review

Lynn Barber's An Education made me feel liked i'd skipped an era, as if this was my life and everyone else's. But not all of us attract an older lover who could whisk us away to Paris, the finest restaurants and concerts, things I wouldn't have even dreamed of at 16. But it wasn't that I wished it was me, it was the writing. Lynn's beautifully sentimental way of showing behind the ink and paper, the waiting for stories, the longing to see family all intertwined in the excitement of being in the perfect place at the perfect time are all situations that are a rare occurrence now and that is what I was jealous of .


I don't want to ruin the book or the film, nor is this a review but the way in which Penthouse, yes Penthouse! formed seemed so alluring, the quick rush of being a part of something small that has become so big.  Here in the present day it is getting harder and harder to create something new, something unseen, but reliving in Lynn's words the creation and growth all from a house is amazing and I highly recommend everyone take them time to get An Education.




Buy it here: An Education
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