Bands & Books launch party in pictures (and also some words)

Massive thanks to everyone who performed & partied at the official Bands & Books launch  and to our sponsor Serpent's Tail.  We had a fantastic time and have the pictures to prove it, courtesy of photographer phenomenon Ben Meadows.  

Here's a few of our favourites:

Calm before the storm

The proud co-owners of a Bands & Books badge

More badge fun

Hosts do their best Richard & Judy impersonation

The crowd went wild. (Or at least clapped & whooped at the appropriate juncture)

Explaining to a room full of drunk people about QR codes.

Travis Elborough & Basil Brush LP

Rob Auton (Bang Said the Gun)

They came, they clapped.

James Messiah (The Poet & the Beat)

Chimene Suleyman (Kid, I Wrote Back)

Bible John

A very happy Serpent's Tail goody bag winner.

Queen Kwong

Drummer Pauli

Carre Callaway, Queen Kwong

Bands & Books 2  is Friday 21st October. See you down the front!

Bring a Book: Hall of Fame.

Tonight, in the salubrious leopard print surrounds of The Victoria public house, east London, Bands & Books is born!

Please remember to BRING A BOOK - preferably one your currently reading for our picture Hall of Fame!

 

When? Friday 16th September 7PM-1AM.

 

Where?  The Victoria Pub, 110 Grove Road, Mile End. E3 Map 

 

What?  Hybrid hijinks! Live words, live music and community driven book themed 'mixtapes'.  

Yeah, but is it free?  Why, yes, yes it is!

Readings from the talented Travis Elborough, Rob Auton , James Messiah and Chimène Suleyman with live performances from Queen Kwong and Bible John.  All sandwiched together with your lovely book themed mixtapes.

 

Bring your dancing shoes, QR Readers on your smart phones and loose change for the chippy across the road.

 

 

Did somebody say FREEBIE?

We here at Bands & Books are a generous bunch. Not only are we content with curating a FREE and FUN PACKED night of hybrid hjinks just for you, we're also giving you the opportunity to win some amazing books from our fine indie sponsor Serpent's Tail.

But that's not all!  The first 30 people to sashay through the door tomorrow night will also receive a strictly limited edition and highly collectible Bands & Books pin badge.

When? Friday 16th September 7PM-1AM.

Where?  The Victoria Pub, 110 Grove Road, Mile End. E3 Map

What?  Hybrid hijinks! Live words, live music and community driven book themed 'mixtapes'.  

Yeah, but is it free?  Why, yes, yes it is!

Readings from the talented Travis Elborough, Rob Auton, James Messiah and Chimène Suleyman with live performances from Queen Kwong and Bible John.  All sandwiched together with your lovely book themed mixtapes.

Bring your dancing shoes, QR Readers on your smart phones and loose change for the chippy across the road.

AND DON'T FORGET TO BRING ALONG THE BOOK YOU'RE CURRENTLY READING FOR OUR PICTURE HALL OF FAME!

Bands & Books launch party - Full Lineup announced!

It's very nearly time for our hotly anticipated Bands & Books launch party, and we can exclusively reveal our full lineup! 

When: Friday 16th September 2011
Venue: The Victoria, 110 Grove Road, Mile End. E3. Map

Time: 19:00 - 1:00AM

Bands & Books will host readings from some of the best writers around, followed by live bands.  The bands are as follows:

Live and direct from Los Angeles California, and fresh from playing on tour with none other than NiN, the hotly tipped Queen Kwong will be performing for your listening pleasure. 

Queen Kwong is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter Carré Callaway, who was discovered at age 17 by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. What began as a curious 4-track analog cassette recorded in Carré’s living room soon grew to become Queen Kwong, a rock trio based in Los Angeles, known for charismatic live shows and raw, emotive tunes. In January 2010, Queen Kwong released their debut EP (Love Is A Bruise), featuring the single “Pet” which was quickly picked up by BBC Radio 6 and used to Levi's 2010 Fall/Winter European sales campaign. Queen Kwong has not only opened shows for two separate Nine Inch Nails tours, but Carré has also worked with artists ranging from Joseph Arthur to Dave Navarro as well as Smashing Pumpkin’s producer, Kerry Brown. With growing notoriety, Queen Kwong entered the studio in late 2010 to begin recording their debut album with producer Joe Cardamone (The Icarus Line) due out in 2011.

Live and direct from Hackney Wick, London, local heroes Bible John:

Bible John formed on the day that Harold Camping predicted the world would end. Ignoring this prophecy the East London based trio spent some time exploring the darker sides of their collective musical psyche, rehearsing in a studio surrounded by rioting teenagers, they stumbled on their trademark bass drenched sound. The band is aiming for their first E.P. release in early 2012.

If you think the band line-up looks good, wait until you see the readers:

 

Chimène Suleyman is a writer and spoken word artist. She will be representing the UK later this year as part of the literary section of the International Biennale in Rome and has recently completed her first exhibition with the Royal Opera House with a text installation based in Purfleet, Essex.  She is also the creator of London spoken-word open mic night Kid, I Wrote Back. 

Rob Auton has ideas and sees if other people like those ideas by writing them down, standing up on stage, and saying them out loud. In recent years he has began to walk slowly, but with purpose, onto a huge variety of poetry and comedy stages up, down and across the British isles. He also co runs London poetry extravaganza Bang Said The Gun. 

Travis Elborough is the author of critically acclaimed histories of the Routemaster bus and LP record. Born in Worthing on the Sussex coast, his most recent book is Wish You Were Here: England on Sea. A frequent contributor to the Guardian and the Observer, he regularly appears on BBC Radio 4 and lives in London.

James Messiah: At an enviable 21 years old, James is shaking up London's spoken word scene, running his own night The Poet & the Beat  and performing all over the capital, including taking part in Tate Britain's Hours of Words exhibition.

In addition to the acts above, we'll be spinning book themed mixtapes, submissions so far include High Fidelity, Foundation and Flowers For Algernon, plus we have playlists of our writer's favourite bands.  If you would like to submit a book themed mixtape, simply let us know your  favourite book & 5-10 songs that you think go well with it.  We'll then turn them into mixtapes which we'll play on the night. Don't forget to bring the book along on the night to sit in the "Now Playing" stand. Email welovebandsandbooks@gmail.com  -

we'll play the best on Friday.

Thanks to our sponsor Serpent's Tail, we'll have a selection of fantastic books to give away on the night including Man Booker Prize nominated Half Blood Blues, and the wonderful Perverted By Language; a selection of short stories inspired by the Fall. 

Finally - don't forget to bring your dancing shoes - after the live stuff we'll getting down and partying hard until 1AM!

Reader profile: Chimène Suleyman

We're delighted to announce Chimène Suleyman as the latest and final addition to our official Bands & Books line-up. Chimène first came to our attention performing at the launch of Stuart Evers Ten Stories About Smoking, we then watched her enchant the audience at Lit behemoth Literary Death Match and were smitten once again.  To be honest she had us at 'Hiya'. 


Chimène Suleyman is a writer and spoken word artist. She will be representing the UK later this year as part of the literary section of the International Biennale in Rome and has recently completed her first exhibition with the Royal Opera House with a text installation based in Purfleet, Essex.  She is also the creator of London spoken-word open mic night Kid, I Wrote Back. http://www.chimenesuleyman.com/


We asked Chimène to give us some insight to the music that makes her brain work, and she gave us the following:

"Favourite bands/ tracks: 

'The Chain' - Fleetwood Mac

In fact the whole Rumours album, 

'Just Say I Love Her' - Dean Martin

'Back To Black' - Amy Winehouse

'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' - Bob Dylan

Untrue album - Burial

Ma Fleur - Cinematique Orchestra

Entroducing album - DJ Shadow

'Lighter' - DJ SS

'Something In Your Eyes' - Ed Case

'Ernie' - Fat Freddy's Drop

'In this Shirt' - The Irrepressibles 

James Blake 

Kings Of Leon

Paul Simon

Roni Size

The Roots 

The Pharcyde

Cem Karaca

'Edge of Seventeen' - Stevie Nicks

'How Can I Tell You' - Cat Stevens
Architects remix of Boy Is Mine (Brandy And Monica)

Slum Village - Tainted

Musiq Soulchild - Just Friends 

Ah some list! Hope this helps?!" 


Some list indeed! We've weaved our magic and made a mixtape just for you. Yes YOU.  

Reader profile: Rob Auton/Bang Said the Gun

Bands & Books discovered Bang Said the Gun at Latitude festival this year, describing itself as "Stand up poetry for those who don't like poetry", we were intrigued, then delighted. Whilst still basking in the glow of a 5 Star Edinburgh review, we asked them if they'd like to send someone to represent at Bands & Books, and lo, they're sending us their "top gunslinger" Rob Auton. 

Rob Auton has ideas and sees if other people like those ideas by writing them down, standing up on stage, and saying them out loud.  In recent years he has began to walk slowly, but with purpose, onto a huge variety of poetry and comedy stages up, down and across the British isles.  He also co runs London poetry extravaganza Bang Said The Gun. http://www.bangsaidthegun.com/


We asked Rob to send us a snapshot of his musical leanings, here's a few...

Tom Waits, Hoist that rag

Radiohead, Ideoteque
The Beatles, Strawberry Fields
Neil Young, Pocahontus
Bob Dylan, Highway 61
Leonard Cohen, Bird on a wire
The flaming Lips, Do you realise
Daniel Johnston, Worried Shoes

...and here's that list magically transformed into a book themed mixtape.

Rob Auton will perform at our launch party this Friday! 

If you want to contribute to our book themed mixtapes, simply let us know your  favourite book & 5-10 songs that you think go well with it.  We'll then turn them into mixtapes which we'll play on the night. Don't forget to bring the book along on the night to sit in the "Now Playing" stand. Email welovebandsandbooks@gmail.com  -we'll play the best at Friday's launch party.

Did we mention, that?

Reader Profile: Travis Elborough

Bands & Books have been shooting admiring glances at writer Travis Elborough for some time, so we're delighted to announce he's joining us for our launch party on Friday September 16th 2011.  Reading from his latest book Wish You Were Here, Travis has promised to regale us with tales of Mods & Rockers and will be performing with a portable record player to set the scene.

A former bookseller and website editor, Travis Elborough has been a freelance writer, author and cultural commentator for the last decade. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian and the Observer but has written for The Times, Sunday Times, New Statesman, the Oldie, Tate ETC., Picpus and BBC History magazine among others and frequently appears on BBC Radios 2, 4 and 5 Live.

His books include The Bus We Loved: London's Affair with the Routemaster (Granta September 2005) and The Long-player Goodbye: The album from vinyl to iPod and back again (Sceptre July 2008, published in the US by Soft Skull June 2009 as The Vinyl Countdown) and Wish You Were Here: England on Sea (Sceptre 2010).


Travis also proves our theory and sweeping generalisation that people who like books tend to have great taste in music. In fact, it was so good, we decided to create a mixtape for your listening enjoyment.  We were a little relieved to see his Scottish namesake were not on the list, phew!

Julian Cope, Blossom Dearie, The Beach Boys, Biff Rose, Can, The Tubes, Mott the Hoople, Bessie Smith, Kevin Ayers, Lee Hazelwood, Chris Bell, Momus, The Crystals, Bo Hansson, Talking Heads, Buzzcocks, Marvin Gaye, Cabaret Voltaire, The Sound Carriers, Link Wray, Saint Etienne, Cornelius, Lightnin' Hopkins, Robyn Hitchcock, Simon Turner, Dan Deacon, Adam and the Ants, Robert Calvert, Gene Vincent, The Very Things, Serge Gainsbourg, The Cryin' Shames, Sparks, Julie London, John Cale, Alice Coltrane, International Harvester, Nancy Sinatra, The Kinks, Josephine Bradley & Her Strict Tempo Orchestra, Syd Barrett, Fairport Convention, EMA, Michel Legrand, The Human League and anything that goes bleep in the night.


Travis joins us at our launch party on September 16th 2011. Did we mention that?

Book Themed Mixtape - Flowers For Algernon

Flowers For Algernon
Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone's jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental transformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.


Mixtape:
Mongoloid - Devo
Teenage Lobotomy - Ramones
Dr. Beat - Miami Sound Machine
Ever Fallen In Love - Buzzcocks
Genius Of Love - Tom Tom Club
Foggy Mental Breakdown - Steppenwolf
I Felt Stupid - The Drums

One To Watch: Bible John to play Bands & Books launch party

East London trio Bible John are the second band to join our September launch party line-up. Bible John took their name from a Glaswegian serial killer (the story itself makes for an interesting read if you have 5 minutes to spare).  Leaning on some pretty dark influences (Shellac, Dinosaur Jr, the Melvins), we anticipate any cobwebs to be ferociously blown away!

 

Bible John formed on the day that Harold Camping predicted the world would end. Ignoring this prophecy the East London based trio spent some time exploring the darker sides of their collective musical psyche, rehearsing in a studio surrounded by rioting teenagers, they stumbled on their trademark bass drenched sound. The band is aiming for their first E.P. release in early 2012.

 We asked Bible John what books they were reading RIGHT NOW:

"Between the three of us we've recently gone through Lawrence Lessig's "The Nature and Future of Creativity" Jaron Lenier's "You are not a Gadget" and "Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft"

Catch Bible John at the Bands & Books launch party on the 16th September!

One to Watch: James Massiah to perform at Bands & Books launch party.

When Bands & Books first stumbled across the rhymes of James Massiah, we knew we'd found something a bit special. At an enviable 21 years old, James is shaking up London's spoken word scene, running his own night The Poet & the Beat  and performing all over the capital, including taking part in Tate Britain's Hours of Words exhibition.  Here's a little bit of what to expect:

James also proves our theory and sweeping generalisation that people who like books tend to have great taste in music;

"At the moment I'm having a Gil Scott Heron renaissance and I'm also very much into David Bowie and Talking Heads right now. I'm also playing a lot of  your Dizzee Rascal's, Wiley's & D Double E types too... Warpaint have also completely stolen my heart!  I'm also quite the Ginsberg fan - my favourite poem of his being "The Complaint of the Skeleton to Time"

'

Join us at Bands & Books on the 16th September and hear James 'Just trying to put the needle in the groove.'

Serpent's Tail sponsor Bands & Books launch party!

Hot off the heels of having Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues shortlisted for the Man Booker prize earlier today, Bands & Books are very proud to bask in the reflected glory of its new sponsor - Serpent's Tail. 

Serpent's Tail are without doubt one of the finest indies around, or as Will Self puts it, 'A consistently brave, exciting and almost deliriously diverse publisher.’ We're thrilled to be working with them on our first Bands & Books night.  Watch this space for a *very* special mixtape!

Serpent's Tail are also sharing in their good fortune by donating some goody bags for us to give away to some of our lucky attendees, so be sure to get to the launch party early to be in with a chance of winning!

Bands & Books band profile: Queen Kwong

We met Carré Callaway, on Twitter as she was attempting to find a drummer to join her LA based band Queen Kwong for approximately 3 shows in London/Paris this Month. Bands & Books knows a few musicians, although sadly no drummers so we were unable to help. Fortunately the drummer thing worked itself out anyway and we booked Queen Kwong for our Bands & Books launch night on September 16th. 

Queen Kwong is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter Carré Callaway, who was discovered at age 17 by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. What began as a curious 4-track analog cassette recorded in Carré’s living room soon grew to become Queen Kwong, a rock trio based in Los Angeles, known for charismatic live shows and raw, emotive tunes. In January 2010, Queen Kwong released their debut EP (Love Is A Bruise), featuring the single “Pet” which was quickly picked up by BBC Radio 6 and used to Levi's 2010 Fall/Winter European sales campaign. Queen Kwong has not only opened shows for two separate Nine Inch Nails tours, but Carré has also worked with artists ranging from Joseph Arthur to Dave Navarro as well as Smashing Pumpkin’s producer, Kerry Brown. With growing notoriety, Queen Kwong entered the studio in late 2010 to begin recording their debut album with producer Joe Cardamone (The Icarus Line) due out in 2011.

We like to know what our band's favourite books are so we asked Carré for hers:

"My favorite books are: Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, and Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves

Right now I'm reading Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses"

At the time of writing Queen Kwong are a mere $500 short of their kickstarter fundraising target of $3,000 - you can help them get over the finish line by clicking here

Catch Queen Kwong at our FREE launch party on September 16th at the Victoria pub in Mile End

Mixtape - High Fidelity

We don't only love books about bands but if someone like Nick Hornby insists on writing a thoroughly entertaining book about great bands then of course we are going to love it!

You've probably seen the film version of the book, if you haven't it's worth it for the scene where Beta Band's Dry The Rain pops up on the soundtrack.  We made a mixtape of our favorite songs from the book, you can listen to it and contribute to it here if you have Spotify. Otherwise come down to our launch party on the 16th and we'll be playing it alongside some of our other mixtapes.

If you haven't read High Fidelity, do: http://chuckpalahniuk.net/recommended/book/high-fidelity