In the newly-revised edition of his book The Music’s All That Matters, music journalist Paul Stump finds acceptance of the last musical taboo – progressive rock. Jason Weaver bends an ear In his Spike review of June 2000, Stephen Harper reckoned Unknown Pleasures the definitive work on Roxy Music for many years to come. Its […]
Free Jazz: Fat Kid Wednesdays: Three Guys Having Fun
Drawing on an improvisational heritage that includes Ornette Coleman, Fat Kid Wednesdays have been playing together for almost 20 years. Robert O’Connor listens in Fat Kid Wednesdays: ‘Skylark’: For 12 years, until its management dramatically changed hands earlier this year, Fat Kid Wednesdays held a jazz night every Monday at the Clown Lounge, underneath the […]
Sound Advice: Phill Brown’s Musical Odyssey
Sound engineer Phill Brown has an astonishing musical CV. He tells Jason Weaver how to keep it rolling “I was there!” exclaims James Murphy in LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Losing My Edge’, before listing his crucial interventions in the history of rock music. But Phill Brown’s ‘right place and right time’ memoir of his career in the […]
Curation of Thought: James Polchin, Writing In Public and the Mind’s Reflection
Writing In Public is a website dedicated to the art of the essay. Chris Wood interviews its editor about the thought behind the word “I look for writing that is well written, where the writer has a love of language and this love shows in the sentences and paragraphs and overall movement of the essay.” […]
The Depth Beneath the Jokes: Richard Ayoade Talks Submarine
The IT Crowd’s Richard Ayoade steps to the other side of the lens. Chris Wood dives in Submarine could be considered a film about communication, the rise and fall of the libido, teenage indulgence or just the desire to be noticed. Its sharpest early scene is when the teenage Oliver Tate imagines the impact of […]
Cutting Edge: The Making of Blade Runner
Reviled at the time of its release, and now considered a cinema classic, Blade Runner still attracts attention. Tina Bexson has an audience with the androids “I’ve seen things that you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near Tanhauser Gate. All those… […]
An Interview With Jeanette Hewitt
Jeanette Hewitt Is the author of Freedom First Peace Later, a novel about life in Crossmaglen, Northern Ireland, against the backdrop of Republican activity. The book was first published in December by BlueWood. and has been submitted for The Orwell Prize 2011. In 2008, Jeanette Hewitt won the silver award for the Author v Author […]
Joolz Denby and Ignite Books
From New Model Army to award-winning novels, Joolz Denby has created an impressive body of work. Now, with poet Steve Pottinger, she launches Ignite Books Poet, author, artist, vocalist, and all-round force of nature Joolz Denby recently published her latest novel The Curious Mystery of Miss Larkin and the Widow Marvell. Though more playful than […]
Hideous Kinky: An Interview with Stephen C. Bird
Dolly Delightly is granted an audience with New York performer, artist and ‘downright dirty’ author Stephen C. Bird Writer, performer and artist Stephen C. Bird was born in Ontario, Canada, but has spent most of his life in New York City. He studied theatre with the Stella Adler Conservatory in association with New York University, […]
How I Work: Nuno Cera
Futureland is a photographic and video portrait of the effects of rapid urbanisation Futureland #17 – Shanghai, China, 2010. Ink jet print, 110 x 145 cm © Nuno Cera and Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon, reproduced with thanks Nuno Cera’s project Futureland catches the process of rapid urbanisation in the act. Between 2008 and 2010, the […]
Designs for Living: Jordi Parra
Although you may not know his name, it’s likely you’re familiar with Jordi Parra’s design work Chances are you saw this beautiful Spotify device that was all over the internet a few months ago. The player makes novel use of RFID tags to create exchangeable playlists linking back to the Spotify service. Although haling from […]
Ralph Steadman: Today’s Pig Is Tomorrow’s Bacon
Gonzo scribbler, internet entrepreneur and backing vocalist for Eliza Carthy, Ralph Steadman spills the beans on being ripped off and Hunter S. Thompson’s mother. Chris Wood listens. “I felt savaged a bit by the whole thing… Hunter was in the middle of institutionalising his mother at the time, for her drinking. Great lady, by the […]
Voices of Nigeria: An Interview with E.C. Osondu
Nigerian writer E.C Osondu won the 2009 Caine Prize, otherwise known as the African Booker, for his short story Waiting. An anthology of his stories, Voice of America, has been published to widespread critical acclaim. Here, he speaks to Mary-Claire Wilson from his home in Rhode Island, where he is assistant professor of English at […]
Branching Out: Peepal Tree Press
Peepal Tree Press is dedicated to expanding the Caribbean library and keeping it in print. Spike interviews its founder Jeremy Poynting Working out of the Burley area of Leeds, Peepal Tree Press has been a vital hub of independent publishing for just over 25 years. Founded by Jeremy Poynting to specialise in Caribbean writing, the […]
Rhythm Methods: The Physical TV Company and Dance in Second Life
The Physical TV Company is taking dance beyond the body and into virtual worlds. Its founders tell us about movement on screen and the rhythm of editing As much as we love contemporary dance – Siobhan Davies, Wayne McGregor, Liz Aggiss, and others, it isn’t covered by Spike’s remit. We do, however, write about film […]
Sick Puppies: Teaching Vets Some New Tricks
Joseph Spencer catches a quick backstage audience with Australian band Sick Puppies The house lights faded and the recording of a slightly ominous string quartet ensemble could be heard lingering daintily over the din of conversation from the crowd. It was as if there was suddenly the presence of ghostly apparitions in the small Watertown […]
Twisted Spoon Press
An interview with Prague’s publisher of essential Eastern and Central European writing Prague’s Twisted Spoon Press produce some of the most beautiful books currently in print. Founded in 1992, by Howard Sidenberg, Kevin Blahut and Lukas Tomin, the publishing house has translated a string of classic and contemporary Central and Eastern European titles. Beginning with […]
Justified Anger: Belinda Webb Interview
“…Tony Blair’s ridiculous lie that we’re all middle-class now – he’s clearly never visited Moss Side. That’s a message I wanted to come over clear…”
Michael Palin – Himalaya interview
“…Dodgy dentists. The Dalai Llama. High-altitude polo players. Maoist rebels. Yak herders. Imran Khan. Just a few of the diverse personalities professional funnyman turned adventure traveller Michael Palin met on his epic 125-day journey across the world’s greatest mountain range…”
Ian Rankin – A Question of Blood interview
“…Not many punk rockers will tell you it was a copper that made them what they are today, but bestselling British author Ian Rankin is an exception to this rule. He owes his livelihood to one Detective Inspector John Rebus, a hard-nosed Edinburgh cop….”
Tony Parsons – Stories We Could Tell interview
“…The life I lived at the end of the 70s was 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – you can only do that for so long… I was glad to get out before I was 25, and happy to get out alive…”
Chris Patten – Not Quite the Diplomat interview
“…People sometimes talk and write about foreign affairs as though it was the sort of subject that can only be understood by a secret society of diplomats and politicians. In fact they should be accessible to all of us…”
Iain Banks – Interview
“…A disturbed teenager slaughtering rabbits and torturing wasps; A futuristic religious leader decapitating his nemesis, keeping the head alive as he uses it daily as a punch bag; A serial killer intent on murdering those who represent the excesses of Thatcher’s Britain.
Just a few examples of the dark, warped and, often perversely funny themes that run through the works of Iain Banks….”
Jeffrey Archer – Interview
“… To say that disgraced politician cum author, Lord Jeffrey Archer, is a controversial character is an understatement. He has been imprisoned for perjury and perverting the court of justice; breached parole conditions; stolen coats in Canada; been accused of insider trading and ripping off charities; and was implicated in Simon Mann’s planned coup in Equatorial Guinea. The list goes on….”
Tom Hodgkinson – How To Be Idle
“…Not only is How to be Idle thoroughly entertaining, it should resonate with anyone, except the most puritanical workaholic bores, who has ever questioned how our lives have become to be dominated by work, time, and the need to be constantly doing something, or feeling guilty for being inactive…”
