Richard will be reading from Man-Eating Typewriter as part of the launch event for David Keenan’s Volcanic Tongue at Cafe Oto, London, Tuesday 25th March, 7.30pm. Tickets from £18, plus more information HERE.
From the Cafe Oto website:
‘White Rabbit Books, in collaboration with Café Oto, present the launch of David Keenan’s Volcanic Tongue: A Time-Travelling Evangelist’s Guide to 20th Century Underground Music with a bill curated by Keenan that features some of the key musical and subcultural touchstones that have informed the book.
Volcanic Tongue is the document of a life in underground music, running from Keenan’s first, life-changing gig in 1987 (The Pastels at Fury Murrys in Glasgow) through to encounters with lifelong obsessions including the members of Throbbing Gristle, Coil, Nick Cave, Derek Bailey, My Bloody Valentine, Keiji Haino, Bill Orcutt, Pelt, Neubauten, Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu, Folke Rabe, 13th Floor Elevators and more. The book takes its name from the legendary record shop that Keenan ran with his partner Heather Leigh from 2005-2015.
Headlining the night is Monopoly Child Star Searchers - aka Spencer Clark of cult duo, The Skaters. "[The Skaters] were absolutely central to the aesthetic of the Volcanic Tongue shop and to my own conception of what was possible on the furthest fringes of experimental underground music. They came out of a post-Angus MacLise zoned/drone mindset but that unravelled fairly quickly into them factoring in all sorts of cultural influences, cutting their massed vocal and keyboard ascensions with hypnagogic Fourth World stylings, cartoon soundtracks, heady occult ritual and wonked found sound." – David Keenan
Also on the bill are solos sets from Richard Youngs and Evan Parker.
“Richard and I have been friends since I scored a copy of his self-released solo debut LP, Advent, in the early 90s and then spotted him at a gig at the 13th Note, where I asked him if he was the Richard Youngs. No one has ever asked me that before, he said. I don’t think there is a comparable figure in the UK underground in terms of breadth of scope and vision. So many of his recordings mean so much to me, so it is a real honour, and makes perfect sense, that Richard would be part of the celebrations. Evan Parker is another musician who I have been a fan of since I was in my teens. Free jazz and improvised music absolutely broke my mind when I first encountered it and when I moved to London in the 1990s I was lucky enough to see Evan play many times at The Vortex in Stoke Newington. In recent years we have become good friends. He is one of the most original thinkers and most fascinating conversationalists and I am so proud that he has agreed to present one of his legendary solo saxophone performances as part of the night.”
In addition to the music there will be a special in-conversation between Keenan and long-term friend, writer and broadcaster Jennifer Lucy Allan. Allan and Keenan worked together at The Wire for many years and have done many events together, and this conversation should be a fascinating insight into the behind-the-scenes world of experimental music publishing and the mechanics of writing about something as nebulous as music.
Opening the night will be the novelist Richard Milward, one of Keenan’s favourite contemporary authors, reading from his masterpiece, Man-Eating Typewriter, quite simply one of the most jaw-dropping achievements in contemporary fiction.
DJ for the night is Matthew Jones aka Disciples, who alongside Keenan has compiled the special Tip of the Tongue CD that comes with the limited-edition Volcanic Tongue hardback as well as the special Volcanic Tongue 2xLP on Disciples that will also be on sale on the night.’