To celebrate the reissues of APPLES, TEN STOREY LOVE SONG and KIMBERLY’S CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, Richard has created three 23-track playlists for White Rabbit for each of the novels, featuring a variety of tracks mentioned in the books.
Listen to the APPLES playlist HERE
Listen to the TEN STOREY LOVE SONG playlist HERE
Listen to the KIMBERLY’S CAPITAL PUNISHMENT playlist HERE
Ahead of the publication of MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER, Richard has put together a playlist for White Rabbit, featuring a whole slew of 60s Yé-Yé tracks mentioned in the book, as well as a few additional oddities thrown in for good glossolalic measure.
Listen to the playlist on Spotify HERE
Ten years in the making, Richard’s new novel MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER will be published by White Rabbit on 16th March 2023, alongside reissues of his first three novels, APPLES, TEN STOREY LOVE SONG and KIMBERLY’S CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
From the press release:
‘I am an ugly man, a meese meshigena-omi, but a fashionable omi. And soon to be a molto famous omi. Lell my lapper.’
Set at the fag-end of the 1960s and framed as a novel within a novel published by a seedy London purveyor of pulp fiction, MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER is a homage to the avant-garde counterculture of the twentieth century. Told in Polari, it is the story of an anarchist named Raymond Novak and his plan to commit a ‘fantabulosa crime’ in 276 days that will revolt the world. A surrealistic odyssey that stretches from occupied Paris to the cruise-liner SS Unmentionable to lawless Tangier before settling in Swinging London, the book casts Novak as an agitator and freedom fighter – but, as his memoirs become more and more threatening, his publishers find themselves far more involved in his violent personality cult than they ever intended.
Constructed like a hallucinogenic cocktail of A Clockwork Orange, Pale Fire and Jean Genet’s jailbird fantasies, MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER is an act of seductive sedition by a writer with unfathomable literary talent and boldness. Wild, transgressive, erotic, and resolutely uncompromising, this marks the return of a writer who is out there on an island of his own making; a book that will be talked about, celebrated and puzzled over for decades.
Read more on the announcement at The Bookseller
Pre-order MAN-EATING TYPEWRITER here
Pre-order reissues here
BRUIT NOIR - Richard interviewed by Marianne Peyronnet in her book of collected writings for French music magazine, New Noise
French-speaking/reading comrades: Marianne’s French-language book of collected interviews has just been published by On Verra Bien, featuring an in-depth interview with Richard originally published in New Noise no. 19 (Dec-Jan 2014), as well as conversations between Peyronnet and a variety of Anglo and Gallic writers and artists such as John King, Irvine Welsh, Kerry Hudson, Peter Murphy, Cathi Unsworth…
From the On Verra Bien website:
Ces entretiens sont parus dans le magazine New Noise entre 2011 et 2022. Ils regroupent une vingtaine de personnalités sous une même bannière rapidement qualifiée de noire. Trop rapidement peut-être : le noir, le plus souvent, désigne une certaine littérature policière quand tous, ici, n’écrivent pas des polars. Tous ne sont même pas écrivains : Aurélien Masson a longtemps dirigé la Série Noire avant de créer sa propre collection aux Arènes, Don Letts est, entre autres, un documentariste important du mouvement punk. Mais qu’ils se réclament d’Ellroy, de Carver ou de Bukowski, tous ont en commun de porter sur nos sociétés un regard d’une acuité qui les pousse à en fouiller les zones d’ombre et la violence inhérente à leur structure. Un regard d’une même noirceur, donc, et soutenu par un même sentiment d’urgence dont le rock, depuis ses origines, aura fourni la bande-son, toute de fureur et de bruit.
Marianne Peyronnet a écrit un roman et traduit les biographies de Bob Mould et Therapy.
You can buy the book through On Verra Bien here
Richard’s new novel Man-Eating Typewriter is due to be published by White Rabbit early 2023. Set in 1960s and 1970s London, it takes the form of a monstrous unreliable autobiography - and publisher’s probing footnotes - written in Polari by self-confessed ‘meese meshigena-omi’ and unhinged libertarian, Raymond Novak. More news to follow in good time…
The novel will be followed later in 2023 by reissues of Apples, Ten Storey Love Song, Kimberly’s Capital Punishment, all published in paperback by White Rabbit
White Rabbit was launched in 2020 by Richard’s longtime editor at Faber & Faber, Lee Brackstone, and has published work by Alan Warner, David Keenan, Bobby Gillespie, Adelle Stripe and Lias Saoudi and many others to date. White Rabbit is dedicated to publishing the most innovative books and voices in music and literature. Building on the uniquely successful publishing he was responsible for at Faber Social, Brackstone’s titles for his Orion imprint indicate the range and personality of a list that encompasses memoir, history, fiction, translation, illustrated books and high-spec limited editions.
Unable to hold their freewheeling monthly art and music social at Disgraceland, Middlesbrough during the COVID-19 crisis, Bobby Benjamin and John James Perangie of Picasso Baby have called on some of their favourite creative talents to contribute a page to Picasso Baby 004 - The Digital Issue, a free online magazine showcasing the eclectic spirit of their live events.
Richard has contributed PIP, BLOOP to the issue, a collaboration with his wife and photographer Beth Davis
PIP, BLOOP is a shred of an abandoned novel written in the mid 2010s
Richard is very proud to have been involved in the making of Rocket Girl 20, a special collection of music and literature celebrating 20 years of Rocket Girl, a record label he has supported since its inception in 1998. Based on extensive interviews with label founder Vinita Joshi, Richard provides the text to the book: a complete history of the label, including tales of Vinita’s adventures with such alternative music idols as Kevin Shields, Dan Treacy, Richey Edwards, The Telescopes, Spacemen 3, Suede, and many more…
The book will be released on 1st March 2019. Pre-order for £35 here
‘There are still precious few women at the helm of record labels, let alone Indian women, but Vinita stands out as a proud anomaly… a champion of the underdog, an underdog herself, a surrogate mother to unsung musicians, a relentless workerbee, a fan, a carer, a catalyst…’ (Richard Milward, from the Rocket Girl 20 book)
2018 marked the 20th anniversary of Rocket Girl, one of the most eclectic and resilient small independent labels in the UK, steered single-handedly by Vinita Joshi. To celebrate this milestone, in March 2019 Rocket Girl will release a very special collection of music and literature, comprising a 16-track CD compilation of Vinita’s artists past and present, a collectable 7” and flexi disc, exclusive Anthony Ausgang print, full 20 track download, plus a strikingly illustrated 70-page hardback book uncovering the history of the label.
Based on extensive interviews with Vinita, with contributions from many of her bands (Füxa, God is an Astronaut, Coldharbourstores, Pieter Nooten), the book’s text is written by Faber author and long-time Rocket Girl supporter Richard Milward. Beginning with Vinita’s formative years in Rugby in the 1970s and 1980s, the story covers not only the eventful history of Rocket Girl but also Vinita’s teenage initiation into the music industry: managing The Telescopes, founding Ché with Nick Allport out of the ashes of Cheree, before finally going it alone and setting up her own label in 1998. It is both an inspiring and bittersweet tale. Vinita’s staying power alone in such a challenging industry is worthy of its own tribute: she has built a record label on her own terms from scratch, she has overcome the loss of loved ones, survived a breakdown at the height of her label’s popularity, and all in all her immense love of music, her strength and positivity in the face of adversity blazes throughout the book. Along the way we learn of the hits (and why Kurt Heasley’s vocal cords seemed to be malfunctioning during the Lilys’ Top of the Pops appearance), the near-misses (including a never-before-seen letter from Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers), the triumph of Vinita’s first self-released LP A Tribute to Spacemen 3, her heartbreak losing Jason DiEmilio of The Azusa Plane in 2006, plus sad revelations concerning Television Personalities’ Daniel Treacy’s condition following his brain trauma in 2011…
Regular Rocket Girl designer Xiaofei Zhang has been given access to Vinita’s vast collection of personal photographs, letters, flyers, press clippings and other keepsakes, arranging these alongside the text to give the book the feel of a technicolour scrapbook, a vivid chronicle of indie music past, present and future.
As Milward writes: ‘The artists Vinita has worked with over the years are undisputed luminaries of alternative music, and stand up to any major indie label’s roster: Spacemen 3, The Telescopes, Bark Psychosis, Disco Inferno, Lilys, Low, Bardo Pond, Mogwai, Cocteau Twins’ Robin Guthrie, My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, Patti Smith, Jonathan Richman, Television Personalities, to name just a handful.’ Likewise, the artists featured on the accompanying CD compilation reveal just how far-ranging Vinita’s taste is, and how loyal her bands have been to her over the years. The disc opens with a special ‘Rocket mix’ of Silver Apples’ ‘Susie’ – the band that adorned the A-side of rgirl1, the label’s first 7”. From here, there are cuts from Rocket Girl stalwarts like Füxa and Bell Gardens, as well as tracks contributed by friends and supporters of the label, such as Andrew Weatherall and Mogwai. Arguably the most notable track (certainly the most poignant) is the Television Personalities’ ‘All Coming Back’, one of just a few unreleased songs recorded before Treacy’s accident, and released here with Daniel’s sister’s blessing.
Vinita began her career selling Loop/Telescopes flexi discs on New Year’s Eve 1988 and, in homage to this bygone format, she has included a 7” flexi (featuring ‘Fight For Work’, an outtake from Mogwai’s most recent LP, Every Country’s Sun) as well as a standard 7” bringing together rare tracks from two Philadelphia bands she has championed since their formation: Bardo Pond and The Azusa Plane. The three discs are housed in pockets found in the book’s inside covers, and there are yet more gifts: an exclusive print by Anthony Ausgang (the instantly recognisable artist behind MGMT’s Congratulations and Füxa’s Electric Sound of Summer covers), plus a free download code for all tracks featured across the various formats of the collection.
Vinita’s story is anything but ordinary, and this extraordinary collection is the most fitting tribute to the label’s legacy so far: a treasure trove of rare tracks and unheard stories for Rocket Girl devotees, a comprehensive introduction to the label for the uninitiated, and both an inspirational chronicle and cautionary tale for anybody interested in the history of British independent music in the past thirty years…
Silver Apples 'Susie' (Rocket Mix)
A Place to Bury Strangers 'A Million Tears'
Mogwai 'Fight For Work’
Robin Guthrie 'Flicker'
Bardo Pond 'Out of Nowhere'
Television Personalities 'All Coming Back'
Kirk Lake 'Go Ask Adorno'
Pieter Nooten 'I Want You'
Azusa Plane 'Pop World'
Anthony Reynolds and Rhosyn Boyce-Jones 'Losers Like Us Take The Bus'
P.S. I Love You 'The Sun, The Sea, And The Song'
Jon DeRosa 'Golden Dawn'
Coldharbourstores 'Seven Minutes'
Bell Gardens 'Might Be You'
July Skies 'Swallows and Swifts II'
White Ring 'Heavy'
Fuxa 'Sun is Shining' (Congo Hammer Remix)
Andrew Weatherall ‘Cosmonautrix’
God is an Astronaut 'Reverse World' (quiet)
Transient Waves 'D jam'
