Benjamin Myers, Man Of Letters

I HAVE A WEBSITE

2012-01-26T04:24:00.000-08:00

I have entered the 1990s.

I have a website.

www.benmyers.com

'A Doe, A Deer'

2012-01-26T01:36:00.000-08:00

25 January 2012

by Ben Myers

Summer in Yorkshire arrived for four days last Easter and then disappeared behind a curtain of rain. All my plans for being outdoors were jettisoned in favour of staying at my desk writing a new book, punctuated only by daily trudges through mud and mulch. I treat these walks as one-man marches conducted to an internal military beat. Sometimes they last for three miles, sometimes six. But I walk everyday. It is the best preparation for writing. It staves off anxiety. Keeps you trim. Makes you engage with the non-digital world. Once a week or so I fall over and in the last twelve months I’ve torn through two pairs of (over-priced / over-rated, brand name) wellies and a new pair of Dr Martens.

But come last June when the evenings were long and even the clouds had wandered elsewhere I accidentally stumbled across a new pursuit: deer spotting. There is no doubt an art to deer-stalking, in which the hunter pursues his quarry over entire days and many miles. But I prefer to deer spot, which is far easier. All you need to know is approximately where deer dwell and once in their vicinity, how to stay downwind. And how to move quietly. The rest is down to luck...

Read on here.

Currently Reading

2012-01-23T00:45:00.000-08:00

Stella Vine and the Bronte sisters

2012-01-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

Adelle and I have been helping out with this project. Words taken from Adelle's Dark Satanic Mills blog:

Stella Vine is helping out the Haworth church campaign by creating this new painting of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte.

Signed, limited edition prints are available to buy from Stella’s website (www.stellavine.com) and she will be giving all profits to the fund. She is planning to donate the painting to a local gallery.

The church’s roof has been the victim of two metal thefts in the past 18 months and is in a huge state of disrepair. The Bronte chapel is inside the church. The last time I visited they had made a paper prayer tree near the vestry. It had messages on it from people all around the world. Some of the messages said things like ‘I really miss my husband, please look after him up there’ or ‘take care of the poor racehorses who died running’. It was really touching and I had a little cry when I read them. Sometimes poetry appears in the places you least expect.

2012-01-17T10:06:00.000-08:00

Overdue Update

2012-01-13T04:19:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the silence.

I'm on the very final edit of my new novel Pig Iron.

It is out May 2012. Details to follow.

I spent 2011 writing another novel. A first draft is finished. 52,000 words.

I've been trying to write a short play.

Soon I will enter the 1990s when I launch the world's most basic website.

'Watch this space' etc.

I am walking 3-5 miles per day.

I have not watched television for 4 months. Only box-sets.

I am listening to lots of old anarcho punk, early 1990s jungle, Krautrock, Nick Drake.

All the usual stuff.

I find 95% of current guitar bands banal and boring.

Two bands who I did / do like, At The Drive-In and Refused, have reformed.

That's good, even though I generally don't care much for reformations.

At least they're still young / not fat / bald / bitter.

I'm watching lots of films from the BFI Flispide collection. Overlooked British cult classics from the 1960s and 70s.

The music business is a racket.

But then so is the publishing business.

And the film business too, I suspect.

Anything that involves money is a racket.

So long as we know this we'll be OK.

Art outlives money.

My dog doesn't care about money.

Or art.

Only bones.

Currently Reading

2012-01-10T09:34:00.000-08:00

Currently Reading

2012-01-07T02:27:00.000-08:00

Currently Reading / Watching

2012-01-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

Currently Reading

2011-12-21T05:25:00.001-08:00

Books I Read In 2011

2011-12-13T02:12:00.000-08:00

I've had time to do a lot of reading this year (no TV, stretches of unemployment, free books). Aside from those I have dipped into for research purposes, here is what I have read in 2011, old and new. A few books I didn’t quite finish, some I will gladly read again.

Shorty Loves Wing Wong by Michael Smith
It’s Lovely To Be Here by James Yorkston
£20,000 by Bill Drummond
Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman
The Dead Queen of Bohemia by Jenni Fagan
Whores: An Oral History of Jane’s Addiction by Brendan Mullen
The Torrents of Spring by Ernest Heminway
The Essential Tales Of Chekhov ed. Richard Ford
The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis
Vivian And I by Colin Bacon
Disgrace by JM Coetzee
Little Hands Clapping by Dan Rhodes
A Guide To The New Ruins of Great Britain by Owen Hatherley
Apathy For The Devil: A 1970s Memoir by Nick Kent
Point Omega by Don Delillo
Cafe Lehmitz by Anders Petersen
Haiku U by David M Bader
The Last Bachelor by Jay McInerney
Money by Martin Amis
Ten Stories About Smoking by Stuart Evers
The Petting Zoo by Jim Carroll
The Tenderloin by John Butler
Dazed & Aroused by Gavin James Bower
A Kind Of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth
Caribou Island by David Vann
The Wrecking Ball by Christiana Spens
Cold Water by Gwedoline Riley
Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey
Rule Of Night by Trevor Hoyle
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Good Life by Jay McInerney
King Crow by Michael Stewart
Beaver Street: A History Of Modern Pornography by Robert Rosen
The Dodgers Retirement Party by Gerald Locklin
The Cellar Gang by John Carder Bush
Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth
The Final Testment of the Holy Bible by James Frey
Dirt Music by Tim Winton
Legend Of A Suicide by David Vann
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
Breath by Tim Winton
Some Hope Trilogy (Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope) by Edward St Aubyn
In The Wild by Jon Krakauer
Vault: An Anti Novel by David Rose
Waterline by Ross Raisin
Pilgrims of The Mist by Sheila Stewart
A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran
Jack’s Return Home (aka Get Carter) by Ted Lewis
White Riot: Punk Rock And The Politics of Race by Stephen Duncombe and Maxwell Tremblay
GB84 by David Peace
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Nog by Rudolph Wurlitzer
The Sexual Outlaw by John Rechy
Fante: A Memoir by Dan Fante
After The Fire, A Still Small Voice by Evie Wyld
Made In Britain by Gavin James Bower
Chavs by Owen Jones
Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger
Notes From Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
Do It For Your Mum by Roy Wilkinson
Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew by Bernard Hare
The Pornographer’s Poem by Michael Turner
Cain’s Book by Alexander Trocchi
Dave Grohl by Paul Brannigan
The Quarry by Damon Galgut
English Journey by JB Priestley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Sunset Unlimited by Cormac McCarthy
The Savage Messiah by Laura Oldfield-Ford
The 39 Steps by John Buchan
Something Like A House by Sid Smith
My Dark Places by James Ellroy

Now Reading

2011-12-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

Currently Reading

2011-12-07T01:44:00.000-08:00

Favourite Albums Of 2011

2011-12-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

In no particular order, these are some of the albums I have enjoyed this year. Double click the clips to watch the videos on full screen.

Wild Beasts - Smother
Cerebral Ballzy - Cerebral Ballzy
Death Grips – Ex Military

The Unthanks – Last
British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall
Black Lips – Arabia Mountain

Frankie And The Heartstrings – Hunger
Fucked Up – David Comes To Life
Iceage – New Brigade

Oneida – Absolute II
Wu Lyf - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
Demdike Stare - Tryptych
Wiley – 100% Publishing

The Master Musicians of Bukkake - Totem III
Pete And The Pirates – One Thousand Pictures
Odd Future – various mix tapes
Tune-Yards – W H O K I L L

Honourable mentionsfor single tracks to: I.R.O.K, Kate Bush, Tyler The Creator, Lana Del Ray, Mogwai, PJ Harvey, Mariachi El Bronx, Cher Lloyd, The Fall, Josh T Pearson, Clean George IV, Frank Ocean, The Spartan Dreggs....

I'm Reading This

2011-11-27T03:19:00.001-08:00

Now I'm Reading This

2011-11-25T01:05:00.000-08:00

I'm Reading This

2011-11-22T08:40:00.001-08:00

2011-11-22T08:39:00.003-08:00

RatsRMyFriendsRatsR from Otto von Ruggins on Vimeo.

(From Dangerous Minds.net. Double click for full screen.)

And Now I'm Reading This

2011-11-19T10:10:00.001-08:00

Currently Reading

2011-11-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

Currently Reading

2011-11-08T04:13:00.000-08:00

Currently Reading

2011-11-02T03:22:00.001-07:00

2011-11-01T07:04:00.001-07:00

Currently Reading

2011-10-26T07:57:00.001-07:00

'Do It For Your Mum' by Roy Wilkinson

2011-10-26T04:45:00.000-07:00

"No decent band biography should solely be about the band - and heaven forbid that they should ever be all about ‘the music’. Music is for listening to; books are for telling stories. Really a good music biography should be about everything but the music. They should be about that which surrounds the band. Where they come from. Why they have chips on their shoulders. The freaks they attract. The drugs they take. The mistakes they make. The bones they break. Which Travelodges to avoid. Why they matter.

It is for these reasons that characters as disparate as Julian Cope, Ian Hunter and Motley Crue are responsible for some of the best rock reads; because they jettison the boring muso stuff – the who-wrote-what, and which key it was played in guff - to instead channel the vibe. The vibe is important. As important as haircuts and footwear..."

I reviewed Do It For Your Mum here.

Subba-Cultcha.com interview

2011-10-24T02:47:00.000-07:00

"It is a highly presumptuous book – there’s no argument from me there..."

Full interview here.

2011-10-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

Currently Reading

2011-10-21T02:04:00.000-07:00

Picador blog

2011-10-14T01:40:00.000-07:00

I got asked to write a guest blog piece for Picador about 'what lessons I have learnt' about books, writing and myself during the publication process of my recent novel.

Here it is.

2011-10-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Double click for full screen.

Eight Cuts Gallery Review

2011-10-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

"Last week saw the paperback release of Richard by Ben Myers (here from Amazon). I rarely talk about books, even more rarely ones with a mainstream publisher (Picador), so this is sort of a special occasion.

"So why break my duck for Richard? Well, both it, and its author, Ben Myers, have been working away at my subconscious for some time now. Pretty much ever since I wrote a bit of a diatribe against Brutalism well over a year back. And against this book. I was very proud of my puffery at the time. Like a poor souffle, I’ve been slowly deflating ever since as I realised first that I’d misread Brutalism (whcih is full not of the slick blankness I’d seen in it but the raw emotional honesty I’ve spent years arguing for), and second that whatever stick I’d latched onto with Myers and Richard, I was holding the wrong end of it...."

Read on...

Subba Cultcha.com Review

2011-10-10T02:35:00.000-07:00

Whichever way you look at it, ‘Richard’ is anything but an easy read. Both a fictionalised account of the final days of Richey Edwards and an exploration of his extraordinary, and tragically short life, Ben Myers’ novel screams ‘controversy’ from a hundred paces away… but you shouldn’t let that put you off. In the wrong hands this book could have been an absurdly histrionic, manipulative glamorisation, a slavish hagiography, a deliberately provocative hack-job or a combination of all three, but Myers (a regular contributor to the Guardian, Mojo, NME and others, if you’re wondering why the name rings a bell) has emerged with something entirely different – a thoughtful, compassionate, and engaging work that attempts to explore Richey the man, rather than Richey the myth.

Read on...

R MM P/B

2011-10-06T01:33:00.001-07:00

Richard.

Mass market paperback.

New cover.
New price.

Out now in the UK.

Picador.

Currently Reading

2011-10-01T02:25:00.001-07:00

2011-09-22T09:19:00.001-07:00

RIP Joel.

Richard / Paperback

2011-09-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

The new paperback version of

Richard

is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

People of Paris

2011-09-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

My pal Tony O'Neill has a new book out - and a film in development. Details, details...

Culture

2011-09-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

Now Playing

Now Reading

Now Watching

Currently Reading

2011-09-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

"The rat race is for rats..."

2011-09-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

"The life of a writer is a good one. For every down side – abject poverty, creeping paranoia, obscurity, isolation – there’s an upside. I am what you might call fiscally bereft, but time rich. Some weeks – those when there is no work to be had - I’m the Donald Trump of time.

But time is money, right? No! That’s what they tell you to make you work harder. The rat race is for rats..."

Here is a guest blog that I have written for Leeds website Culture Vulture.

Currently Reading

2011-09-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Out In 30 Days...

2011-09-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Currently Reading

2011-09-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

'White Riot'

2011-09-01T01:57:00.000-07:00

"The blues had a baby and they named it rock ‘n’ roll,” sang Muddy Waters. And so the record companies got paid, the white boys got laid, and the black artists got nothing - but it didn’t matter because America was booming thanks to the musical wing of the propaganda machine. Because the Russians didn’t rock, daddio! The precedent was set and everyone from the Stones and Led Zeppelin to Eminem came in to clean up...."

Read on for my review of White Riot: Punk and the Politics of Race, (ed. Stephen Duncombe and Maxwell Tremblay, Verso 2011)

Currently Reading

2011-08-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

(Or in its dazzling original format...)

A Fistful Of Dub

2011-08-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Fistful Of Dub from Django's Ghost on Vimeo.

(From DangerousMinds.net.)

August / Culture

2011-08-24T01:54:00.000-07:00

Currently Watching
Winter's Bone
Neds
Poor Cow (below)
Sunset Boulevard

(Double click for full screen)

Currently Reading
GB84 by David Peace
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Currently Listening
Mariachi El Bronx II - Mariachi El Bronx
Battle for Seattle - Little Roy
Cerebral Ballzy - Cerebral Ballzy (below)
Totem Three - Master Musicians Of Bukkake
Pink Flag - Wire
In The Land Of Grey And Pink - Caravan

Currently Reading

2011-08-23T01:57:00.001-07:00

2011-08-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Mass market paperback.

Published October 6th 2001 by Picador.

Currently Reading

2011-08-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

Currently Reading

2011-08-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

'Crawl Down'

2011-08-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled across this - some classic turn-of-the-90s shoegaze from my brother's old band (he's the bassist). Live, they were always fucking loud.

(Double click for full screen.)

(Not The) Booker Prize

2011-08-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Richard has been nominated for The Guardian's Not The Booker Prize.

Here's the long list.

2011-08-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen.)

Currently Reading

2011-08-05T00:41:00.001-07:00

2011-08-04T10:14:00.001-07:00

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Currently Reading

2011-08-03T06:25:00.001-07:00

2011-08-02T05:59:00.001-07:00

(Double click for full screen)

Huncke

2011-07-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

Probably Everything You Would Want (Or Need) From An 80s Pop Song And 80s Pop Video

2011-07-28T08:28:00.001-07:00

(Double click for full screen)

Not The Booker Prize

2011-07-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

If anyone feels like nominating Richard for The Guardian's annual Not The Booker Prize you can read details here.

Not that I'm saying you should...but...you know...oh, whatever.

The main bit you need to know is: "In order to qualify to vote you will have to post a review (of not less than 150 words) of the book you favour on the reader review section of this site. You will then have to link back to that review from your comment introducing the vote."

Thanks.

2011-07-27T04:04:00.001-07:00

Currently Reading

2011-07-22T01:02:00.001-07:00

Strange Existence

2011-07-20T01:09:00.000-07:00

I've just consulted my notes and realised that the fourth draft of the novel I am currently in the latter stages of editing was begun on or around July 17th 2009, making this the longest I have ever spent on a project before handing it over to a publisher. Yet still I don't feel satisfied with it. I'm beginning to suspect that no real writer ever feels satisfied with anything, and the only pleasurable aspect of all this is that first initial rush of energy as the torrent of words that make up the first draft come flooding out. That pleasurable surge of creativity, that typing frenzy. Then once that has passed, the real hard work begins. And now that I am beginning to recognise that these processes exist, I feel fine about them.

It is indeed a strange existence.

2011-07-15T02:36:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen)

Currently Reading

2011-07-13T03:42:00.000-07:00

2011-07-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

(From onkneesforjesus.blogspot.com. Double click for full size.)

Vice article about my brief time at News Of The World

2011-07-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

In the week that the News Of The World closes amidst much media controversy, Ben Myers recalls his brief accidental career working undercover for the tabloid.

I was a young, green, keen teen with badly peroxided hair. For those reasons alone, the features writer at the News Of The World thought I would be the ideal person to send undercover...

Read on...

Now Playing

2011-07-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

David Comes To Life by Fucked Up (Vice Records)

2011-07-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen.)

2011-07-06T01:13:00.001-07:00

(Double click for full screen).

I Said I Was Reading This Last Month Then I Didn't But Now I Am (aka 'Currently Reading')

2011-07-05T01:38:00.000-07:00

2011-06-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

(by Peter Serafinowicz. Double click to enlarge.)

2011-06-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

I'm editing my next novel.
I think it is edit #3.
Or maybe edit #4
or more.

I am alternating between
liking it
and thinking that it's a
a hunk o'junk.

Deadline September.
Breakdown October.
Publication spring 2012.
Wish me luck.

Sometimes writing
feels
like
this.

(Somewhere in Scotland, last month, photo by Adelle.)

2011-06-25T12:21:00.001-07:00

(From Tony O'Neill. Double click for full screen.)

2011-06-25T12:19:00.001-07:00

(From Dangerousminds.net)

"I run the underworld, guy."

2011-06-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen)

2011-06-24T01:26:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen).

2011-06-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

(From Dangerousminds.net. Double click for full screen)

2011-06-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

2011-06-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen)

2011-06-22T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hip-hop and festivals: an awkward relationship

When they get it right, rappers can rival stadium rock acts. But a mere gust of wind can expose how few MCs can hack festivals.

It's all about bass and beats. Nothing tops the feeling of a heavy, booming bass line reverberating through the soil and up your legs, alongside a syncopated drum line amplified through speakers the size of houses. Both are synonymous with festivals, and few genres deliver these as well as hip-hop.

Yet, often, when rap acts appear at festivals, all you get is bass and beats; it's almost as if the MCs needn't bother turning up. Read on...

2011-06-21T05:57:00.001-07:00

I wrote a big article
on Kate Bush for
Classic Rock's
Prog magazine.

"Out now."

Currently Reading

2011-06-18T02:47:00.000-07:00

2011-06-16T09:47:00.001-07:00

2011-06-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

My old man's a rock star: the musicians who join their parents' bands

From Young Dirty Bastard to Wolfgang Van Halen, musical offspring are following in their rock star folks' footsteps. Read on...

What I Did On My Holidays

2011-06-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

2011-06-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

Currently Reading

Currently Playing

Grot Talk

2011-06-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

I interviewed New York-based author Robert Rosen for Bizarre magazine about his time as a smut-peddler working deep in America's grot media (ie. writing and editing over 100 porno titles in the genre's 1980s heyday) and also his new book Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography.

You can read the article here - just click the scans to see them full size...

2011-06-03T04:07:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen).

2011-06-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

(Double click for full screen).

2011-06-02T06:35:00.001-07:00

(Double click for full screen).

Currently Reading

2011-06-01T04:58:00.001-07:00

'Why Writers Treasure Islands'

2011-05-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

The remote backwoods of Alaska are not remote enough for Gary, one of the troubled central characters of David Vann's recent hit novel Caribou Island. Gary wants to retreat further from civilisation. His plan is to sail out across a lake to the uninhabited Caribou Island, build a cabin by hand and ... well, that's it. Just being on an island will, he thinks, be enough. Because that sense of detachment from mainland society – being able to view from a removed distance – is all he craves.

As with Vann's previous book, Legend Of A Suicide, which primarily concerned a man and his son relocating to a cabin on an Alaskan island (there is a pattern emerging here) and the dire circumstances that followed, the place – in this case, the island – is the star of the show. Stoic, enduring, self-contained, tough: it manifests all the qualities that the men in Vann's novels (and indeed so much of American literature, from Thoreau and Twain through to Kerouac, McCarthy and Proulx) aspire to.

Islands occupy a significant space in literature. ..

Read on...

Book Review

2011-05-31T01:14:00.001-07:00

Here's my review of Cold Light, the new novel by Jenn Ashworth.

2011-05-30T06:17:00.001-07:00

Spam Poems (Re-visited)

2011-05-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

Some oldies
but goodies.

(written for Lee Rourke's website in 2007.)

Open Wide anthology

2011-05-20T03:29:00.000-07:00

From Open Wide Magazine, whose new anthology features a new short story by me entitled, This Must Be Just Like Living In Paradise.

Open Wide Magazine issue twenty-five, the tenth anniversary print edition, out now
This glossy paperback is filled with ninety-four pages of writing from forty-three of our favourite contributors of the last ten years.

Featuring poetry from: Rebecca Schumejda, William Taylor Jr, John Dorsey, F.N. Wright, J.J. Campbell, Adrian Manning, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Dan Provost, John Sweet, Nathan Graziano, Idris Caffery, G. Emil Reutter, Bradley Mason Hamlin, A.D. Winans, Iris Berry, Jayne Lyn Stahl, Graham Nunn, D.B. Cox, R.C. Edrington, Lyn Lifshin, Jack Phillips Lowe, K.M. Dersley, S.A. Griffin, Jason Mashak, Arlene Ang, Debbie Kirk, justin.barrett, Heidi James, James D. Quinton, Owen Roberts, Peter Finch, Steve Urwin, Ben Barton, John G. Hall, Jessica Stilling and Glenn W. Cooper.

And fiction from: Ben Myers, Drew Gummerson, James D. Quinton, Marc Barber, Angela Morkos, Jo Mortimer, Natalia Cherjovsky and Danny Rhodes.

The magazine costs just £5 (plus £1.00 P&P for UK buyers - P&P for Europe is £2.00 and the rest of the world is £3.00). It can be purchased only via paypal, which accepts all major credit/debit cards. You can follow this link - www.openwidemagazine.co.uk/

Miss it, miss out.www.openwidemagazine.co.uk
www.facebook.com/openwidemagazine

Culture

2011-05-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

Currently playing
Black Lips - Arabia Mountain
Wild Beasts - Smother
Various - Bustin' Out: New Wave To New Beat

Currently Reading
Breath by Tim Winton

I Reviewed Wild Beasts

2011-05-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

It’s a bad time to revel in the alternative. It’s a bad time to demand meaning in culture. Access to credit and other freedoms of the post-industrial West have created surplus leisure time which we now choose to fill with useless cultural artefacts in the name of art. But not everyone is an artist and music is perhaps the guiltiest party of all as band after band toss another album into the void, each digital file or circular piece of plastic a little more meaningless than the last.

Jean Baudrillard said “We are no longer in a state of growth; we are in a state of excess”, an assertion that is plain to see as our ears become clogged up with empty noise made by self-aggrandising whippersnappers we call rock bands, most of who do little more than hold a mirror up to the very recent past, then frame it, sign it and sell it as an orginal...

Ben Myers goes to see Wild Beasts play Leeds Brudenell Social Club, and exults in their breaking from catastrophically moribund indie norms. Read on....