“Man walks into Memorial Device

The great rock and roll novel dilemma

IAN MARCHANT

AUG 2

Well, here I am, beginning my fifth week in hospital. Don’t ask why I’ve been in so long - it’s a mix of unpleasant prostate cancer stuff, and bed-blocking due to the difficulties of finding domiciliary care. I’m currently in the Montgomeryshire Infirmary in Newtown, Powys, having been sent here from the acute wards at Hereford County. The idea is that I can be given physiotherapy here, enough to get me home in time for the launch event for The Breaking Wave on September 21st, tickets available here.

With little else to do but brood, I’ve been thinking about my claim that, apart from The Commitments, successful novels about pop/rock music are thin on the ground. An important part of this claim is that I postponed reading David Keenan’s ‘This is Memorial Device’ until I had finished writing my own novel. I did this once before, 20 years ago, when I delayed reading Pete Brown’s ‘Man Walks Into Pub’ until I had finished writing ‘The Longest Crawl’.

So now I have read ‘This is Memorial Device’, and I enjoyed it. It’s an overview of what Keenan calls the “post-punk music scene in Airdrie, Coatbridge and environs 1978-1986” and it gets around the problem faced by anyone writing about pop/rock/underground music, which is that the reader has never heard of the acts. Memorial Device are the stars of the Airdrie underground scene, and they share some common ground with the Breaking Wave. Both bands are listening to the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Fun House by the Stooges, etc etc. I might have written such a book about the Brighton scene during that period. I might have written another, similar, book about the Lancaster scene between 1989 and 1999. The idea of writing about a scene is a good one - it gives you somewhat wider scope than just the doings of one band - and certainly you can imagine the Memorial Device and Breaking Wave precursors Biro Biro on the same bill, in the same terrible student hall somewhere.

But Memorial Device are a bit po-faced. My old friend Joe McNally liked nothing more than sitting about listening to Coil or Nurse with Wound of an evening, but most of us leaven our drone/noise based music fun with an occasional burst of Abba. Not so Memorial Device, who do take themselves very, very seriously. Biro Biro met musicians who wanted to make people dance, and enjoy their evenings. Memorial Device sank into an unrelenting seriousness, which the reader might find hard to understand. Even the underground could be perfectly entertaining and fun. The Airdrie scene, taking itself very seriously, didn’t seem to rank fun as one of its concerns.

But then Biro Biro, who became WTF, who became the Breaking Wave, were in Brighton, and perhaps Brighton takes fun more seriously than Airdrie did in the 70s. So I’m really glad I read ‘This is Memorial Device’ and I’m definitely adding it to my list of successful novels about popular music. It’s interesting to me that two groups of people, one in Brighton and one in Airdrie, were listening to similar things and ended up in such different places.

Don’t forget you can pre-order ‘The Breaking Wave’ by going to my website, via this link.

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From orkney.com .….

“Latest News

Tickets on sale now for celebration of Orkney food and drink

From cocktail classes to gin-making experiences, and explorations of seaweed to wine tastings and cheese grading classes, September’s Orkney Food & Drink Festival has something for food lovers everywhere. Celebrity chef James Martin will also be hosting live cooking demonstrations, showcasing the very best of the Orkney larder. Come and join us for a very special weekend in the islands next month.

https://www.orkney.com/life/industry/taste/orkney-food-drink-festival

Fabulous festivals as summer heads into autumn

The Orkney Food & Drink Festival isn’t the only fun-filled event planned for the coming months. The inaugural Water Sound Bluegrass & Roots Festival will get underway in Burray on 22 August, then it’s over to the Orkney International Science Festival and the Orkney Rock Festival in early September. Next, the first ever Orkney Archaeology Festival will run for five days starting on 10 September, before the Orkney Storytelling Festival returns on 23 October. Who says things get quiet in Orkney after the summer is over?

https://www.orkney.com/news/festival-fun-on-the-orkney-horizon

Savour every sip with Lochside Roasters

One of Orkney’s newest producers has been enjoying a busy summer so far, showcasing locally roasted coffee to visitors from around the world. Isla Tulloch launched Lochside Roasters last year to share her love for all things coffee and 2025 has seen her business go from strength to strength. From her roastery on the banks of Orkney’s Boardhouse Loch, she’s producing high quality roasts and always planning for the future.

https://www.orkney.com/news/lochside-roasters

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Orkney's coastline is full of cliffs, caves, beaches and bays. But one of our favourite things about exploring the coast around these islands are the stunning sea stacks you can find just offshore. Some are easy to reach, others require a bit of legwork, but they’re all well worth a visit, especially during the long days of the summer. We’ve picked five of the finest sea stacks to be found across Orkney, take a look and see how many you’ve visited.

https://www.orkney.com/news/sea-stacks

Wild Orkney

Join Orkney wildlife photographer, Raymond Besant, as he explores local shorelines with the seasons beginning to threaten change.

https://www.orkney.com/news/wild-orkney-august-25

Explore Orkney

Come and explore Orkney’s communities. For August we’re heading to the heart of Scapa Flow and the island of Flotta, a place with a rich wartime heritage and wonderful wildlife highlights."

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