David Keenan on Volcanic Tongue

Just very quickly, a reminder that I’d love you to join me for A Kick Up The Arts - live - at at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, I’ll be at The Stand, with Barbara Dickson on August 20th, Grant Stott on August 21st, and Del Amitri’s Justin Currie on August 23rd - and I’ll be announcing more special guests soon…

Before that though, the brilliant Val McDermid will join me at The Portobello Bookshop on July 9th, we’ll be celebrating the paperback publication of Queen Macbeth, and chatting about Val’s choice of a Scottish album, film and book - and it’d be fab to see you there. 

There are ticket links to all of those shows online here - but, for now, we’re back with the legends at Porty Books for a chat with another incendiary writer - and if you joined us for this event, thanks so much for coming along…

We’re singing the praises of David Keenan’s latest mind-melding trip of a book - and they all are, incidentally - from his esoteric musical odyssey England’s Hidden Reverse, to the award-winning 1970s Belfast fever-dream For The Good Times - not to mention the iconic This Is Memorial Device - which a novel, theatre show, and online community devoted to post-punk, small towns, fanzines, mad dreams, and the infinite possibilities of - well, everything…

David’s latest thrill, Volcanic Tongue - a time-travelling evangelist’s guide to Late 20th Century Underground Music - collects his music writing for The Wire among other publications, including deep-dives into the worlds, and lives, and music, and alchemy, of Sun Ra, Sonic Youth, Faust, John Martyn and Throbbing Gristle. 

It takes its title from the mythical Glasgow shop that David ran with his wife - the pedal steel phenomenon and musical visionary Heather Leigh - and it was also the title of a weekly newsletter - but we’ll come to that… 

Volcanic Tongue (out now, via the fab White Rabbit Books) is a psychoactive love letter to underground music, literature, science fiction, and to life’s wild moments and miracles… its sonic booms and zodiac workshops, its 70s porn stars and new, old weird folk, its tangerine dreams and acid house reveries… the magic of our day-to-day…

But enough from me - let’s hear from David, and our lovely audience on a rainy and dark old night in deepest Portobello… Thanks so much again to Euan and everyone at their totally iconic shop - and thanks to you, if you came along - or asked a question…

(There's lots more episodes, live events and a newsletter that I'd love you to sign up for via akickupthearts.org)