Steve Ignorant

Tomorrow I'll be interviewed by Irish journalist Michael McCaughan at Tower in Dublin.  We'll be talking about my book, The Rest Is Propaganda, and anything else that Michael wants to ask.  Also there will be a Q&A after so please come along and ask me anything you like.  I'll be around afterwards for a chat and to sign books if anyone wants one!

Hope to see you there.

Oh yeah - and in case you didn't know, we're playing the Button Factory in Dublin on Friday night (26th) and Belfast Empire on Saturday night (27th).  We're really looking forward to it.

Cheers

Steve

Me & John Robb during the talk

We left Norfolk before 8 am in the morning and set off for London. As soon as we set off, clouds gathered and it started to rain. You know one of those days where you'd rather stay in bed and pretend the world doesn’t exist.

Our first stop was near New Market where Gordon lives. He kindly offered to look after the dog again. For Oscar (the dog) it has become a second home since The Last Supper Tour started. After a quick cup of tea we got back in the car, still raining and by now freezing cold. Great! Four hours later, after getting stuck in traffic and struggling to find a place to park, we arrived at Southern. By now I really wasn’t in a good mood and wondered why I ever had thought this was a good idea. Anyway I was here so I might as well get on with it.

Allison & Billie

From the moment I walked into Southern things changed. Dawn straight away popped out to get us fresh milk and biscuits. Allison was standing there with a big smile on her face and Billie (her dog) was jumping up and down from excitement. What a welcome, within minutes I forgot all about the horrible journey and was ready to get started. While Allison and I were catching up, time flew and before I knew it Roy arrived and we started the interview he asked to do for the new edit of his Day The Country Died dvd.

Me, John Robb, Allison and Jona mucking about

After the interview it was time to brave the cold and drive to Brick Lane for the book talk at Rough Trade. A manic journey through London followed before we finally arrived. I have to admit that at first I didn’t recognise it, so much had changed. John Robb was already there and we quickly went

next door to the pub so that I could have a drink while we discussed the upcoming interview. Rough Trade was a great place to have the book talk. You can buy a coffee and tea while you browse to your hearts content. Anyway I wasn’t there for the tea. I was a bit nervous before we got started, I know I am a twat. Luckily there were quite a few familiar faces. Steve Pottinger who I wrote the book with; Annie Anxiety who I hadn’t seen in ages; Sid and Zillah from Rubella Ballet who brought along lots of goodies.

Me, John Robb & Lauren in a small box

Thanks to John and everyone that turned up it became a great night. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was lovely to meet new people. Gemma, that was a great bomber jacket. Lee, it was great to see you again. I would like to say a big thank you to Allison for organising it, Damon for filming the whole interview, Sean and Phil from Rough Trade for inviting us and Simon at Forte for your help. After a quick drink, we got back in our freezing cold car to pick up the dog and drive home in the pitch black to Norfolk. Did I mind? No way! Was it worth it? Every minute of it!

Some of the lovely folks who came along.

Thanks

Steve

The nice folks at Rough Trade shops have asked me come down and do a talk about my book.  I'll be interviewed and then answer any questions from the audience, and I'll hang around afterwards to sign books and chat.   I hope some of you can come down and keep me company.

Rough Trade East is located at:  Dray Walk, Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane London E1 6QL

The talk starts at 6pm and will finish around 7pm.

Rough Trade shop event info

Facebook event info

Available to order from Southern

The book I wrote with Steve Pottinger is now available to order from Southern's mail order department.  It's shipping on 18th October and you can pre-order it now.  We'll also be selling it at all the gigs of course.

Link:
http://bit.ly/igsbook

Thanks to everyone who has already bought it, I'm really overwhelmed by all the good feedback.  It really means a lot to me.

Steve.

My book arrived from the printer's yesterday.  Talk about just in the nick of time, eh?  We'll have copies at the gigs this weekend and next, so if you're interested you can pick one up before it's available anywhere else.  Here's the blurb from the back cover, which Allison wrote:

The day that Stephen Williams walked up the path to Dial House and found Jeremy Ratter at the end of it, sitting at a typewriter, was undoubtedly an auspicious event for both of them - not to mention for many of us.  It was 1977, and although there were fifteen years and a world of social privilege separating them, the two shared something much more important: their dissatisfaction with the life that society was offering them. Steve had recently been infected with Punk Rock at a gig by the Clash, and Jeremy had a drum kit. Together, they formed Crass.  Over the next seven years, Crass would stencil its name in indelible paint across the face of British culture. They would become the band that rattled the timbers in the Houses of Parliament, infiltrated teenage magazines, fought savage anti-establishment, pro-humanitarian battles, and challenged the music industry with a new definition of DIY.
The Rest Is Propaganda is not, however, the story of that band.  Rather, it is the story of a young boy who grew up on the streets of Dagenham, wearing Tuf shoes and holey jumpers, being railroaded to a life on the factory floor.  This is the story of a lad who learned about life on on the terraces of Upton Park, in the pubs and clubs of East London, behind the counter of Wallis's supermarket, and why he left that all behind. It is the story of how Stephen Williams became Steve Ignorant. And what he did after.

More on the book later - got to get the car packed up now.

Thanks

Steve