Author:Luke Haines
In Post Everything, Luke Haines demonstrates that the only way to survive the tyrannical scourge of Britpop is to become an Outsider. The 'avant-garde Arthur Scargill' calls upon the nation's pop stars to down tools and go on strike. We learn the story of Haines' post-Britpop art house trio Black Box Recorder (Chas and Dave with a chanteuse), we meet a talking cat, two dead rappers (Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur), and a mystical England football manager. Haines even finds time to write a musical for the National Theatre.
Blisteringly funny and searingly scathing, Post Everything may quite possibly be the first and only truly surreal comic rock memoir. It even contains a killer recipe for scrambled eggs.
Haines was always too clever to be a pop star...As a writer, though, he's a national treasure-in-waiting, cutting through the pomp with drily hilarious anecdotes. Post Everything sums up the silliness of the indie scene perfectly.
—— Mail on SundayPost Everything is written with such authority that it suggests that Haines has finally found his calling ... He brilliantly describes two years of futile effort, and the true pain of collaborative endeavours...But Haines's pain provides our pleasure.
—— Matt Thorne , IndependentLuke Haines: genius. I'm pretty sure he'd hate being called a genius, while secretly thinking, Yes, I am one. He is one ... An astute observer of what's going down ... Post Everything is worth your while.
—— Andrew CollinsReads like being regaled in the pub by a brilliantly indiscreet misanthrope ... Hilarious.
—— MetroThrilling...Against the backdrop of a collapsing music business, the rise of Simon Cowell, reality TV, war, and the great New labour disappointment, this is that very British of things - a celebration of heroic failure...Now that Luke Haines' musical memoirs are complete...let's see where he casts his gimlet eye and chooses to let his pen run next.
—— NME, Book of the WeekDelightfully scathing, frequently hilarious dissection of his splendidly non-commercial musical career...This is essential reading for old and jaded music fans.
—— Irish NewsHaines manages to maintain a degree of objectivity and offers us a perspective on the music industry as it turns to dust. It helps that he is funny. Like an articulate but permanently pissed uncle, he's a master of the clever cuss and an enthusiastic employer of the tangential footnote...This is an enjoyably smirksome read.
—— Time Out"Must never end up like Bobby Gillespie" It's not a bad strategy for life, and happily one the ferociously talented Luke Haines continues to adhere to in his follow-up to Bad Vibes. Resuming from where that excoriatingly brilliant book left off...Grimly amusing.
—— Word