I’ll level with you, it’s been a while since I stepped into a book shop, it was probably when I was looking for our third replacement copy of The Gruffalo after my two (a long time ago now) literally wore it out to the point that the pages were loose and the imagery was a little faded. 

I was asked a few weeks back if I would like to attend an event in Bath where a band called The Bookshop Band would be performing a couple of tracks lifted form their forthcoming new album ‘Emerge, Return’ and revealing the artwork that was created by Stanley Donwood, an English artist and writer, who, since 1994, has created all the artwork for the rock band Radiohead with their singer, Thom Yorke, plus his other projects, including Atoms for Peace and the Smile. He also creates artwork for Glastonbury Festival and has published books of writing. I was also told that Pete Townshend, yes, the guitarist from The Who, would also be in attendance, would I be there? Just you try and stop me!

After a rather hectic time at a 3 day music festival in Minehead, I traversed the A39, winding through villages that I have never heard of before (and may never see again) before arriving in Bath. I found a hotel with a coffee shop and free WIFI and set about my day job duties from 9-5. After a short walk around the city, I arrived at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in the centre of the city and spent a good 5 minutes, staring through each window and looking at the various shelf based offerings that were begging to be taken home for a good read. It was then that I realised that Pete Townshend was in the shop, doing the same! 

Once the doors had opened, we were welcomed with a drink and our names were checked off the guest list before we were free to browse whilst the team put the finishing touches to the technical bits and pieces that would allow the event to go ahead. I walked upstairs, downstairs, through doorways and into an area which was clearly for children, with its tree in the middle of the room with all sorts of animals and fictional characters hanging from its branches, I couldn’t help thinking what a wonderful place this was, a place that the people of Bath should be proud of and one that has benefited from the kindness of the local customer base who had helped in the past to crowd fund an extension to the shop, allowing it to branch out to offer even more books and related matter to the masses.

We were asked to take a seat in the main room which had been setup with a few chairs at the front. People opted for anything but the front row, leaving me and the photographer being sat very close to the band, formed of Ben Please & Beth Porter who would be performing for the invited guests very soon. There was a ‘reserved’ sign on the seat next to me, I assumed it would be for the local mayor or a visiting dignitary, instead, Pete Townshend himself took a seat and nodded his hello’s to the surrounding guests….PETE TOWNSHEND!

Nic Bottomley, the owner of Mr B’s took to the stage to introduce the evening and welcomed the guests, thanking them for coming out on a cold Monday night in November to witness the spectacle that was about to unfold. Nic introduced the band and explained that they would be playing a couple of live tracks from the new record and would then be engaging in conversation about their chance meeting with Pete Townshend in 2019 which led to a collaboration on a new Bookshop Band album, which includes songs inspired by authors such as Robert Macfarlane, Margaret Atwood and Philip Pullman. 

The music was sublime, acoustic guitar, cello and the most beautiful vocal harmonies took you away to another place, similar to the way that a good work of fiction does in a book. I forget the names of the two tracks that they played but they were very well received and you just knew that they had amassed a strong following through their music which reached out and touched the hearts of so many people, all over the world.

Nic introduced Pete Townshend to join them on stage and talk about how he came to be involved in the new record. This led to some amusing anecdotes such as the time Pete was arrested for stealing books from a local bookshop a LONG time ago and the fact that he used to run a bookshop in Richmond after he left The Who in the mid 1970’s. I resisted the urge to ask Pete whether he had to deal with any book thieves when he was in charge of his own shop but would have been keen to hear his reply.

Pete explained that he had fallen in love with the music that Ben and Beth were creating and offered them time in his own studio to work on, and lay down the tracks for the new record. This was something that they both jumped at and found themselves working with Pete’s studio engineer and Pete himself to embellish the tracks that they had started to sculpt for the new record. Pete suggested additional instruments and the use of some very nice sounding organs and synthesisers that he had owned since the 70’s on some of the new tracks which I understand have really made them stand out and come to life.

Questions were asked around how Ben and Beth had come up with the idea of creating music, based on the books from authors, Ben had said that it was an idea that he and Beth had come up with and wanted to try it out. After recording some music, they played it back to a couple of authors which saw them react very differently, some were delighted with the output, others ran from the studio and had to take a moment to compose themselves as the experience was quite intense. 

After the Q&A had come to a close, Ben revealed the artwork for the new record that, as mentioned earlier, was created by Stanley Donwood who has worked with Radiohead and all of Thom Yorke’s side projects to create the artwork which is an amazing feat in itself. I never managed to establish HOW they managed to start working with Stanley but I will try and find out and provide an update to this feature once I have the information.

Ben and Beth played a track from the album titled ‘Sanctuary’, which rang out around the room, setting the scene for the new record which I believe is due to land in 2024.

The Bookshop band have 13 studio albums under its belt thus far and I do recall seeing a live double LP for sale in the shop as well which I believe was recorded when they toured in America, performing at many independent book shops across the country.

Tonight was incredible, the concept alone was amazing, who would have thought about putting the works of authors to music and who in a million years would have known that this would have captured the heart of Pete Townshend, who, after a few listens, offered his time and energy in helping Ben and Beth to fine tune some of the tracks on their new record, it all sounds like a work of fiction to me…. 

Words and Pictures - Steve Muscutt