Band Profile: The Bishops!

Like most people right now, we at Bands & Books HQ are busy decking the halls with bells of holly, but we took a few moments out to post a preview of our Christmas Special headliner, the Bishops:

Heralding from London, the band consist of twin brothers Mike Bishop (vocals, guitar) Pete Bishop (vocals, bass), younger brother Alex Bishop (vocals, guitar) and Scotsman Chris McConville (drums). Originally a three piece (Alex joined at the end of 2009) the band recorded their self-titled debut album 'The Bishops' at the infamous Toe Rag Studios, produced by creative analogue genius Liam Watson. This was released internationally in 2007 and followed up with their second album 'For Now' in 2009. Later that year the band celebrated their 500th gig at the historic 100 club in London.

Since then the band have grown from a three piece to a four piece lineup, welcoming younger brother Alex Bishop into the band. This year they released an EP 'Sojourn', their first material together. It marked a departure from the prominent garage/beat sound of their first two records into a more contemporary and alternative direction. The band are currently recording a brand new album which looks set for release next year. At the Bands & Books Xmas party the band will be playing new songs from their forthcoming album!


As is customary, we wanted to find out what's in the bishop's library, they gave us the following tidbits:

Mike: I've enjoyed recently 'The Master & Margherita' by Mikhail Bulgakov as well as 'Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck being one of my all-time favourites.
Pete: Favourite book 'Tropic of Cancer' Henry Miller. Curently reading 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin.
Chris: Highway to Hell 'The Life and Times of Bon Scott'
Alex: Favourite fiction book: 'Ocean, Sea' by Alessandro Baricco, Favourite non fiction book: 'The Van Gogh Letters' by the man himself! 

We are thrilled about our Christmas special lineup, and have some more acts to brag about yet, so watch this space!  See you on the 16th December at the Victoria from 8pm!

Reader Profile: Molly Naylor

By now you will no doubt have the Bands & Books Christmas Special etched into your calendar and artfully annotated with hearts and quavers, but it doesn't hurt to reiterate the date, so here goes:

Bands & Books Christmas Special, Friday 16th December 2011 at the Victoria. 

Come along and be inspired by none other than the delightful Molly Naylor

Molly Naylor is a writer, performer, poet and theatre-maker. Her solo show, Whenever I Get Blown Up I Think Of You debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010 to critical acclaim, which proceeded an international tour. She was commissioned to write an audio adaptation of the show for BBC Radio 4, which was described by the Guardian as ‘a brave, funny, tough and beautiful piece of writing’.

Her adaptation of the book of Malachi was staged at The Bush as part of Sixty-Six Books, published by Oberon. She has written for The Independent and her poems have been featured on BBC Radio and in publications including Rialto, The North, The Londonist and Pen Pusher.  She frequently performs and reads at festivals and events worldwide. Her first book – an illustrated text of her live show - is available from Nasty Little Press.
Molly also delivers workshops and lectures in creative writing, solo performance and poetry in education. She is currently developing a new show commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre.

www.mollynaylor.com

As is customary, we asked Molly for her favourite bands, this is what she had to say:

Bands is hard isn't it? Fucking hell. Okay. I'll put:

Nico, The Middle Ones, Nick Cave, The Smiths, Neil Young, Sam Cooke, Wave Machines, The Mountain Goats, David Bowie, Pulp and The Slits. And the Rednex, obviously. 

Well, we have no complaints about any of that, here is a Spotify mixtape just for you Molly!

Bands & Books Christmas Special!

The greatest show on Earth returns for a Christmas spectacular, featuring fantastic live music, live books, and all the usual fun, but with a predictably tedious festive twist!  Save the date; it's happening on December 16th at the Victoria 

Watch this space for updates, we'll be blogging about our performers in the coming few days!  In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to contribute, perform, design us a better flyer, DJ, make us a book themed mixtape, or just thank us for being here, email us!