A Design For Life – 05.28.11
For those of you who follow this blog, and also for those who know me, I usually like to wait until something pertinent for me to say comes along before I actually post it up. And while sometimes I think I have something I want to share, I usually end up not sharing it in the end anyhow. However with the soon to be released The Heart's Filthy Lesson coming out this summer, I figured it was time to post something up considering it had been awhile.
During the time I wrote the latest novel, I had for the sake of research done a little delving into the Manic Street Preachers. Those of you that know me that during the whole Britpop era that rippled across the Atlantic, I managed to wholeheartedly embrace Oasis, Suede, The Verve and to a lesser degree Blur. I knew of the Manics however really didn't listen to them as religiously as all of the above. And despite knowing about Everything Must Go, their sonic triumph from the brink of implosion in 1996, the further stirrings of underground dance would cause me to plance the Manics on the backburner.
Fast forward to 2004, and I finally decided to pick up This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. While my primary motive for picking up the CD was solely for the amazing song "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", it wasn't until I actually listened to the remainder of the CD that it forced me to delve a little deeper into the history of one ofEngland's hardest working groups. One of the pieces of band history that signposted the end of an era, was the disappearance of their guitarist and chief lyricist Richey Edwards.
One of the things I regret while writing The Heart's Filthy Lesson, was not getting an opportunity to listen to The Holy Bible, one of Richey's final lyrical testaments before his disappearance. Some of the inspiration for Dutch, one of THFL's pivotal characters, was Richey and his infamous disappearance in 1995. When I finished writing and started researching a little more on Richey's vanishing act, it also lead me to the other bookend of an album called Everything Must Go. The two albums are vastly different, however are accurate representations of where the band were sonically, as well as emotionally.
For me The Heart's Filthy Lesson was a book that was written while I was in a state of personal continual flux. Most of that flux was positive, but at the same time also made me realize a few things, which in turn produced this novel. Even though the first draft of the next Drowned World novel is finished, there are still more things I need to tie together…one of my goals this summer if to finally get a website up and running, which will continue to evolve, much like my writing.
To the next chapter…
