In Search of The La's: A Secret Liverpool

by Matthew Macefield, MW Macefield

With timeless single “There She Goes,” Lee Mavers’ La’s overtook The Stone Roses as great British guitar hopes and paved the way for the Britpop renaissance of Blur and Oasis. However, since 1991, The La’s have been silent, while rumors of studio-perfectionism, madness and drug addiction have abounded with Mavers lined up as another rock casualty. The author sets out to discover the truth behind Mavers’ lost decade and eventually gains a revelatory audience with Mavers himself.

Genres: Music

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Guy Mankowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to see Helter Skelter re-releasing an updated version of this book. Despite not being an author previously, Macefield nails the passion music can inspire and Mavers' journey to bring us the sounds in his head brilliantly. It works as a fascinating exploration of what it is to be an artist, given the pressures of commercialism. If you're not a La's fan some of the details of every recording might be a bit much, but his journey- and particularly him getting to meet Mavers at the end- is just enthralling. I was left deeply intrigued by all the character's stories and quite emeshed as I tried to make sense of it all. Mavers emerges as a somewhat tortured but highly principled genius. My favourite bit had to be when Macefield finally was wlecomed into Maver's house- with Maver's children jumping on the furniture and singing along as a recording of The Liberty Ship was played! Quite exceptional.

[Charlie Gaskill · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best music books I’ve read and one that needed to be written as the story of The La’s is one worth knowing about.

Macefield, as a fan of the band, takes you on his journey interviewing people associated with the Liverpool group. He hopes to find out more about them, with a mission to score an interview with the masterful yet reclusive front man Lee Mavers.

With The La’s now infamous history of only releasing one album (which they constantly spoke down on) sifting through countless band members and producers to chase the sound they wanted until eventually Mavers petered off into the shadows, the myth was as big as the band itself.

It is fascinating reading what Mavers’ former band members thought of him, waxing lyrical about his musicianship and songwriting, but also speaking of his sometimes difficulty to work with. Not like a gifted songwriter to be tough to work with though, eh?

I also enjoy the style Macefield implements, using interview material and taking you through in great detail the bands history, but also combining with his own opinion and how he interprets his findings out.

Eventually Macefield does manage to track Mavers down and as a man that is virtually never seen in public never mind doing interviews, it’s hard to put the book down when reading what Mavers had to say.

It is a shame that when the interview was conducted (I think around 2001?) he still hadn’t softened his view on the album, time was not a healer in this instance. It’s a shame Mavers can’t hear what the rest of us can. It’s comforting to know he still enjoyed playing music and still had a burning passion for it, even if he was just often playing in his house.

It would’ve been nice to hear bassist John Powers thoughts in this book although he didn’t want anything to do with it. At this point he didn’t want to be stuck in the past and thought The La’s was a point in time and not worth talking about. It’s reassuring though in recent years Power has started covering The La’s songs in his own set and seems happy to run back those memories more now.

Without revealing too much, this book is an amazing read even if you’re not a fan of The La’s, about the rise and fall of one of the 90s most influential bands.

[Rory McCann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s an entertaining book that clears some things up but with a band like The La’s and a man like Lee Mavers, even more questions arise, unanswered. Respect to MW Macefield for doing the book though and his journey writing it - there’s no other book on the band still 20 odd years later and his remains the definitive history of the group. I am very envious of his experiences hearing the unreleased songs though!

I hope Lee is happy and maybe one day we will get to hear his music the way he wants it to be heard.

[anjana · Rating 5 out of 5]

i miss them soso much

[Jestoon425 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished In Search of The La's - A Secret Liverpool by Matthew Macefield. The book concerns the afformentioned band and the reclusive nature of their leader Lee Mavers - who disappeared from the public eye after being dissatisfied with the band's first and only album.

One thing is clear from the offset - Macefield is nothing if not dedicated to his project. Spending five years tracking down and interviewing every member of The La's to ever be - of which there are roughly a dozen - and writing their stories in a coherent narrative would've been a task for any writer.

That Macefield wasn't even a journalist at the time, let alone an author is even more incredible, especially as his wording - concise but descriptive - flows so brilliantly off the page.

Particularly interesting are tales of Mavers re-recording the album - to the tune of several hundred thousand pounds - partially out of spite, guitarist John "Boo" Byrne playing lullabies to Mavers and perennial bassist John Power before bed, and John Power changing a song lyric from "Won't you follow me down?" to "won't you sing the backing vocals?" when Mavers refused to harmonize on the song out of jealousy.

Ultimately the book is a source of inspiration for all to follow their dreams no matter how batsh*t they are. Big kudos to both The La's and Macefield.