Interview with Kevin Cole, author of Days of Throbbing Gristle

[[deleted user]]

I recently did an interview with author Kevin Cole, with focus on his work Days of Throbbing Gristle


and here I share it with you:
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1- Which year did you start DOTG and which year did you finished it for publication?

I wrote the first draft in 1996. I wrote the final draft in 2013. A lot of life happened in-between!

2- The novel is an 80’s rhapsody. Why this particular decade?

That’s just the decade I happened to grow up in. And since DOTG’s a coming-of-age yarn, it was the appropriate time to write about. And believe me, it was as bad as you’ve heard.

3- Which ones are your favorite characters in the story and why?

Sam, the main character, is naturally my fave. Once I pretended to be him, I found I could say whatever I wanted—a liberating experience! Other than him … oddly enough, there’s a character called Revelation that I also found fun to write. I hesitate admitting that, since Revelation is a genuinely evil person. But his crazed artistic point-of-view was just so easy to spout out. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.

4- You write many thoughts and dialogues with accents, from both United States and England. How did you manage to do that? Did you study these accents? How was the process?

The American accents all came easily to me since I’ve known people who talk like that all my life. The British English required a lot of research and I don’t pretend the results are perfect. I just hope they’re entertaining enough for UK eyes to give me a pass on the mistakes. I’ve had two confirmed English readers who told me just that. They were probably just being polite.

5- Which place to do you dig more? Texas or Sheffield? Why?

I don’t know if I should admit this, but I’ve never been to Sheffield. Or England. Just Heathrow. Does that count? I wanted Sam to come from a depressing place. Since I’ve been consuming British entertainment all my life, I’d always heard that the North of England was not exactly the sunniest of places. Sheffield attracted me because it was an industrial town, the kind of place that inspired gloomy 80’s bands.

6- Any aspects of your novel you got dissatisfied with after it was published? Which ones?

No, nothing. I put everything in that book and didn’t release it until I was satisfied it was good enough.

7- DOTG is packed with cultural references. Both classics and underground stuff such as bands, books, brands, etc. Do you like all of those mentioned in the book?

I actually share Sam’s taste in books. But I’m totally opposite him when it comes to music. He hates music. I love it!

8- If you would live a day as Samuel Hay, what would you do that you haven’t done in your real life?

Well, considering what happens to Sam in the end, I don’t know if I’d want to be him for even a day. But his story will continue in a future book. I wish I could pump out it now, but these things take time, to quote Morrissey.