Pete Townsend with Beth Porter and Ben Please
JULENA DRUMI reports on an unexpected collaboration between two south of Scotland musicians and a rock superstar
A couple of musicians working in a quiet corner of south west Scotland have drawn the attention of one of the world’s loudest rock guitarists. They are the Bookshop Band, a duo who write music inspired by books and writers and perform in independent bookshops around the world. He is Pete Townshend, a member of the legendary group The Who.
Townsend was so “blown away” when he was gifted a set of Ben Please and Beth Porter’s CDs that he got in touch and suggested working together.
In the end Townshend (himself a former bookshop owner) not only produced the album and recorded it at his own studio but played on every track.
The Bookshop Band are based in Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway, and contribute to the Wigtown annual book festival. They have produced 13 albums, which they sell at their gigs and online.
Townsend said: “I listened to the CDs in my car as I was travelling and I was blown away, completely blown away.” Himself once a writer and publisher, he described their music as “extraordinary”.
He said: “I got into the whole Bookshop Band technique, which is just two people making this sound like a symphony orchestra. Each song was special in its own way.”
Townshend has produced Porter and Please’s new album, Emerge, Return, which includes 13 songs inspired by books responding to themes including the oppression of bodies, free will and free speech. They include Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Book Of Dust, by Philip Pullman, and The Testaments by Margaret Atwood.
Porter said: “Playing these songs live and getting to share stories in bookshops is what this band is all about,” she said.
Making music: The Bookshop Band with Pete Townsend
The Bookshop Band was formed in Beth and Ben’s former home city of Bath in 2010, as a collaboration between a group of musicians and local indie bookshop, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights. The duo now live in Wigtown, Scotland’s National Book Town.
The new album, which comes out on 28 June and is their first commercial release, has already attracted critical praise. Shaun Keaveny described it as “hypnotically beautiful” on Radio 2’s The Folk Show, and Zoe Ball said the band as “amazing!” on her Breakfast Show.
The title comes from a song inspired by Robert Macfarlane’s Underland, which glimpses underworlds and morality in the scale of deep time.
Please said: “It’s been a rollercoaster working with Pete Townshend, really exciting and not something we could ever have predicted happening.
“He brought his great musicality and experience to the recording process, doing things we’d never have thought of ourselves, offering a different perspective on the songs. That’s the value of working with a great producer.
“And the fact that he ended up playing on every track added an extra dimension – I think that fans will hear his influence woven right the way through the album.”
The band, which has worked with many celebrated authors, plays gigs in small bookshops across the UK, USA and Europe. It is much admired among writers, with best-sellers such as Kate Mosse (The Ghost Ship) specifically asking them to write songs for the book launches.
The band has existed largely off-grid, occupying a creative space between the music and book worlds. Their approach is to read books, respond by writing a song, then bring the work to new audiences by performing in (mostly independent) bookshops.
The 28 June release will take place alongside a podcast series of conversations with the authors of some of the books which inspired its tracks (15-22 June). It will be supported with a full, 71-date UK tour by Ben and Beth, mostly in indie bookshops – starting at Glastonbury Festival with a set at Toad Hall.
Porter said: “Ben and I are really excited to be touring this album. Playing these songs live and getting to share stories in bookshops is what this band is all about.”
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