GUY MANKOWSKI

 I was honoured to host this event for Lincoln Book Festival. Jane Savidge- as cofounder of the publicists Savidge and Best was behind much of the genesis of the Britpop movement and stewarded the successful public image (after years of obscurity) of Pulp, Suede and other key Britpop bands that reshaped our musical landscape and mindset. I recall as a teenager on the Isle of Wight reading the 'What's Eating Jarvis Cocker? Heroin? Porn?' headline of Select Magazine in my local newsagents, never dreaming I'd get to talk to the person who came up with that whole angle.  Audrey Golden talked about the research process behind bringing to light the painfully overlooked story of the women of Factory Records. Despite this being the night The Last Dinner Party were (not) playing in Lincoln we had a crowd of discerning musical types who asked great questions.  Many others made this event a beautiful occasion. My partner Rachel put together an incredible Pulp / Factory playlist th...

When I started this blog in 2011 I posted an entry reflecting on the work of Warp Records artist Lonelady, aka Julie Campbell. In 2015, during the course of researching my novel 'How I Left The National Grid', we were introduced and we began corresponding. Our work at the time shared a psychic terrain. This terrain contained preoccupations with Manchester and Factory Records. With how the legacies of both inform the haunting aspects of the city's interzones, concrete flyovers, and tower blocks. The conversation itself teetered on the margins of semantics and terminology. Both of us have tried to make sense of these concerns using walking and words, and the brittle aesthetics of post-punk. She has also used synthesisers, guitars and other forms of music which crackle and twitch like a frightened metropolis. This interview with Pop Matters is a sanitised (believe it or not) version of the chats we had which covered this hinterland. Quite why both of us, at this point in ...