Virginia Betts is a tutor, writer poet and actor from Suffolk. An eternal optimist and mid-life-creative advocate, she’d like to point out that it’s never too late to live the dream. And with this month’s blog, some ink to inspire and ignite your creative fire.

This August I have some really COOL interviews for you to help ride the heatwave: I spoke to the multi-talented Jane Savidge, legend of the music industry, instigator of Britpop and co-founder of Savage and Best, about her new book. I also spoke to local legend, Bam Barrow, author, musician, co-founder of Urban Pigs Press (with James Jenkins) and the WACOS (Writers and Creatives of Suffolk – with me) group. So, keep reading and join me for this thrilling ride! 

Books by Virginia Betts

Well readers, I did it! I finished my novel before last month came to an end, and I launched my second poetry collection out into the world. You can pick up all of my books on Amazon and I’ll post links to my website blog, here: Tourist to the Sun (poetry) The Camera Obscure (gothic tales) and That Little Voice (poetry). To celebrate the release of the latest poetry collection, I ran a competition, and I was happy to have been able to send off free signed copies to two lovely participants. Thanks to everyone who signed up! Coming next, maybe in time for the festive season, is my debut novel, Burnt Lungs and Bitter Sweets. It’s currently in production and it’s a dark and inappropriately funny slice of urban grit about a punk friendship running four more than four decades. It’s mad, bad and dangerous to read – nostalgic for every wrong reason. Here’s a sneaky cover reveal, and you can link here to find a spotify playlist  to go with the book.

Image by Cody Sexton – Anxiety Driven Graphics

I don’t know about you, but I have really been struggling to get motivated in the last couple of weeks when it’s been so hot. I’d love to know if anyone has any tips to stop me from falling asleep in the hot afternoons, or indeed how on earth they get to sleep when they are supposed to. I think my son had the right idea when he installed an air conditioning unit. Leaving the house for exercise and changing the routine works best for me to wake my brain up. Has anyone got a suggestion on how to keep going? 

However, I have tried my hardest to find interesting things to tell you about. After coming down from the Primadonna fest, I had to find some other things which were just as exciting, and I did. For a start, I have been busy working with Authors electric, where I write a little blog every 29th of the month. If you are a writer, they still have spaces to fill, so hop over and take a look to see if there’s anything you’d like to offer. 

I also attended a great afternoon of Words and Verses with Get on the Soapbox at Cuppa in Felixstowe, the popular café and supporter of the arts. If you haven’t been to one of the events held there, I recommend it. And the food and drinks on offer are an excellent accompaniment to the entertainment. There were a whole host of spoken word acts, including me, on August 3rd and there will certainly be more Soapbox events soon from Amy Wragg, who can usually be found at The Steamboat in Ipswich every month.

Coming up on August 20th is storytelling at The Dove in Ipswich with Bards Aloud, another fine, regular spoken word event with a host of talented poets and storytellers. And also, something I have never been to, mainly because it usually clashes with something I am doing, Folk East. Here’s the details of the full line up this year. It’s a wonderful mix of music, performance and spoken word and I certainly intend to get there at some point. Justine de Mierre will be there this year. I attended her Tales and Tunes event on August 14th, which is a vibrant online mix of spoken word, stories and music. I had a great time listening and performing. You can check out some examples on Facebook and YouTube. Justine goes live four times a year at the Two Sisters Arts Centre in Trimley. I’m lucky enough to have been invited to appear in her ‘Autumn Marvels’ on 20th September this year and ticket links are here. 

Other events I am taking part in are: a speaker at the WI Literary Lunch – info and tickets here. I am reprising the role of Patricia Highsmith in Suzanne Hawkes’ popular play, Pat and Ron: Writing Crime in Akenfield. It is touring from 10th October and venues include Otley Hall, Harvest House and others – more information and ticket links coming soon! I also have a prominent role in the Suffolk Poetry Society, which is a ‘Stanza’ group of The Poetry Society. I’ll be taking a group of brilliant poets to perform at Aldeburgh Festival’s PIN A (Poetry in Aldeburgh) on 8th November. If you click the links, you will find out how to enter the National Poetry Competition. 

Coming up very soon on August 31st, is Pay it Foreword, part of the Foreword Festival, the only literary Fringe Festival in the world. Hosted in Bury St Edmunds, you can meet authors and Independent Publishers. Click the link for details. Finally, don’t miss WAMFEST! I do have a ‘lunchtime jam’ slot in October (hosted by Ruth Dugdall), and there’s so much going on, check it all out in the link! 

And if you are in need of some art with positivity, there’s still time to catch Yoko Ono’s exhibition, Music of the Mind at the Tate Modern. I enjoyed becoming part of the art, climbed in a bag and got stuck, and spent four happy hours there. I left feeling happy.

As I mentioned, this hot August I have some really cool interviews for you to read.  First, Jane Savidge.  

Jane Savidge is widely credited as one of the main instigators of Britpop in the 90s. She was co-founder and head of the PR company, Savage and Best, who represented Suede, Pulp, The Verve, Elastica and many other successful artists. She is the author of Lunch With The Wild Frontiers, and Here They Come With Their Make-Up On. Her latest book is part of the Bloomsbury 331/3 series and takes us on a journey through the Pulp’s This is Hardcore album.

Hello, Jane. I really enjoyed hearing about your Britpop days at the Primadonna Festival recently. For those who were not there, or have not discovered your books yet, tell us a bit about how you got started in the industry and came to be co-founder of Savage and Best.

I fell into a life in music quite accidentally – I was studying Philosophy at Nottingham University but was also in a band called Kill Devil Hills who were managed by a guy called Ian Dickson who went on to be the Australian version of Simon Cowell. Anyway, he said “let’s go to London to try to get you a record deal, my girlfriend has a music PR company down there” – so we travelled to London and hit on the idea of climbing through the window to her office to surprise her. At first, when we climbed through the window, she thought I was a pop star, then she got annoyed and asked me to type up a press release for her which I did – except I completely changed it, and she couldn’t believe how great it was. (I’m not boasting, that’s what she said!) The next day she rang me and said she had had a dream about working with me so was I interested? I said, “only if you get rid of those idiots you work with, and I can do PR for my own band!” And she agreed! And so began the strangest, craziest job in the world = making stories up to get new bands into the newspapers. And I was very good at it! I started off doing The Shamen, and Gaye Bykers On Acid, then got poached by Virgin Records where I looked after Roy Orbison – I know he’s not new! - before finally setting up Savage and Best where we looked after Pixies, Cocteau Twins, The Farm, The Fall, The Verve, Charlatans, Suede, Pulp, Elastica, Menswear, Auteurs, Longpigs and about a hundred other bands.

Your anecdotes, (including that ‘Michael Jackson/Jarvis Cocker’ incident), are very entertaining and a real nostalgia trip. Do you have any favourite, or memorable incidents you can share here?

I guess most of the incidents are retold in the three books I have written so far though if you put me on the spot – in the first book there’s a fairly outrageous and quite funny story about accidentally stumbling across a huge stash of an illegal substance when I was shown to the wrong hotel room – where a very big band were staying - at T In The Park in Glasgow. And in my second book, Here They Come With Their Make-Up On, there’s another story about the wildest party I’ve ever been to – with Suede in Paris in the mid 1990s. But other than that, they are all lovely and life-affirming so no, I shouldn’t share them here!

The book, This Is Hardcore, is the perfect companion to the album; I listened to each track whilst reading. It is insightful, witty and brilliant – a bit like having a conversation with your music-nerd mates, late at night, huddled around the record player in a dark and smoke-filled room. I know it’s part of a particular series, and that you have already written books about Britpop and Suede, but do you plan to do more in the series on other albums, and which albums would you like to write about? 

Thank you for those comments. Well, I am currently 75,000 words into a novel about celebrities who live in a very fancy old people’s home in Yorkshire so that’s my priority to finish at the moment. – BUT if I were to write another book in the 33 1/3 series, it would either be about Elastica’s self-titled debut album or Ultrasound’s debut, Everything Picture. I did want to do Murmur by REM, but someone already snagged it!

What is your favourite song or album of all time and why?

Murmur by REM. It was my growing-up album, mysterious and carefree, it felt like it was from another world. 

What do you like to read and why? 

I mainly read fiction, and I have a huge library of first editions - I have been collecting since leaving Uni - and my favourite writers are Milan Kundera, Ian McEwan, Iris Murdoch – particularly The Sea, The Sea and The Black Prince - Kazuo Ishiguro, Donna Tartt and Richard Yates. So, I suppose I like literary fiction because it makes me think! 

Finally, do you have any words of wisdom or inspiration to leave us with? 

I will try! As much as the books I have written so far come from direct experience, I actually love the research and the little rabbit holes you go down when you are trying to write something. Sometimes you end up not using the fifty pages you’ve just read or the short BFI film on the subject or area you want to write about, but it will stay with you anyway and it will just better inform your writing knowing you have it there in reserve. 

Thanks so much for this Jane, it was such a pleasure to talk to you!

This is Hardcore, by Jane Savidge (Bloomsbury)

I also spoke to the fascinating Bam Barrow, a local author from Ipswich. He’s a filmmaker, musician, the co-founder and editor of Urban Pigs Press, and has written two books, Arcanum Fabulus and CVLT OF CTHXS. 

It’s been a pleasure to read and get to know your work, and you as a person. What an interesting and original mind you have! Have you always been ‘a writer’ and what inspires you?

I suppose in some ways I always have been a writer, though I didn’t start writing articles until 2015. I started in film as a kid, writing scripts, shooting music videos and short films etc, but as the ideas began to outgrow the lack of budgets, the easier and less stressful route was into writing, and with a little support it has bloomed into something I never thought would grow the way it has.

Tell us about your books and also, your involvement in Urban Pigs Press.

I have two books available CVLT of CTHXS is a series of short horror, folk, occult stories that all blend together in an interpretive way. Think David Lynch meets HP Lovecraft. That kind of disjointed feel. The other, Arcanum Fabulas is a collection of short stories I’ve written over the years spanning from all sorts of genres from horror to comedy to crime. I suppose they are best described as weird tales. Urban Pigs Press is the brainchild of my wonderful friend and fellow author, James Jenkin, and I am proud to be able to say I am a par of it. We are an up-and-coming indie press based in Ipswich. Our first endeavour was the Hunger anthology, a collection of short stories from the greatest indie and underground writers we know around the globe, with the profits going towards FIND – the Ipswich food bank charity. The next year or two is going to be a very busy one, working with some of the finest authors, (Virginia Betts being one of them) to bring their work the attention it deserves.

Thank you! I am very honoured to be part of it. So, Bam, how would you describe yourself in one sentence?

Oh! Difficult question…Writer, musician, filmmaker, general pain in the backside with an unquenchable obsession for the weird and extremes of human behaviour.

What really ‘gets your goat’?

How long do you have? Narcissism and stupidity are big gear grinders, especially if they can be avoided. The current climate of divide and conquer disappoints me. It seems perfectly fine to be completely divided as a people, without realising that is exactly this which keeps us subjugated. I would say that it is more important than ever to read and absorb subject matter from opposing viewpoints and not stay in your own single-minded trench. You’re more likely to fall for the words of someone who wants to step on you for their own goals if you stay in your own lane. It seems we’re doomed as a species to repeat the same mistakes ad nauseum and I worry about that a lot.

What do you like to read and why?

Hunter S Thompson is my favourite, the blurred lines between fiction and non-fiction is beautiful and hasn’t been properly replicated. Fiction-wise, my go-to reads are Tolkien and Frank Herbert. I love both Lord of the Rings and Dune for very different reasons. And I’m always reading about true crime and esotericism.

Do you have any words of wisdom to end on?

I would say you should never be afraid to speak your mind in an expressive way, educate and explore in ways that aren’t comfortable or obvious to you and let the weird out…it’s the thing that makes you interesting!

Books by Bam Barrow

I usually give you recommended reading at the end, and I think I might have given you some food for thought from these two amazing interviews. However, the word is both Jackie Carreira and A J Deane have books out: Notebook Number 9 (a novel) and Portals (poetry). Meet them at the Pay it Foreword event mentioned above. What are you waiting for? Get reading! And get writing too!

One last thing before I go: don’t forget, if you read any books, please leave a review. There’s nothing better than a review to make bring the sunshine to any author’s day. Not that we need more sunshine right now.

Don’t forget to ‘tune in’ in September, when one of my interviewees is confirmed to be the amazing Frances Quinn, author of The Smallest Man and That Bonesetter Woman. 

Stay cool and creative,

Love,

Virginia. 

Virginia has written numerous articles and fiction, written for stage and radio, and published three books, The Camera Obscure, Tourist to the Sun and That Little Voice. Her fourth books is a Punk Novel, Burnt Lungs and Bitter Sweets, coming soon!