Spaceships Over Glasgow – Mogwai and Misspent Youth

On The Table Read, “The Best Book Reader Magazine in the UK“, author Stuart Braithwaite of MOGWAI releases Spaceships Over Glasgow, dedicated to the alternative music scene of the 1980s.

Born the son of Scotland’s last telescope-maker, Stuart Braithwaite was perhaps always destined for a life of psychedelic adventuring on the furthest frontiers of noise in MOGWAI, one of the best loved and most groundbreaking psychedelic rock bands of the past three decades. 

Stuart Braithwaite

Modestly delinquent at school, Stuart developed an early appetite for ‘alternative’ music in what might arguably be described as its halcyon days, the late 80s. Discovering bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and Jesus and Mary Chain, and attending seminal gigs by The Cure and Nirvana, Stuart made up for his indifference to school work with a dedication to rock and roll … and of course the fledgling hedonism that comes with it.

Following the initial outing in the unfortunately (and provocatively named), Pregnant Nun, Stuart – alongside teenage friends Dominic Aitchison and Martin Bulloch – launched a new band MOGWAI in 1995 and made their debut with a first single ‘Tuner/Lower’ a year later.

Championed by the legendary John Peel, and making a name for themselves for tinnitus-inducing live shows and critically acclaimed releases from their debut, Mogwai Young Team, to their tenth studio album As the Love Continues which went to No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart in 2021.

Spaceships Over Glasgow

Spaceships Over Glasgow is a love letter to live music; to the passionate abandon we’ve all felt in the crowd (and some of us, if lucky enough, from the stage) at a truly incendiary gig. It is also the story of a life lived on the edge; of the high-times and hazardous pit-stops of international touring with a band of misfits and miscreants.

Stuart Braithwaite, author of Spaceships Over Glasgow: “I am immensely proud to be working with White Rabbit on my first book Spaceships Over Glasgow. The process of researching it and writing it has been challenging but one that I’ve really enjoyed. It’s incredibly exciting to be able to share it with the world.”

Lee Brackstone, the publisher of White Rabbit: “From his early years in thrall to the giants of alternative music like MBV, JAMC and Sonic Youth to improbable sonic misadventures on tour with one of the greatest psychedelic bands of the present day, Mogwai, Stuart Braithwaite’s memoir is a funny and righteous celebration of a life lived on the road and in the studio, dedicated to the pursuit of aural (and occasionally) psychic enlightenment and obliteration.”

Mogwai

Mogwai are a Scottish rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums).

White Rabbit

White Rabbit is dedicated to publishing the most innovative books and voices in music and literature. Building on the uniquely successful publishing he was responsible for at Faber Social with authors like the Beastie Boys, Viv Albertine and Jon Savage, Brackstone’s titles for his Orion imprint indicate the range and personality of a list that will encompass memoir, history, fiction, translation, illustrated books and high-spec limited editions.

White Rabbit has already published two Sunday Times bestsellers, Mark Lanegan’s Sing Backwards And Weep and Chris Frantz’s Remain In Love.

The Orion Publishing Group

Where every story matters.

The Orion Publishing Group is one of the UK’s leading publishers. Our mission is to bring the best publishing to the greatest variety of people. Open, agile, passionate and innovative – we believe that everyone will find something they love at Orion.

Founded in 1991, the Orion Publishing Group today publishes under eight main imprints: Gollancz, the UK’s No1 science fiction and fantasy imprint; Laurence King Publishing, one of the world’s leading publishers of books and gifts on the creative arts; Orion Fiction, a heartland for brilliant commercial fiction; Orion Spring, home of wellbeing and health titles written by passionate celebrities and world-renowned experts; Seven Dials, for the very best commercial non-fiction, beautifully designed and produced; Trapeze for commercial fiction and non-fiction books that start conversations; Phoenix, a bespoke imprint publishing fiction and memoir that combine literary merit and commercial potential; and Weidenfeld & Nicolson, one of the most prestigious and dynamic literary imprints in British and international publishing; and White Rabbit, dedicated to publishing the most innovative books and voices in music and literature;

The Orion Publishing Group is part of Hachette UK which is a leading UK trade publishing group.

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