Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has announced the upcoming publication of his first memoir, Tenement Kid. The book, which is set to hit the shelves on October 28th, will cover a time period spanning from the singer’s 1960s’ upbringing in the south of Glasgow through to the release of Screamadelica in 1991.
#TenementKid: the memoir from Bobby Gillespie, coming October 2021. His story, in his own words, up to the recording and release of Screamadelica.
Pre-orders – including signed special editions – from https://t.co/u2r8kWgAzO pic.twitter.com/jJUw6qSMeT
— Primal Scream (@ScreamOfficial) March 10, 2021
In a press release on the White Rabbit Books website, Gillespie said of the memoir,which shares its title with a track from Primal Scream’s 2013 studio album More Light: “The publisher (at White Rabbit) Lee Brackstone has been hassling me for years to write a book. I always rebuffed him with some excuse or the other. At the beginning of 2020 I wanted to challenge myself creatively and do something I had never done before. I didn’t want to write another rock record, I’d done plenty of those, so, I decided to write a memoir of my early life and worked on it all through the summer, Autumn and Winter of 2020 and here it is. It is titled ‘Tenement Kid’ as I spent the first ten years of my life living in one. I am very proud of it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.”
Publisher Lee Brackstone said “‘I have been trying to persuade Bobby to write a book for a decade because I knew he would write something that is so much more than your usual rockstar memoir. ‘Tenement Kid’ is many things: the story of Primal Scream and the early years of Jesus and Mary Chain, a paean to Glasgow in the ‘60s and ‘70s, long since disappeared, a work of social history and memoir that burns with political fervour and driven intensity. It is also of course a compelling account of punk, the acid house years and the Second Summer of Love. After the year we have all experienced it is the tonic we all need: a joyful, celebratory and beautifully written book which will remind us of better times, just – as we hope – those better times might be returning.”
Gillespie co-founded Primal Scream with Jim Beattie in 1982 and has led the band ever since. In addition to recording eleven studio albums with Primal Scream as a vocalist, the Scot has enjoyed stints as a bassist with fellow Glaswegian outfit The Wake and drummed for East Kilbride noise pop pioneers The Jesus And Mary Chain from 1984 to 1986, performing on their acclaimed debut album Pyschocandy.
Screamadelica – which marks the cut-off point for Tenement Kid – saw Primal Scream move from the post-punk indie sound they had honed in the 1980s towards a dance-rock style influenced by the burgeoning acid house scene. The album, produced by the late Andy Weatherall, would go on to win the inaugural Mercury Prize, and became a milestone LP for the Creation Records label founded by Gillespie’s long-time friend Alan McGee.
McGee and Gillespie’s early years in Glasgow will also be chronicled in new biopic Creation Stories, which is scheduled for release on March 20th. The film, which has been co-written by Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, has been described by The Times as “an authentic capturing of a chaotic world.”
