JAMES FEARNLEY reads from HERE COMES EVERYBODY

Here Comes Everybody (Chicago Review Press)

From the one of the founding members of the legendary punk band The Pogues comes a blistering memoir of the fury and passion that ignited their lives and their music.

The Pogues came barreling out of Kings Cross, London in the early 80s—a riotous sound of punk rock and poetic Celtic folk that would turn traditional Irish music on its head. With emotive songwriter Shane MacGowan at the helm,  the Pogues were destined for world tours with the likes of Elvis Costello, U2 and Bob  Dylan.

In Here Comes Everybody: The Story of the Pogues, James Fearnley paints a clear, often dark picture of the fantastic highs and dramatic lows of life in one of the most original bands of their era. Drawing from his personal experiences as well as the series of journals and the letters he wrote throughout the band’s career, Fearnley reveals how the drifters who made up the Pogues, led  by MacGowan, succeeded, according to Billy Bragg, in “taking Irish music and throwing it down the cellar steps.”

The exuberance of their live performances coupled with relentless touring spiraled into years of hard drinking and excess which eventually took their toll—most infamously on MacGowan, but also on the rest of the band—causing them to break up after nine years (though reuniting in 2001 and touring ever since). Here, their story is told with beauty, humor and honesty by James Fearnley, who with a novelist’s eye brings to life the youthful friendships, the concerts, the conflicts and the eventual collapse, in a hugely compelling and moving account.

James Fearnley was born in 1954 in Worsley, Manchester. played guitar in various bands, including the Nips with Shane MacGowan, before becoming the accordion player who still tours with the Pogues. He lives in Los Angeles.