Ten Thousand Apologies

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What to expect

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZE

'The story of a band that's always on the brink: of stardom, of madness, of brilliance, of disgrace' Miranda Sawyer, Observer
'You begin to wonder why more biographies aren't tackled with such invention' Record Collector
'This book is a rarity' Mark Lanegan
'One of the finest music books in aeons' Kevin Barry

From the mountains of Algeria to the squats of South London via sectarian Northern Ireland, Ten Thousand Apologies is the sordid and thrilling story of the country's most notorious cult band, Fat White Family. Loved and loathed in equal measure since their formation in 2011, the relentlessly provocative, stunningly dysfunctional "drug band with a rock problem" have dedicated themselves to constant chaos and total creative freedom at all costs.

Like a tragicomic penny dreadful dreamed up by a mutant hybrid of Jean Genet, the Dadaists and Mark E. Smith, the Fat Whites' story is a frequently jaw-dropping epic of creative insurrection, narcotic excess, mental illness, wanderlust, self-sabotage, fractured masculinity, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute art.

Co-written with lucidity and humour by singer Lias Saoudi and acclaimed author Adelle Stripe, Ten Thousand Apologies is that rare thing: a music book that barely features any music, a biography as literary as any novel, and a confessional that does not seek forgiveness. This is the definitive account of Fat White Family's disgraceful and radiant jihad - a depraved, romantic and furious gesture of refusal to a sanitised era.

Critics Review

  • The story of a band that’s always on the brink: of stardom, of madness, of brilliance, of disgrace . . . The excess disguises the true heart of Ten Thousand Apologies which is a sort of yearning, a search for enlightenment, a way to live but especially for a home

    Observer

  • A jaw-dropping rollercoaster of tragi-comic mishaps and gargantuan drug consumption

    Rolling Stone UK

  • A bruising, exhilarating read, which captures the nihilistic energy of this strange and brilliant band

    Independent

  • A fastidious portrait of chaos, displacement and bad acid

    Mojo ****

  • The tale is told by award-winning writer Adelle Stripe in a striking third-person prose that gives Ten Thousand Apologies a novelistic tone, interspersed with frontman Lias Saoudi’s raw, dark, mocking recollections that are also very, very funny at times . . . you begin to wonder why more biographies aren’t tackled with such invention . . . There’s no great redemption but it offers a quietly triumphant denouement that’s more palatable than boring atonement

    Record Collector ****

  • From Algeria to London and everywhere in between, Ten Thousand Apologies makes most books about the artist as a young man, the music biz and being in a band just a little bit pallid. Music book of the year? Already? Don’t bet against it

    Crack Magazine

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