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.
