Alternatives to Valium by Alastair Mckay

Alternatives to Valium by Alastair Mckay

Alternatives to Valium is ajoyful smash-hit memoir set in the pre-internet days of record shops, typewriters, fanzines, DIY punk bands, mass unemployment and creative ingenuity.

'The interviews are wonderful, peek-behind-the-curtain deconstructions of the creaky edifice of celebrity… It’s all killer, no filler – and it is all, as McKay himself might say, very punk'

-- Roger Cox * The Scotsman *

'McKay’s big-ticket stars rarely disappoint – his account of a fractious meeting with the Pogues’ Shane McGowan is enthrallingly awful – but his tales of trying to be punk rock in “a Status Quo town” may be more resonant still'

* Uncut Magazine *

'So entertaining.. so lovely to revisit that era of punk in Edinburgh'

* BBC Radio Scotland *

'Anyone who grew up in a small Scottish town at a time when music was a matter of life and death will find much to identify with'

* The Herald *

'A hugely enjoyable read'

* Glasgow Music City Tours *

'Brims with energy, enthusiasm and effervescence… totally from the heart.'

* Press & Journal *

'Alastair McKay reflects on the incredible legacy of Seventies music'

* Evening Standard *

'Distils nostalgia so effectively that it doesn’t matter if you never shared any of it in the first place ... It’s great fun, and yet has a last chapter that is as powerfully elegiac and understated as anything I have read for ages. He’s a talented bugger, curse him, even if he can’t sing a note’

-- David Robinson * Books From Scotland *

'Bombastic when appropriate and pensive when required, McKay’s excellent prose carries the energy, opinion, and outgoingness that’s rarely expressed by the reserved personality he tells us of'

-- Jo Higgs * Snack Magazine *

'Fans of Alastair McKay’s wry, thoughtful, precision-tooled writing… are in for a treat'

* Scotsman Arts and Culture Summer Edit *

Alastair McKay grew up in North Berwick, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. He has worked for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Black Book, Out, Blah Blah Blah and The Independent. He lives in London. 

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781846975813
ISBN 10	1846975816
Title	Alternatives to Valium
Author	Alastair Mckay
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Birlinn General
Year published	2022-04-07
Number of pages	304
Prizes	Short-listed for Saltire Society Scottish Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.