Nige Tassell
@nigetassell
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Author of Searching for Dexys Midnight Runners / Field of Dreams / Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids? and seven others. Agent: kevin @thenorthlitagency .com
The hill country of Somerset
Joined September 2009
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Just in case you fancied treating yourself (or the Dexys fan in your life), here's where you can pre-order SEARCHING FOR DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS.
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Very jealous of my friend Robbie. He lives in Rees-Mogg's constituency and the monocled mutineer knocked on his door the other day.
Robbie got to say "You disgust me" to his face.
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NEW BOOK KLAXON!
It's back to music for me with WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE C86 KIDS?, in which I track down and meet members of all 22 bands on the NME's legendary C86 cassette to find out how life panned out. Some became rock stars. Some became driving instructors.
Out Aug 18.
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TV companies still don't realise that the most attractive ties in the Third Round aren't the all-Premier League games.
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I've said it before, but the best live performance on The Word wasn't Nirvana or L7. It was this lot. Magnificent.
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No, not having it.
You can't move from third person to first person (and from singular to plural) in a single sentence. Null and void.
Aston Villa Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Steven Gerrard as our new Head Coach. 🟣
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A member of Kraftwerk is eating his breakfast about three yards away from me.
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Best pumpkin ever, to be Frank.
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The idea that Gid Coe's old show was simply three hours of "guitar music" shows the writer of this piece never listened to it. For starters, the last programme featured Bessie S, King Tubby, Bhundus, Roches, Del Shannon, Morricone, Waits, Astley, Joni...
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God, I've only just realised. Donald Trump is Eric Cartman.
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"There's a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets..."
What is Taylor Swift singing? Wrong answers only.
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Man moans that his team had to play on a Wed and then on a Sat.
Truro City finished their season playing 13 games in 28 days, with some of their 'home' games being played 200 miles away in Gloucester. Their players also have day jobs. And they don't travel by private jet.
"It's unacceptable" 😡
Pep Guardiola questioned why Manchester City played three days after facing Real Madrid.
Thoughts?
#BBCFootball
#FACup
#MCICHE
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The DJ in this Kefalonia bar is exclusively playing tracks requested by the punters. It's my mission to get him to spin some HMHB by the end of the night.
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Buzzcocks played at half-time at Man Utd u23s. Right and proper.
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Just seen a poster for a gig in my village. There are worse tribute band names than Creedence Clearwater Revival Revival.
Admittedly, it's no Earth, Wind For Hire...
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Today's publication puts me into double figures. Ten books in eleven years.
I only intended to write one. It's become the healthiest of addictions.
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Ryley Towler left Bristol City for Portsmouth today. Pompey will be getting this kind of value in their post-match interviews. Simply the best interview with a footballer ever.
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So this is what I've been up to for the last few months, a pursuit that's taken me from an ice cream factory to the boardroom of EMI, via Florida, California, Norway... and Dudley.
***NEW!***
Ladies and Gentlemen we give you, Nige Tassell and Searching for Dexys Midnight Runners
Whatever happened to the last gang in town? Find out 06-06-24
Buy Now
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Delighted to reveal the cover for the paperback of Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?, out in late May.
Loving those extra words on there...
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I'm a writer because there was a public library on my street growing up. I spent so much time there.
My kids are creative kids, fuelled by voracious reading when they were younger and Saturday morning visits to our local library.
This guy is (excuse my French) a fucking idiot.
How does a Mail journalist think we should solve the crisis in local services caused by Tory underfunding?
More cuts!
"councils will have to make fundamental decisions. Do they continue to fund libraries? How many families go to libraries? I havn't been to a library for 30yrs"
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Gid Coe ensuring no dry eyes with his selections in tonight's final show (Check My Heart, Hammond Song, Deborah's Theme...).
Why do station controllers routinely get it wrong?
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It's 'affected', by the way. So glad my kids don't go to your school.
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Whenever I see this book in a secondhand shop, I always buy it to give to a friend who I think will appreciate its exquisiteness. This copy's coming your way,
@chris_sutton73
.
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Farewell - but not goodbye - to two radio legends in
@marcrileydj
and
@gidcoe
. Weekday evenings won't be the same again, but we'll all be tuning in from 10-12 at least. Thank you for all the music over the last umpteen years - and for all the music over the next umpteen years.
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Me on the story of the making of Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?
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Quick toot on my trumpet.
Just been told the first-week sales figures for Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?, which are way higher than I've had for any of my previous books.
Thanks so, so much to everyone who's bought it so far. I've got that Richard Osman in my sights...
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For a little light relief, here's David Byrne doing I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
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Wow. Absolutely honoured and thrilled that Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids? has been announced as one of Rough Trade's books of the year.
Teenage me would surely have been delighted. Fiftysomething me definitely is.
And big congrats on
@berenyi_miki
's number-one smash hit!
BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A tough but rewarding process, we once again shortlist our favourite selection of printed works discovered this year.
A due reminder that our passion for music and its broader histories are sometimes best examined beyond the needle.
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I don't like this news. I don't like Marc Riley no longer soundtracking our dinner.
Schedule Change News 🗞
From Monday the 5th of June we’ll be launching two brand new shows on 6 Music.
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Happy publication day tomorrow to my label-mate
@berenyi_miki
. The most honest, searing, brutal, extraordinary music memoir of the year.
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I once interviewed Chris – for long-gone, much-missed WORD magazine – about slipping song titles into his links (Smiths, Cure, Damned etc). Delighted to see he's upholding the tradition...
For fans of
@EddieHotRods
I crammed fourteen song titles from ‘Teenage Depression’ and ‘Life on the Line’ into tonight’s
@BBCSpringwatch
. ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ still excites and empowers me . RIP Barrie Masters
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I'm sorry, but if the prime minister is choosing not to attend a COBRA meeting about life-endangering weather conditions because he's too busy planning a private party, he needs to be removed immediately. Again, he's a danger to life.
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@simon_proctor
The boundary changes in his constituency, making it less rural, suggest he may well be.
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So sad to hear of Benjamin Zephaniah's passing. One of the most engaging people I've ever interviewed, full of surprises. Deeply profound one minute, flippant and silly the next.
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Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids? is 100 days old today. I've been knocked out by its reception in that time, so big thanks to everyone who's bought it, supported it and/or said lovely things about it. Thrilled that an idea I had in a dream (true!) has connected so much.
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There's going to be no better gag on here today.
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What's that? Oh, it's nothing.
Just a mahoosive review of Searching For Dexys Midnight Runners in today's Times.
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That's my evening made, then.
If you understand what this title means then you will love this book, as Nige Tassell tracks down members of all 22 bands on the original C86 cassette. If you don't know what C86 was, then it might be a BIT niche.
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"As Chancellor, I'll restore economic stability... just as soon as the New Order tour is finished."
🚨 NEW: Labour will shortly begin focusing on Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves in their social media and billboard advertising
[
@Gabriel_Pogrund
[
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Well, there you go. Uncomfortable reading for the powers that be at 6 Music today, I'd suggest.
We pride ourselves on being Too Cool For School. The trendiest Radio Programme team on the planet! That’s probably why we’ve put 150,000 listeners on in the last 3 months and 200,000 in the last 6 months. THANK U FOR LISTENING. WE LOVE YOU ALL! 👊💥⭐️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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It's PUBLICATION DAY for Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?
(Thanks for your patience while I've been giving it the long countdown)
I've seen pics of copies out in the wild – from Vancouver to Sunderland, Melbourne to Cambridge. Wld be great to see more – a virtual C86 map...
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Just had my best night as an author.
The Dexys bash at
@e17RnR_books
was everything I hoped it would be and more.
@CrowleyOnAir
was a brilliant host and Pete Saunders was a terrific player and storyteller.
And an ace crowd that included the lovely
@oharaviolin
and
@SpearePaul
.
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I've only got three Motown records in my collection. Four, tops.
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Nigel Blackwell in the C86 book on HMHB's one and only European tour:
"We were driven by a guy called Bob Proctor who'd been on tour with The Who and had had to look after Keith Moon. He ended up having to come into a Dutch supermarket to show me how to buy a packet of crisps."
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I've given it a long countdown, but today is publication day. The Hard Yards has lift-off!
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If you're not bored stiff with me harping on about matters C86, I'm on
@gidcoe
's 6 Music show tonight, harping on about matters C86.
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A year ago yesterday, I did the final interview for the C86 book - an after-school pint in Leeds with science teacher/ex-Wedding Present guitarist Pete 'Grapper' Solowka. The last hurrah of the odyssey.
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For those unaware, after half a season in charge, Munoz secured Watford promotion back to the Premier League, where they currently sit in perfectly credible 14th place.
Watford sack head coach Xisco Munoz after less than ten months in charge.
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Come on folks of Clacton, do your thing. The nation demands humiliation. For an eighth time.
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Someone needs to do their homework. Caroline has A-grade knowledge and experience of EFL and non-league football going back decades. She's been a football club director, created The Non-League Show for the BBC and is a director of the National League. And a brilliant broadcaster.
Apparently Caroline Barker is in the final two to replace Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday. Simon Thomas is favourite, which means Caroline will get it for her renowned netball coverage. Middle aged white men don’t get TV work anymore ⚽️
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The BBC have got it wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong about cancelling Count
@Arthur_Strong
. Brilliant family TV. The kids will be gutted.
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Absolutely. When I was doing the interviews for the C86 book, several folk outlined the importance of a ten-second clip on the indie chart rundown on The Chart Show.
Quite rightly, Peel receives praise for introducing underground music to mainstream audiences but The Chart Show, I reckon did a good job of introducing 12 year olds to Psychic TV, Swans, C86, Metal, Hip-Hop, Acid-House etc on a Saturday morning on ITV.
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Woo-hoo! Beyond thrilled is what I am with this news. Big congrats to my fellow shortlistees!
#PenderynPrize
shortlist announced! Congrats to
@rocking_bob
@FaberBooks
@juderogers
@WhiteRabbitBks
@ReggaePolitics
@reaktionbooks
@nigetassell
@nineeightbooks
@adellestripe
@Fatwhitefamily
@PJGorman
@thamesandhudson
@KateMolleson
More info here:
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Tonight we are all Tranmere fans.
What other clubs have taken a similar stance?
⚪️
#TRFC
have released the following statement: "Tranmere Rovers condemn the disgraceful decision taken by The FA and the Premier League to change the format of the FA Cup, including the scrapping of replays.
"There was no consultation with Football League clubs, National League
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I watched this last night and I implore everyone to do so. A beautiful film, funny and sad, about passion, obsession and camaraderie. The best documentary I've seen in years.
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If you'd told me six months ago that the paperback of Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids? would have these extra words on the cover, I simply wouldn't have believed you.
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A rare evening off, so it's a bath and a further dive into
@berenyi_miki
's memoir. From her eye-openingly unorthodox childhood onwards, it's absolutely terrific.
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If you're wavering over whether to buy Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids? for the former indie kid in your life (or even for yourself), this piece I wrote earlier in the year might help sway you.
Reel lives: how I tracked down the class of NME’s C86 album
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Shameless plug.
WHTTC86K? isn't just about indie bands. It's about:
"youthful dreams and mature reality" – Danny Kelly
"the wrong turns, blind luck and fine margins that can define our lives" – Richard Osman
"triumph and failure and folly and heartbreak and joy" – John Niven
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Shameless sales pitch...
"I can recommend it 100 per cent" –
@prodnose
"A compelling, moving book" – The Times
"An incredible feat of journalism" –
@quantick
"Hugely readable" – Mojo
"Terrific idea, wonderfully executed" –
@petepaphides
"Lovingly humane" – The Herald
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Very sad that Dave Roberts, who wrote several books on Bromley, including The Bromley Boys, never got to see this.
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Thank you to everyone/anyone who's borrowed any of my books from public libraries over the last 12 months.
Just had my annual PLR statement. The big-hitters (ie the most borrowed) were Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?, The Bottom Corner and Boot Sale.
Up the libraries!
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This is extraordinary. Not a single club in the sainted 92 is in a Tory seat.
Not a single football club is now in a Tory constituency. More than half League 1&2 clubs were after the last election
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Wonderful to hear Nicky Wire pick McCarthy's Red Sleeping Beauty on Radcliffe & Maconie just now. Among the stars of the C86 book, of course. And quite possibly their first-ever play on daytime radio!
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Top work by Lou Macari, opening this homeless shelter. And he has the humanity to refer to those who will use the facility as "guests".
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I was at the top of a very large hill when I heard this morning's news about the C86 book being shortlisted for the
@PenderynPrize
. I'm even more on top of the world now.
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@JonDennis
Me and the eldest once did our own tour of Wells, picking out the locales - Decapitation Layby, Decapitation Spire etc. Also bought a Cornetto in the newsagents. (And in the Shaun Of The Dead shop too.)
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Greatest-ever performance on The Word. (And featuring a Moog-twiddling cameo from
@TheWolfhounds
too)
A real favourite…
Stereolab - French Disko
‘It said human existence is pointless
As acts of rebellious solidarity
Can bring sense in this world
La Resistance!’
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I know I wrote a book about an NME tape that came out a couple of years later, but this is the one that opened my teenage ears the widest. Absolutely belting selection.
Ad for NME ‘Department Of Enjoyment’ compilation cassette.
Orange Juice, Cocteau Twins, Husker Du, Wynton Marsalis, Bourgie Bourgie, The Smiths, Wah!, Philip Levi, Robert Wyatt, Lloyd Cole, and more.
New Musical Express, 12 May 1984.
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PUBLICATION DAY!
Today, Boot Sale takes its first teetering steps into the big, wide world...
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The dirt that Paddy McGuinness seems to have on TV and radio commissioning editors must be utterly filthy.
📢
@BBCRadio2
&
@BBCSounds
announce new programming and specials, including Love Songs with Michael Ball and a new Sunday show for Paddy McGuinness
Plus Romesh Ranganathan, Jane McDonald, Bob Harris, Beverley Knight, Tony Blackburn, Judi Love & more!
➡️
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Am proofreading a forthcoming book and have been introduced to a new one-man tribute act: Pete Ubu.
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It's that lovely day of the year when the Public Lending Right people get in touch to let you know how many times your books were borrowed from libraries in the last year. And to shower you with a little money for the privilege. Win win.
Support libraries. They're the best of us
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Lost my precious favourite hat. Just drove six miles out of my way to retrace this morning's steps.
Turns out I was outwitted by a coat with more than two pockets.
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I was in the privileged position of being one of the first pair of eyes to read this manuscript. It instantly became my favourite music book of the last few years. An absorbing portrait of a musical one-off. And really, really funny too.
***A NEW SUMMER SMASH***
‘Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence’ by
@Willjhodgkinson
12 months in the life of the UK’s most singular, enigmatic and uncompromising musical dreamer
05-09-24
Pre-order it now:
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Best thing the Telegraph has published in a long time.
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Which means he was in his thirties on this day. Who wears a beige suit (and who runs) like that in their thirties?
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