TheBookshopBand

The Bookshop Band write songs inspired by books, and have been playing them
in bookshops, literary festivals and libraries all over the UK and into Europe. The
band began as a collaboration with Mr Bs Emporium of Reading Delights, in
Bath (Independent Bookshop of the Year 2008 / 2011) as part of a plan to help Mr
B’s rejuvenate its traditional ‘author evenings’. The band would read the forthcoming
author’s book in advance and write two songs based upon it, to be performed at
the start of the evening. Their performances are inextricably linked to the books
themselves, as the members of the band take it in turns to describe where the
inspiration for each song came from.

After the first season the band recorded and released their first album, Travels
From Your Armchair. Despite only being available in the bookshop itself, word
soon spread and they were picked up by the BBC’s Tom Robinson who played
them on his national Introducing show on BBC 6Music. More recently the band
had a 10 minute feature on Kirsty Lang’s culture show, BBC Radio 4’s Front
Row, a feature on The Today Program, a commission by BBC Radio 3’s The
Verb, and a feature on BBC News, in The Independent, and Guardian Books.

They have been championed by the authors, publishers, and even have a track being
used in a national campaign to support bookshops around the UK and Ireland.
To date they have written almost 100 songs inspired by over 50 diverse books, from
Andrew Miller’s “Pure” (2011 Costa Novel of the Year) to Ian Rankin’s latest
crime fiction Rebus novel “Standing in another man’s grave”, from Rachel
Joyce’s debut hit “The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” to Ruth Ozeki’s
“A Tale For The Time Being”, short listed for the Booker Prize 2013.

The band is made up of three British musician / songwriters, Ben Please, Poppy
Pitt and Beth Porter. They struck up a friendship whilst playing with their
respective bands at UK music festivals in 2009, and decided to collaborate after Mr
B’s asked for music at their author events in 2010.

To date, the band have released 4 albums, which cover their first twelve months
of songwriting, and are currently recording a further 6 albums, covering their
subsequent two years songwriting. These are due for release in 2014.

TheBookshopBand’s tracks

• What We Now Know by TheBookshopBand
• Sanctuary by TheBookshopBand
• Room For Three by TheBookshopBand
• Before I Crack (inspired by Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie) by TheBookshopBand
• How Not To Woo A Woman (inspired by The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce) by TheBookshopBand
• Thirteen Chairs by TheBookshopBand
• Bring Me Back A Pyramid by TheBookshopBand