Onwards, Ever Onwards
Hello - remember me? Sorry, it's been a while...
Hello friends,
Bloody hell, this isn’t very good is it? Weeks - nay months - have passed since my last missive, which doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence does it?. To say I’ve dropped the ball here is something of an understatement. My laxness is inexcusable - nevertheless, I’m going to blame my failure to stay on top of this, my one supposedly regular maintenance task for OneTrackMinds business, on ongoing chaos related to moving house, an ordeal (for that is precisely the right word) that, I’m glad to say, is nearly over. We’re in at last, and though we’re still sharing several rooms of our new home with our builders (shout out to Sergiu and Valentin!), the end is in sight…
I did think I’d hold off writing to you all again until we are properly out of the house-move chaos, and I can more reliably reassure you of a return to regular service, but I’ve been spurred into action by some exciting news pertaining to our 2026 shows.
Those of you with a stronger memory will remember that we’re moving back ‘home’ to Wilton’s Music Hall next year, with our first show on Tuesday March 10th. Last week, we locked in the first two guests in our lineup, and we are pretty damn excited by both of them.
First up is Felix White.
Many of you will know Felix as a writer from London, the best-selling author of two books - It’s Always Summer Somewhere, a highly enjoyable memoir-cum-travel book about his life as a cricket fan. He followed that up in October this year with Whatever Will Be, Will Be, a just-as-enjoyable memoir-cum-travel book about his life as a football fan. Both books are delightful, whether you’re a sports fan or not.
Many more of you will likely know Felix as the lead singer of Indie-rock legends The Maccabees.
Yes, I’m talking about that Felix White.
And he’s going to be on our show, telling a story about a song that changed his life, in little under four months’ time!
Joining Felix on March 10th is Michel Faber.
Now, Michel isn’t (to the best of my knowledge) the lead singer in an era-defining Indie Rock band. But he is the author of several best-selling, award-winning books, many of which have been adapted into incredible TV series and films - including Under The Skin and (my personal favourite) The Crimson Petal And The White1. He’s also a huge fan of music, and his most recent book Listen is the most engaging and thought-provoking exploration of why we listen to music. He’s going to be a fantastic guest.
Two down, three to go - but already, you’ll have to agree that’s shaping up to be one hell of a line-up. What a way for us to come back home, hey? We’ll be announcing more guests in the run up to Christmas, but if you want to make sure you’re there to hear Michel and Felix talk about the songs that changed their lives, then you’d better get a ticket or three for our show on March 10th.
They’re officially selling fast according to Wilton’s flash new website, so you make sure you don’t miss out.
(Quick public service announcement - the show starts at 7pm (not 7:30pm as has been the case for a while), so you’ll want to try and get there a bit earlier than usual).
All the while, we’re working on a plan for our hopefully glorious tenth anniversary show at Wilton’s on Wednesday May 20th. Adam and I are meeting up this week to discuss what we can do to make it extra special, a way to honour ten years of telling stories about life-changing songs. We’d love to hear what you’d want to see at an anniversary show - any favourite storytellers you’d like us to invite back? Any Holy Grail guests you’d like us to have a go at adding to the lineup? Any songs you’d like Adam and I to sing unaccompanied for your listening pleasure? Let us know in the comments.
Tickets for May go on sale very soon. Watch this space…
Some more things to share with you this week…
Fans of True Crime documentaries will want to keep their eyes peeled for forthcoming feature documentary The Zodiac Killer Project, directed by our friend and former OneTrackMinds storyteller Charlie Shackleton. The film is an extremely entertaining and somewhat unsettling, multi-layered look at the veritable explosion of true-crime docs, borne out of Charlie’s failed attempt to make his own one about the Zodiac killer, based on a best-selling non-fiction book he thought he’d managed to get the rights to. When that deal fell through, Charlie had to change tack… He wrote about it in this Saturday’s Guardian. And you should try and catch the film in the cinema when it’s released on Friday.
I meant to tell you all about Cameron Crowe’s highly enjoyable and very much inaccurately titled memoir The Uncool, which was published back in October, and which I enjoyed reading over a weekend while my kids were away. Before he became a filmmaker, Crowe spent his teens and early twenties as an unreasonably precocious music writer for Rolling Stone, hanging out with Bowie, Led Zeppelin and countless other legends, despite being barely out of high school. He fictionalised his experience in Almost Famous, but The Uncool unpacks the true stories behind the almost unbelievably glamorous world of music journalism in the 1970s. It’s a lot of fun.
I’ve spent a good chunk of this year making my way through the collected work of Norwegian novelist Karl Ove Knausgård, and perhaps you can appreciate one of the blessings of me not having published a regular newsletter this year is that you haven’t had to endure me banging on about how obsessed I am with him and his writing. (Very quickly - go and buy yourself a copy of The Morning Star. You can thank me later). Our friend and former OneTrackMinds storyteller Chris Power interviewed him ahead of the release of his new book The School Of Night, for this weekend’s paper.
Another book for you to check out - Dusty Henry (who’s excellent substack Another Thought I linked to a few weeks back) has forged a niche as the peerless expert on 20th Century Ambient music, and as if to cement said position, has recently written a book entitled 20th Century Ambient (published by the team behind the 33 1/3 series), which I haven’t read yet, but which is on my Christmas list…
I’ve been linking to a lot of books this week, so here’s a reminder to shop at the OneTrackMinds affiliated Bookshop.org.uk page - when you buy a book from there, we get a few pence in affiliate fees. You get a nice new book (from a Bezos-free proper bookshop) AND you get to support OneTrackMinds! Win win!
And while we’re still talking about ambient music, our Album of the Week recommendation is from the hard-to-pronounce but easy-to-love ambient-adjacent electronic artist Oneohtrix Point Never, whose new record Tranquility was released over the weekend and which I’ve been listening to on repeat while writing and rewriting this newsletter.
Listen on Apple Music.
Right that’ll do…
Look, I’m going to tell you I’ll be back again next week with more news from OneTrackMinds HQ because that seems like the polite thing to do, but given the number of times I’ve promised that this year only to then disappear for several months, you’d be well within your rights to read these words with a healthy dose of scepticism. I’m sorry. I’ll do my very best. It’s not you, it’s me… etc etc. Until next time…
KB.
Next Show - March 10th 2026 - Wiltons Music Hall | Tickets Here
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This week’s newsletter is pretty heavy on the book recommendations, I realise. But if you’ve not read it already, now is the absolute perfect time to get hold of a copy of The Crimson Petal And The White, which, with its gorgeously evocative portrayal of Victorian-era London, all gas-lights and roaring fires, is ideal reading in the build up to Christmas…