A Very British Evening, an online festival dedicated to British eccentricity and the non-aging heritage of the local industrial scene will take place on 27 February. The festival will host a presentation of David Keenan's book “England's Hidden Reverse. How Coil, Current 93, Nurse With Wound and other brilliant madcaps reinvented the music industry”, moderated by Maxim Semelyak and a live stream concert featuring Drew McDowell (ex-Coil, UK), Intourist (RU), Margenrot (RU), Otsepenevshiye (RU).
How to stay true to yourself even in the most unfavorable conditions and stick to your guns, without being afraid to do “complicated art”? Why did the UK give birth to so many visionary artists, and what do Russia and the UK have in common? How has the legacy of British nonconformists influenced several generations of artists around the world? What do the people who heralded the “end of all time” back in the 1970s think about what is happening today?
The online festival A Very British Evening, organized by Individuum publishing house in partnership with Nekrasov Library, will answer these and many other questions. The spotlight will be on the Scottish writer David Keenan and on the characters of his book England's Hidden Reverse. How Coil, Current 93, Nurse With Wound and other brilliant madcaps reinvented the music industry. The event will be opened with a conversation between music journalist Maxim Semelyak and David Keenan, and with Felix Sandalov, Individuum publishing house editor-in-chief, interview with Drew McDowell, an avant-garde musician, a former member of Coil, one of the most influential bands in the history of electronic music. McDowell will also present a special music program, and the avant-rock band Intourist, the ethno-industrial project Margenrot and the veterans of the “dark scene” Otsepenevshiye will perform from the Russian side. The event will be live streaming, free, upon registration.
David Keenan was born in the east end of Glasgow, to Scots/Irish parents, and grew up in Airdrie, in Scotland. His debut novel, 2017’s This Is Memorial Device (Faber & Faber), about a fictional post-Punk scene in Airdrie, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and won the London Magazine/Collyer-Bristow Prize for Innovative Debut Fiction. His second novel, 2019’s For The Good Times (Faber & Faber), set in Belfast during the Troubles, was widely acclaimed and was once again listed for the Gordon Burn Prize.
The event will be held online with simultaneous translation. Please register to attend.