Ramones, Talking Heads, The Undertones, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Felt, Sonic Youth, The Wedding Present, Spiritualized, Elastica. The list of bands and artists Mick Houghton worked with reads like a Who’s Who of some of the greatest, most influential and downright dysfunctional cult groups of the post-punk era and beyond . . .

Fried & Justified: Hits, Myths, Break-Ups and Breakdowns in the Record Business 1978-98 is Mick's candid, frontline account of an illustrious twenty-year gonzo career as a publicist in the record business, featuring an introduction by Bill Drummond and new cover artwork by Jimmy Cauty.

But the three acts Mick is most closely identified with are Echo & The Bunnymen, Julian Cope (and the Teardrop Explodes) and the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu/KLF, in all their guises. Between them, they played a significant role in shaping the musical landscape of the eighties and nineties, and – as confidant and co-conspirator – Mick was their chorus along the way, carefully navigating the minefield of rivalries and contrasting fortunes.

Mick will be in conversation with Bill Drummond who explains:

FRIED & JUSTIFIED

FRIED & JUSTIFIED is a book by Mick Houghton.

FRIED & JUSTIFIED is to be published by Faber & Faber on the 4th of July 2019.

To mark this books publication…

Bill Drummond will be conducting one of his Forty Minute interviews with Mick Houghton.

This Forty Minute interview will be live and in public…

And take place at Bank Job.

Bank Job is at:

151 -155 Hoe Street,

Walthamstow,

London,

E17 3AN

And take place on:

The evening of the 25th of July, 2019.

* * *

For nigh on forty years…

Mick Houghton and Bill Drummond have been entangled…

From Toxteth to Brixton and back again…

Via Canary Warf and up the Liverpool Road…

Only three stones were left unturned.

Bill Drummond will have those three stones with him…

And on the night…

Will use them in whatever way he sees fit.

And…

The first question that Bill Drummond will be asking Mick Houghton is:

“If you were instructed by a higher power to murder one of your former clients, which one would it be?”