Maverick author Ben Myers takes his art to a quiet spot

Oct 16 2010 by Hannah Davies, The Journal

HANNAH DAVIES speaks to poet, music journalist and author Ben Myers on Brutalism, shock-rocker Marylin Manson and moving to the country.

PEOPLE always say to write about what you know. “I find my novels often deal with aspects of journalism, music and North East Durham.”

Durham-born Ben Myers is a modern day renaissance man, a respected music journalist, author and poet, he’s also had a stint running a North East-based record label.

After over a decade living in London, he’s relocated to a Yorkshire hilltop, where he’s talking to me now.

Ben is a bit of a maverick, more Hunter S Thompson and Charles Bukowski than Sebastian Faulks or Ian McEwan.

This outsider stance has seen him co-found “The Brutalists” a group of Northern poets and authors, who were frustrated by the capital’s literary elite.

But Ben’s current novel, Richard, tackles what he calls “a modern-day mystery”. The disappearance of Richard Edwards from the Welsh band The Manic Street Preachers.

He says: “My interest was more than just in the Manic’s music. It was in them as four friends growing up with a classic story of friendship, then this disappearance.

“When I’ve mentioned him to people, everybody’s heard of it whether they are interested in the Manics’ music or not.” Although Ben has written several music biographies, he decided to turn to fiction to write this story.

He adds: “I read The Damned United by David Pearce about the time Brian Clough was the manager of Leeds.

“It appealed to me as a fictional account based on real events featuring someone you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to be the main character in a novel.”

The Manic Street Preachers have some incredibly loyal fans, some of whom have taken umbrage with the book

Ben says: “Some people have taken offence but I explain it is not meant to be a definitive work, it is a fictional account.

“The Manics themselves have been really good about it. They haven’t read it – I think Nicky Wire has skimmed it – but they say it would be hypocritical of them to condemn it as they used to read everything about their heroes.”

Ben’s twin loves of music and writing began when he grew up in Belmont, Durham. Ben’s mum Dorothy, 66, was a maths teacher at Belmont Comprehensive School, which Ben also attended.

His dad Geoff, 68, was a physics teacher at King George’s Comprehensive in South Shields, South Tyneside. Both are now retired.

Ben’s elder sister Catherine Myers, 40, is a solicitor in Newcastle and his brother Richard, 39, runs Industrial Strength digital media agency in Gateshead.

He recalls: “Writing is the only thing I ever wanted to do realistically. There was a brief time I wanted to be a boxer ... until I realised I was soft.”

Ben’s first success was at nine when he won a short story competition. But as he became a teenager, music took over a lot of his time.