Four Chords and the Truth

The theme that unites Doug Johnstone and Toby Litt for the purposes of this reading is rock and roll, as we are reminded by chair Alan Morrison through an ongoing series of puns: "Hello Edinburgh! We have a double A-side for you tonight." It would have been sufficient to say that each has written a novel about a rock band on tour.

Toby Litt is first to the lectern. Touted as one of Britain's best young novelists, Litt will be 40 this week—young in writer years—and has a series of books behind him. His latest, I Play the Drums in a Band Called Okay, chronicles the exploits of a modestly successful Canadian rock band through a series of short stories, told from the perspective of the drummer. This, he explains, is because drummers have an inverted view of the world – "the lead singer's arse crack" to be precise. Their point of view is that of the non-dominant, the underclass perspective apparently prized by short story writers.

Litt's first reading concerns self-annihilation offstage, the latter adulation onstage, and the novel explores the tension between the two. His analysis of the myths surrounding rock and roll goes beyond the cliché, demonstrating how the stereotypes exist in the heads of band members themselves. Litt himself has no direct experience to draw on, not having been in a band since he was 15. He has, he admits, always written about things he has dreamed about. Doug Johnstone, by contrast, has personally gigged in many of the towns featured in his second novel, The Ossians.

This is a rare appearance for Johnstone, who fronts elusive but excellent Edinburgh three-piece Northern Alliance, part of the better-known Fence Collective. Unfortunately he is without his guitar this evening, but speaks with authority on the subject of life on the road. He, too is concerned with an underclass of sorts, in this case the vast subculture of unsigned, hard-working bands like The Ossians, who set off on a Scottish tour in a bid to get signed. The passage he reads tells of a desperate and ultimately tragic adventure undertaken by Connor, the band's lead singer. Johnstone is also in the business of myth-busting, though he is frying rather larger fish than Litt. Scottish national identity is expressed in metaphor by the myth of the omnipotent frontman, he claims, and the falsehood of both lies behind Connor and The Ossians' ultimate demise.

Interestingly, both have attempted to expand their own myths by fleshing out their fiction with extra material. Litt includes a discography and lyrics section in his book while Johnstone has gone a stage further and produced a short album of The Ossian's music to accompany the novel. Both confessed to a desire to further exercise their imaginations for the sheer fun of it, but also to a reluctance to describe the music itself within their narratives. Buddy Holly once suggested that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Whether or not these authors would agree, both are keen to avoid the trap of cliché, something that Litt considers almost unavoidable when honestly describing meaningful music.

Both, it would seem, have written enquiring novels pursuing the truth about being in a band. They certainly appeared to convince a quiet audience, few of whom summoned up questions for the speakers. The atmosphere remained more literary than Glastonbury, and neither writer defied expectations by attempting a stage dive.