Thursday 24th November | 7pm | FREE TICKETS

Join us in celebrating Gavin Butt's new book 'No Machos or Pop Stars'! on the impact of art school education on post-punk music! Expect a reading from the book by the author alongside plays of rare and unreleased tunes.

“Beautifully written and meticulously researched, No Machos or Pop Stars will intrigue anyone with interests in politics, education, art, and popular music. Using a focus on Leeds in the 1970s and 1980s, Gavin Butt brings together theoretical acumen with vivid personal testimony to tell an engrossing tale of power, pedagogy, and dissent. This is a fascinating story of how fine art painters and performers became post-punk and pop pioneers.” — Green Gartside, singer-songwriter, Scritti Politti

After punk’s arrival in 1976, many art students in Leeds traded their paintbrushes for guitars and synthesizers. In bands ranging from Gang of Four, Soft Cell, and Delta 5 to Mekons, Scritti Politti, and Fad Gadget, these artists-turned-musicians challenged the limits of what was possible in rock and pop music. Taking avant-garde ideas to the record-buying public, they created Situationist antirock, penned deconstructed pop ditties about Jacques Derrida, and took the aesthetics of collage and shock art to brooding electro-dance music. In 'No Machos or Pop Stars' Gavin Butt tells the story of the post-punk scene in Leeds, showing how England’s state-funded education brought together art students from different social classes to create a fertile ground for musical experimentation.

Gavin Butt