Tim Burgess grew up in rural Cheshire but from his mid-teens he spent as much time as he could at the legendary Hacienda in Manchester. He was invited to be the vocalist in newly formed The Charlatans who went from supporting The Stone Roses to having three UK number one albums and seventeen Top Thirty singles. They rode the waves of first Madchester then Britpop. The band survived the imprisonment of influential keyboardist Rob Collins on a charge of armed robbery then the death of Collins in a car accident; their accountant running off with all their money and leaving them with a tax bill of almost GBP2 million; and in more recent years the rock 'n' roll life-style of Burgess himself as he took himself off to LA for the music and the drugs. Packed with incredible stories this frank and vivid memoir describes the mad life of a rock star: the dynamics of the band the creativity and the self-destruction the sex and the drugs but also the rock 'n roll - his obsession with music shines off the page as he writes about his influences and his encounters from Dylan to New Order from Paul Weller to Oasis. ; ; ;

In "Post Everything", Luke Haines demonstrates that the only way to survive the tyrannical scourge of Britpop is to become an Outsider. The 'avant-garde Arthur Scargill' calls upon the nation's pop stars to down tools and go on strike. We learn the story of Haines' post-Britpop art house trio Black Box Recorder (Chas and Dave with a chanteuse), we meet a talking cat, two dead rappers (Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur), a mystical England football manager, and a shady transgender German Professor - exponent of a dangerous and radical 'Beatles denial' cult and author of "The Theorem of the Moron" (the most important book about rock that you've never heard of). Haines even finds time to write a musical for the National Theatre. Blisteringly funny and searingly scathing, "Post Everything" may quite possibly be the first and only truly surreal comic rock memoir. It even contains a killer recipe for scrambled eggs.

This is the story of Alex James's transition from a leading light of the Britpop movement in the 1990s, to gentleman farmer, artisan cheese-maker and father of five. 'I was hanging around the pigsty in the way I'd previously hung around at The Groucho Club. I felt wonderfully connected, grounded in the real world, standing in pig muck' Following fifteen years in Blur, Alex James did two wild, unexpected things. He fell in love and he bought a farm. Moving into a rambling, chaotic farmstead in the beautiful Cotswold countryside, he decides the best way to learn about farming is the same way he learned most about music: by jumping in and doing it. As his family settles in, he discovers the unexpected joys that country life abounds in: finding the first egg from your very own chicken, coming across a bramble bush laden with blackberries, roasting home-grown pears on an open fire, before stumbling on a new venture -- making cheese. Wonderfully warm, witty and perfectly observed, this is the story of what to do after you've been the bass player in one of the best bands in the world, and a life-affirming tale of just how much fun growing up and settling down can be. 'A joy to read.Prose flows and weaves and curls itself into pleasing rhythms!He can write like a god.' Spectator

The Charlatans have had three UK Number One albums and seventeen Top Thirty singles. But they've also had to face the imprisonment and death of founding powerhouse keyboard player Rob Collins and an accountant who ran off with all their money, leaving them with a tax bill of almost ¿2 million. Not to mention the rock 'n' roll excesses of singer Tim Burgess. In his startlingly revealing memoir, Burgess describes how they dealt with their crises, and what's gone right with the band as much as what's gone wrong. Born in Salford and brought up in a Cheshire village, he went on to front a band that has travelled the world, played at every major music festival, and was at the forefront of both the Madchester and Britpop movements. Telling Stories is a tale of achievement and survival, via a fair bit of heartache, but told with humour. At the centre of it is Tim Burgess's own story: how someone with a passion for music got to fulfil his dreams. He doesn't flinch from the dark stuff - the lure of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, its sweet enticements - and he confesses in vivid detail how he had to pull himself back from the brink. But along the way he had a lot of good times and met some great people while making great music. It's all here in Telling Stories. Tim Burgess grew up in rural Cheshire but from his mid-teens he spent as much time as he could at the legendary Hacienda in Manchester. He was invited to be the vocalist in newly formed The Charlatans, who went from supporting The Stone Roses to having four number one singles and riding the wave of Britpop. The band survived first the imprisonment of influential keyboardist Rob Collins on a charge of armed robbery, then the death of Collins in a car accident; and in more recent years the actions of Burgess himself as he took himself off to LA, for the music and the drugs. In this incredibly frank and vivid memoir, Burgess describes the mad life of a rock star: the dynamics of the band, the creativity and the self-destruction, the sex and the drugs but also the rock 'n roll - his obsession with music shines off the page as he writes about his influences and his encounters, from Dylan to New Order, from the Rolling Stones to Oasis.

This is the story of Alex James's transition from a leading light of the Britpop movement in the 1990s to gentleman farmer artisan cheese-maker and father of five. All Cheeses Great and Small is the follow-up memoir to Alex James's first book Bit of a Blur the story of his excessive pop star lifestyle during the nineties. But now Alex has grown up fallen in love and got married. He has also fallen passionately for his new home an enormous rambling farmhouse in the Cotswolds set in two hundred acres of beautiful British countryside. The farm represents not just a new house for Alex but also a new career. As he breathes new life into the old farm he chances across an unexpected calling: making cheese. His cheeses Blue Monday Farleigh Wallop and Little Wallop have received widespread media interest and are now sold through many outlets. The story culminates with an account of the triumphant reformation of Blur for Glastonbury 2009. It will also include illustrations by Graham Coxon.