Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: Today we’ll talk to John Hartley (or maybe to his alter ego, Johny Nocash) about his musical memoir, Capturing the Wry. John, can you introduce us to your book?  

John: Howdo. I’m John; Hartley by birth, Johny Nocash by artistic alter ego since ooh, about 1989. I’ve currently a couple of things for sale in the big wide world: an official biography of the UK indie band BOB (entitled From Banwell to Berlin and Beyond) and, more personally, a memoir of my time in an ultimately unsuccessful indie band the Irony Board, entitled Capturing the Wry. I’ll chat more about the latter, if that’s ok?

Sabitha: Sounds good to me! Let’s start with—what inspired you to write this book?

John: Well, part ego and part fear of longer term memory loss I suppose. Despite our ultimate failure to make it big, I had a whale of a time in the band and remain very proud of the songs we recorded. I wanted to document this for my bandmates and for my family. I kept loads of letters, notebooks, cuttings and flyers during the time, and kept a gig diary too with setlists and a description of each gig, so that certainly helped me along the way. Plus, my old English teacher drummed into me, “write what you know.” 

Sabitha: Do you have a fan-cast?

John: Ha! That’s a great question. Who would play me and my friends in a movie of that time of our lives? I’d like to think Johnny Depp could play me—he’s a guitarist after all, but he’s also way too controversial now. He’s also far too good looking to play me. Being from the northwest of England we could be played by actors from Coronation Street I suppose. Realistically, we’d be played by young up-and-coming actors hoping to break through to the big time.

Sabitha: What book do you tell all your friends to read?

John: I’ve started to write fiction for the Young Adult market, and am currently close to self-publishing a book called The Broken Bottle. With that in mind, I would point people to The Kingdom By The Sea by Robert Westall, a fantastic tale set in wartime England. I’ve bought The Scheme For Full Employment by Magnus Mills for several people. He’s a fantastic writer.

Sabitha: Do you have any suggestions to help people in our community become better writers?

John: I often get to the stage of wrangling with myself over what I want for my books. I’d love to be able to write for a living—being a school leader in special education is what keeps a roof over my head and food on the table—but I think I would hate the publicity that goes with it. With that in mind my suggestion would be to enjoy writing for the sake of writing, and don’t get hung up on the end result. If you write something for pleasure and ten people love it, it will probably be more gratifying on an artistic level than having to write something you don’t gain pleasure from. Also, chat with other writers, let them read your stuff, read theirs, enjoy the constructive criticism that can be mutually offered.

Sabitha: What’s your next writing project?

John: The Broken Bottle is failing to entice the literary agents, so that’ll be self-published soon. The sequel How Green Are Your Eyes is being read by my mum and my niece before its second draft. I am currently second-drafting a story I wrote for my family entitled Searching for the Sound of Riduna, about a tiny record label on a tiny island in the middle of the English Channel. I’ve written and recorded all their songs too…

Sabitha: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

John:  I can be found trading as @JohnyNocash on Twit-X, Instagram and Threads. On Mastodon I am @JohnyNocash@indiepocalypse.social. My books can be found here, or the BOB book can be found here.