STUART BRAITHWAITE: Spaceships Over Glasgow

“In my mind we were on some kind of touring rock pilgrimage and were the spiritual heirs to The Butthole Surfers and the MC5. In actual fact we were a bunch of daft kids drinking too much and doing daft shit like boiling and eating snails in travel lodge kettles.”

Born the son of Scotland’s last telescope-maker, Stuart Braithwaite was perhaps always destined for a life of psychedelic adventuring on the furthest frontiers of noise in MOGWAI, one of the best loved and most groundbreaking psychedelic rock bands of the past three decades.

Modestly delinquent at school, Stuart developed an early appetite for ‘alternative’ music in what might arguably be described as its halcyon days, the late 80s. Discovering bands like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and Jesus and Mary Chain, and attending seminal gigs by The Cure and Nirvana, Stuart made up for his indifference to school work with a dedication to rock and roll ... and of course the fledgling hedonism that comes with it.

Following the initial outing in the unfortunately (and provocatively named), Pregnant Nun, Stuart – alongside teenage friends Dominic Aitchison and Martin Bulloch - launched a new band MOGWAI in 1995 and made their debut with a first single ‘Tuner/Lower’ a year later.

Championed by the legendary John Peel, and making a name for themselves for tinnitus-inducing live shows and critically acclaimed releases from their debut, Mogwai Young Team, to their tenth studio album As the Love Continues which went to No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart in 2021.

Spaceships Over Glasgow is a love letter to live music; to the passionate abandon we’ve all felt in the crowd (and some of us, if lucky enough, from the stage) at a truly incendiary gig. It is also the story of a life lived on the edge; of the high-times and hazardous pit-stops of international touring with a band of misfits and miscreants.

We have two ticket options available: * Event Only and *Event with Discounted Book Combo deal - books will be available for collection at the Festival.

Our event will be followed by a dedicated signing event with Stuart. RRP books will also be available for purchase on the day.

Stuart Braithwaite, author of Spaceships Over Glasgow: “I am immensely proud to be working with White Rabbit on my first book Spaceships Over Glasgow. The process of researching it and writing it has been challenging but one that I’ve really enjoyed. It’s incredibly exciting to be able to share it with the world.”

Lee Brackstone, the publisher of White Rabbit: “From his early years in thrall to the giants of alternative music like MBV, JAMC and Sonic Youth to improbable sonic misadventures on tour with one of the greatest psychedelic bands of the present day, Mogwai, Stuart Braithwaite’s memoir is a funny and righteous celebration of a life lived on the road and in the studio, dedicated to the pursuit of aural (and occasionally) psychic enlightenment and obliteration.”

Stuart's image credited: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan

Event Venue

INNSIDE Manchester, 1 First Street, Manchester, United Kingdom