Alastair McKay

I’m selling this Buzzcocks cassette on eBay. It’s very cool. ebay.us/m/hSF071

I Wish I Was A Postcard #5 Union Street, Aberdeen

What I think about when I think about Aberdeen (includes punk rock, violence, disappearing rock drops) alastairmckay.substack.com/p/i-wish-i-w...

I fancy a career as a Velvet Underground Researcher. Where do I send my CV?

I Wish I Was A Postcard #4 West Links and Marine Hotel, North Berwick

A melancholic reflection on golf balls, whisky, sharks open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

I Wish I Was A Postcard #3 The Proclaimers

I guarantee you’ll want to hear The Proclaimers after reading this. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

That would be A Lot.

From CBGB to Music Row: the Emotional Reckoning of Amy Rigby's Nashville Journey The songwriter's new memoir is a poignant diary of dislocation

I interviewed the great Amy Rigby about her new memoir, Girl To Country
open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

I wasn’t aware that John Lydon had been on The Masked Singer. Yak, apparently.

The Glasgow photographer who captured the energy of an era while working for the NME From Madonna dancing on a roof to Mark E Smith flicking the Vs, Peter Anderson's pictures are a reminder of how creativity can overcome hard times

I interviewed the great NME photographer Peter Anderson (includes Madonna on a rooftop and Fire Engines in a butcher’s shop.) open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Here Tom Verlaine here
www.nypl.org/blog/2026/01...

The permanent future of David Bowie Paul Morley on how the Starman anticipated the dystopian counter counter culture

I wrote about Bowie via Paul Morley
open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Au Pairs frontwoman Lesley Woods: ‘We were the antithesis to all that boy-meets-girl stuff’ Her post-punk trailblazers were a key influence on riot grrrl. Now, after decades working as a lawyer, she is taking the name – though, contentiously, not the rest of the band – back on the road. ‘I h...

Here Lesley Woods from Au Pairs here www.theguardian.com/music/2025/d...

My Life As A Badge #12 The Beatles

My life as a (Beatles) badge

open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

That charlie xcx and john cale song is quite bracing

From school to art college to pop stardom to desperate nothingness - the wide open world of Wreckless Eric The great English songwriter revisits the 1980s for his new album, England Screaming

I’ve written a brand new interview with Wreckless Eric. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

It’s a bit of a plot twist that the BBC bosses are being forced to resign for NOT BEING RIGHT WING ENOUGH.
(A clued up Labour government would use this moment to secure the BBC’s future as a public broadcaster, free from politically inspired management.)

Tonight (Oct 31) I’ll be chatting with with Jah Wobble at Oran Mor in Glasgow about life after PiL, revisiting Metal Box and anything else we can pack in before he and the band play a seismic set.

Doors 7pm. Q&A 7.30pm. Gig 8pm.

oran-mor.co.uk/events/an-au...

The World Spinning Sounds of Edwyn Collins in His Own Sometimes Self-Mocking Words The triumphant Testimonial tour prompts a re-appraisal of the Two-Hit Wonder's long career

Here Edwyn here. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Fascinating night at the Walthamstow Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club for the (re)launch of James Nice’s history of Factory Records. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed so many long pauses between questions and answers, with the prevailing sense being “which bit should I say out loud?”

Quite disturbing.

I sang Jerusalem with Robert Jenrick at school — he’s wrong about race The Conservative MP has complained that, visiting Handsworth in Birmingham, he didn’t see ‘another white face’. You can’t judge whether someone is integrated by skin colour, argues fellow Wulfrunian S...

I sang Jerusalem with Robert Jenrick at school — he’s wrong about race

www.thetimes.com/article/3af4...

Can I be the first to say that Taylor Swift’s new album is underrated? (Probably not. Reviewers are reviewing the thing, their expectations, their perception of the audience reaction, rather than the music). That said, Wood is objectively terrible and should have remained a private valentine.

I read a book. I recommend it. www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/thom...

West Ham tumble in modern football’s vortex, with home now a distant memory | Jonathan Liew A feeling of loss and dislocation surrounds the East End club, which has never been part of tourist or establishment London

The Guardian’s football writers don’t seem to like football much. As a West Ham fan, there are reasons to be annoyed, but the global vortex isn’t top of the list. A mobile centre forward would cheer everyone up.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

‘Protect Empathy at All Costs. And Live Groovy Lives.’ Jim Jarmusch on what’s paying his bills these days and the words he lives by.

www.vulture.com/article/jim-...

Protect empathy

“I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song. It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable”: The story of the ballad that sparked the breakup of The ... Featuring "atrocious" bass-playing by John Lennon

McCartney’s Long and Winding Road. (It goes to Cambelltown and describes the end of the Beatles). www.musicradar.com/artists/i-ju...

‘We Were Just Passionate About Making Good Songs’: Lindy Morrison & Amanda Brown Reflect On The Go-Betweens’ ‘16 Lovers Lane’ As they prepare to once again revisit The Go-Betweens’ seminal sixth album ‘16 Lovers Lane,’ original members Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown remember how for them it was always about building a legac...

A different angle on the Go-Betweens themusic.com.au/features/the...

From Wimpole Street To Number One: How Peter Asher found the sad, eternal heart of a rejected Paul McCartney song A lonely ramble down the road to the pure teenage sound of 1964

This Paul McCartney song got under my skin. I asked Peter Asher, of Peter and Gordon, to tell me all about it.

open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Justin Currie's diary of a somebody: a brisk, irascible record of rock 'n' roll life A diagnosis with Parkinson's colours the del Amitri singer's reflections in his memoir, The Tremolo Diaries

open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Watching Live Aid, I now want to ask The Edge about minimalism.