Playing the Bass with Three Left Hands
A memoir by Will Carruthers
London – Berlin
Playing the Bass with Three Left Hands is a unique musical memoir of Will Carruthers’ his time playing the bass in three great, notorious and pioneering psychedelic bands: Spaceman 3, Spiritualized and Brian Jonestown Massacre. As the decade of the 1980’s turned and acid house hit the mainstream, Spacemen 3 imploded spectacularly, before going their separate ways just as they were on the cusp of breakthrough success. Will tells the story of his time in a wholly dysfunctional yet hugely influential band, in one of the funniest and most memorable music memoirs of the past years.
Will and I are brothers from other mothers. When he told me of his plan to write a book about his time in Spacemen 3, I knew it would be a crazy ride and so we decided it would be wonderful to work together on this. I helped Will get a publishing deal at Faber & Faber, hatch out a plan to self-publish limited editions and, of course, fight off libel lawsuits. We became richer for the experience.
The wonderful limited editions that Will made by hand were the direct inspiration for me to start Kubla Khan Publishing.
Faber & Faber publishing, London | Malpaso publishing, Madrid | Co-agent Oscar van Gelderen, Amsterdam | Will Carruthers
