Felix NEill

I'm so stoked that Lee has allowed me to pre-publish some extracts from his wonderful book. This is a must for everyone who visits here, surely? And Lee, I want mine autographed, please. You are amazing.

Over to Lee to explain the book:

I started drawing portraits of some of my favourite musical artists in January of this year and continued to do so until the end of February. Then I decided I wanted to make them into a book which is when the idea struck me for an Illustrated Festive Fifty. I sent emails out to as many bands as I could who'd been voted to the number one spot in the Festive Fifty, asking for quotes on their feelings about this coveted result or just on John Peel and the Festive Fifty in general. I even heard back from a few!



David Gedge (The Wedding Present/Cinerama) has agreed to write the introduction and there will be contributions from a number of artists who have appeared in John Peel's Festive 50 over the years, including Credit To The Nation, Jello Biafra, Cuban Boys, Neko Case and The Only Ones.



The book will have two sides (like a record!) - side A will be all about the Festive 50 Number Ones (from 1978-2004) drawing on my own personal recollections of the songs and how they've affected my life. The B side will focus on the all time Festive 50 from 2000, again including my personal memories of the songs and some analysis and information on each song. I'm keeping a blog http://festivefiftyillustrated.blogspot.com/ on the progress of the book. The first part is now complete (50 pages) and I've just completed the writing for the second part (100 pages)



I have, ironically enough, fifty more pictures to draw. The plan is to release the book at the beginning of December or maybe on John Peel Day. The book will be paperback, 150+ pages, black and white with colour covers (in different coloured 'vinyl') and will be available from www.lulu.com/leethacker and should retail at around £10.

Thanks for your support!

Lee

The file contains not only the images featured here, but also a few PDFs of some pages from the book. Stamped with a huge Castles In Space seal of approval, this is testament not only to Lee's talent, but to the enduring power of music and the enduring legacy of Peel and alternative radio. This stuff changes lives.

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