Q+A: Ira Robbins on Publishing Peter Silverton's 'London Calling New York New York' and What's Coming from Trouser Press Books
Interview with a music publishing legend!
We are really happy to share this week’s Q+A with Ira Robbins, the editorial director of Trouser Press Books (and, before that, the co-founder of Trouser Press magazine). In March, Ira released an incredible book called London Calling New York New York: Two Songs, Two Cities by the late Peter Silverton. Here he tells us how it came about, and what’s to come later this year.
Tamara Palmer/Music Book Club: How did you end up publishing Peter Silverton's extraordinary book? Is it basically the most original idea ever?
Ira Robbins: Pete was a contributor to Trouser Press magazine in the '70s and early '80s. We actually were the first to publish his writing, which he sent us out of the blue.
In the fall of 1975, an envelope from England arrived at the Trouser Press (I would say office, but we didn’t have one yet) mailbox at the Grand Central Station Post Office. Inside, typed on nearly translucent paper, were two articles about bands on the London scene. I still have the handwritten letter that accompanied them: “Dear TOTP: Here are two unsolicited manuscripts for you to throw in the dustbin. Like the magazine.” [I always hoped he meant "I like the magazine," not that it should be thrown in the bin.] It goes on to correct some details in a Brinsley Schwarz discography we had published and offers a witness statement about that group’s direct predecessor, Kippington Lodge.
One of the articles he sent concerned the windup of Ducks Deluxe, a rocking pub band we were aware of, not just from our assiduous perusing of the British weeklies but because RCA had seen fit to release their first album in the States. The writing was smart and strong, and we were delighted to publish it in our next issue (TOTP 11). But we misread the handwritten byline and published it under the name Pete Silvester.
A year later, we got another piece from Pete, which filled both sides of ten sheets of onionskin. It was about a band we’d never heard of: the 101’ers. The writing made it a great read, but according to the piece, the band had broken up just as he finished the piece, leaving one posthumous single as its legacy. We were cool with obscure and defunct, but 6,000 words on a local London group we’d never heard and likely never would hear made the idea of publishing it a non-starter.
While continuing to write for us on occasion, Pete went on to a staff job at Sounds, one of England's music weeklies, and became a regular visitor to New York, thanks to the willingness of British record labels to fly prominent journalists all over the world to cover bands that needed a push. We saw each other from time to time in London and New York, and stayed friends. He twice hosted birthday parties for me at his home in London. (He was, among many other remarkable talents, an excellent cook and a wonderful host.) He published several books, including ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock's first memoir and Filthy English, a delightful book about swearing.
In 2022, more than a year after he'd suffered a seizure as a result of an inoperable brain tumor, Pete sent me a very rough manuscript of a book he'd been working on (which was not yet called London Calling New York New York). I sent him some comments and suggestions and thought no more about it. I had self-published a couple of books, but was not yet doing Trouser Press Books as a going concern, so I simply looked forward to reading the completed book when it appeared.
We got to visit with him one last time in London that fall; he died in May 2023. Several months later, his longtime agent contacted me and said that, while Rocket 88 was going to publishing the book in the UK, he and Pete's widow thought Pete would have liked it if Trouser Press Books would publish the book in the States. So we did, with an American edit and a slightly different cover (the main design is by Pete's son Spike).
It is certainly an original idea, a provocative and almost random realization that became an extraordinary book. Pete was an amazingly intelligent man, knowledgeable about many things. Conversations with him were always full of digressions and surprising connections, so I was not entirely surprised that he thought to write a book about the surprising coincidence -- and cultural dissonance -- of Frank Sinatra's "New York New York" being recorded within weeks of the Clash's "London Calling." The songs could not be less similar, but their chronological synchronicity was all Pete needed to dive headlong into a research project about the songs, the cities, their impact, their history and so much more.
What has the reception to the book been like so far?
The reviews have been unanimously positive. Dave Fricke chose to build an entire episode of his SiriusXM show Writer's Block around the book. We got rave blurbs from Chris Salewicz, author of the definitive Joe Strummer biography Redemption Song, as well as the legendary Lenny Kaye, Clash videographer and Big Audio Dynamite co-founder Don Letts and Anglo-American author Tony Fletcher. The book has been favorably reviewed by Louder Than War, NYS Music, Tracking Angle, Jambands.com and other outlets.
I just hope more people buy it and read it. This is a very special book, and I'm very proud to have published it.
Do you know if any of the surviving members of The Clash have read it?
I don't. I know the British publisher was in touch with Clash drummer Topper Headon about it, but I don't know what the result was.
What's coming up for the rest of the year on Trouser Press Books?
We recently published a really entertaining and thoughtful rock novel, King Cal, by Atlanta musician/writer Peter McDade. Our fall release will be You've Got Michael, a fascinating memoir by former record executive Dan Beck about working closely with Michael Jackson in the 1990s.
And we'll have a booth at the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 21st.
Can you recommend some favorite music books from any era that our open-minded readers might enjoy?
Not mentioning anything I've had a hand in...
Nick Tosches: Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll
Pete Frame: The Restless Generation
Mark Lewisohn: The Beatles: All These Years, Volume 1
Kristin Hersh: Don't Suck, Don't Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt
John Cooper Clarke: I Wanna Be Yours
Bob Mehr: Trouble Boys
David Hajdu: Positively Fourth Street
Greg Tate: Flyboy in the Buttermilk
RJ Smith: The One
Colin Cross et al: Encyclopedia of British Beat Groups of the Sixties
Paul Oliver: The Story of the Blues
Nick Kent: The Dark Stuff
Previously in our Q+A series:
Donna-Claire Chesman on How CRYBABY Came to Her in a Dream
Cary Baker on His First Book and How Busking Can Help Main Street USA
Gina Arnold on The Oxford Handbook of Punk Rock and Working with Academic Publishers
Tom Beaujour on His New Lollapalooza Book and Producing Successful Oral Histories
John Morrison on Boyz II Men and Chronicling Philadelphia Music History
Lyndsey Parker on Writing a 'Stranger Than Fiction' Memoir with Mercy Fontenot
Christina Ward on Running Feral House, a 36-Year-Old Indie Book Company
Ali Smith on Speedball Baby and Telling Stories Without Shame
Arusa Qureshi on Her Love Letter to Women in UK Hip-Hop
Lily Moayeri on Her Favorite Music Books and Writing from a Personal Place
Megan Volpert on Why Alanis Morissette Matters and Writing 15 Books in 18 Years
Mark Swartz on Biggie + Yoko Ono as a Crime-Fighting Duo and Other Fictional Ideas
Annie Zaleski on Cher, Stevie Nicks and Pushing Past Writing Fears
Nelson George on His Next Book and Making Mixtapes in Paper Form
Michaelangelo Matos on Writing and Editing Music Books
Thanks for this Tamara. I am planning to write about it on my own SS at greater length than I could on a blurb, and this helps flesh out my understanding of its origins. Ira was a great guest on my Fanzine podcast not too long back and London Calling New York New York is, certainly, a fascinating book.