Spaceships Over Glasgow by Stuart Braithwaite
A natural, and often painfully honest, autobiography, Stuart Braithwaite tells of his riotous journey with Mogwai, including all the emotional bumps in the road
The best autobiographies should have a clear and recognisable authorial voice. Stuart Braithwaite’s Spaceships Over Glasgow: Mogwai, Mayhem, and Misspent Youth does this beautifully. From the start it’s obvious that this is a natural, and often painfully honest, storyteller.
Reading this book is like being in the pub with a friend who has all the best stories. Braithwaite makes for warm and welcome company as he recalls his childhood and early obsessions, and then the often riotous life on and off the road with Mogwai. Throughout he seems truly delighted to be making music. There are, often emotional, bumps in the road, in no small part due to an excessive lifestyle which he takes an often-shamefaced delight in recounting, but most of the time he revels in being with, and making music with, friends.
It’s the story of a fan who got to live his dream, but the young boy who pored over liner notes and used fake ID to get into gigs is always present. I’ll admit that it’s a book I was destined to be drawn to – our young lives were very similar – and Spaceships Over Glasgow may not have such a strong effect on others who don’t see similar connections, but I’m willing to bet it will. The memoir is not only for fans of Stuart Braithwaite and Mogwai, it’s for music obsessives everywhere.