David Bramwell interview - www.rcommendr.com

Can you tell us little bit about your lates book Outlandish?

Outlandish is a new compendium of biographies, journeys and short stories, united by themes of counterculture, outlandish behaviour and those who choose to take ‘the road less travelled.’ Some are previously unpublished, others have featured in the likes of the Guardian and The Idler.

There’s the story of filmmaker Andrew Kotting’s pilgrimage around the world with a giant, inflatable ‘deadad’; the extraordinary eleven-year odyssey of Evita’s mummified corpse, an ethnobotanist’s search for the psychedelic secrets of the Amazon and an account of how Marina Abramovic and (then) partner Ulay walked the Great Wall of China in 1985 from opposite ends, only to spilt up when they finally met in the middle. Elsewhere are biographies of Pop Art nun Sister Corita Kent, the singer and human rights activist Paul Robeson, psychonaut Amanda Feilding, theosophist Madam Blavatsky and hirsute wizard and author, Alan Moore. At the very end – and with dazzling illustrations from Nye Wright – is a Brighton-based graphic tale that incorporates the town’s hidden river, Aleister Crowley’s ashes and the occult talisman, the Hand of Glory.

What are you up to with Oddfellows Casino?

Oddfellow’s Casino rattle on into their 22nd year, making pastoral psych-folk pop weirdness. On February 28th we’re part of a Low tribute night at St George’s Church in Brighton. (That’s Low the band not the Bowie album, in case anyone was wondering.) We’ll be playing four of their songs, as will 8 other bands and performers. It’s free and will be a wonderful tribute to Mimi their singer and drummer who died in 2022. St George’s was always the band’s favourite venue to play in Brighton.

Later this year Oddfellow’s will be releasing a lathe-cut single on the Lathe of Heaven record label run by Graham Duff and releasing our 10th studio album, Silver for the Aegir. Busy year for us!

Will you be returning the Odditorium to the Brighton Festival this year?

The Brighton Spiegltent where I run The Odditorium each May, is on hiatus this year, owing to the council redevelopment of the Steine Gardens areas where it normally resides. Instead I’ll be doing a few separate events in different venues in April and May. Guests confirmed already include Stanley Donwood, Travis Elborough, Max Decharne and (TBC) poet Ella Frears.

What book have you enjoyed reading most in the last few months?

Ella Frears’ Goodlord. It’s an email to a letting agency that turns into a raw, funny, confessional, stomach-churning, poetical semi-fictionalised autobiography that in turn also exposes the dark forces of capitalist greed that have led to our housing crisis and the stark realities that millions, like Ella, face. And the writing is just electrifying.

What Brighton band do you think deserved more attention?

On our Dust LP back in 2016 Oddfellow’s did two cover versions of songs by former Brighton bands Clearlake and Chimp. Jason Pegg of Clearlake is truly a gifted songwriter. I’d urge everyone to seek out The Mind is Evil, Trees in the City, and Wonder if the Snow Will Settle. Chimp only made a couple of albums before splitting up in the late 90s. Can’t Stop; On Fire is a favourite. We covered Mir which is timeless and beautiful song.

If you didn’t like in Brighton where would you live?

Hove

What projects have you got planned for 2024?

I’ve a new book coming out in April, co-written with former head druid and psychotherapist Philip Carr-Gomm,: The Long Man and Friends: Sacred Sussex. It’s a little too early to say 100% but it’s looking hopeful for another publishing deal with a book idea that you suggested to me a year ago! Again, it’s another collaboration, this time with Stephen Coates (Bureau of Lost culture podcast), Annebella Pollen (Kindred of the Kibbo Kift) and other authors.