Site last updated 9/6/25
Cover image by Travis Elborough
Cover image by Travis Elborough
JORDAN UNCOVERED: EXHIBITION AT THE COLONY ROOM GREEN,
1 JULY-22 AUGUST
1 JULY-21 AUGUST 2025
COLONY ROOM GREEN, 4 HEDDON STREET, LONDON W1
10AM-10PM FREE ENTRANCE
Celebrating the life of Jordan on what would have been her 70th birthday, this exhibition, curated by ANDREW JAMES and DARREN COFFIELD brings together a treasure trove of unseen photographs from her family album in the fabulous surroundings of the Colony Room Green.
To coincide with the exhibition two limited edition prints of Jordan will be available to purchase with all proceeds going to Jordan’s favourite charity, Cats Protection.
PRESS INFORMATION from [email protected] / [email protected] Tel: + (0)7768 310038 | | Tel: + (0)7927 574720
COLONY ROOM GREEN, 4 HEDDON STREET, LONDON W1
10AM-10PM FREE ENTRANCE
Celebrating the life of Jordan on what would have been her 70th birthday, this exhibition, curated by ANDREW JAMES and DARREN COFFIELD brings together a treasure trove of unseen photographs from her family album in the fabulous surroundings of the Colony Room Green.
To coincide with the exhibition two limited edition prints of Jordan will be available to purchase with all proceeds going to Jordan’s favourite charity, Cats Protection.
PRESS INFORMATION from [email protected] / [email protected] Tel: + (0)7768 310038 | | Tel: + (0)7927 574720
DEFYING GRAVITY: NEW OMNIBUS REMASTERED EDITION OUT NOW!
"If you've never read a book about punk, this is the only one you'll ever need" – JULIE BURCHILL
First published in 2018, DEFYING GRAVITY told for the first time the story of JORDAN – the woman DEREK JARMAN cast as our punk Britannia and of whom ADAM ANT said: "Jordan created punk rock. She was selling it on the front line." A no-holds-barred account of her journey from ballet lessons in sleepy Seaford to front page tabloid infamy as the frontwoman at SEX and SEDITIONARIES and consort of the SEX PISTOLS, Jordan and friends told the story from the eye of the storm that was the greatest youth culture rebellion of the 20th century – and its aftermath. With an introduction by JON SAVAGE and contributions from VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, PAUL COOK, HOLLY JOHNSON, MARCO PIRRONI, DOROTHY MAX PRIOR and Jordan's partner behind the SEX/SEDITIONARIES counter MICHAEL COLLINS the book also contains exclusive photos by SIMON BARKER, SHEILA ROCK and HARRI PECCINOITTI.
The new edition is available from HERE
First published in 2018, DEFYING GRAVITY told for the first time the story of JORDAN – the woman DEREK JARMAN cast as our punk Britannia and of whom ADAM ANT said: "Jordan created punk rock. She was selling it on the front line." A no-holds-barred account of her journey from ballet lessons in sleepy Seaford to front page tabloid infamy as the frontwoman at SEX and SEDITIONARIES and consort of the SEX PISTOLS, Jordan and friends told the story from the eye of the storm that was the greatest youth culture rebellion of the 20th century – and its aftermath. With an introduction by JON SAVAGE and contributions from VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, PAUL COOK, HOLLY JOHNSON, MARCO PIRRONI, DOROTHY MAX PRIOR and Jordan's partner behind the SEX/SEDITIONARIES counter MICHAEL COLLINS the book also contains exclusive photos by SIMON BARKER, SHEILA ROCK and HARRI PECCINOITTI.
The new edition is available from HERE
NEW! GET DOWN TO THE DEFYING GRAVITY PLAYLIST
Dance to some of Jordan's favourite tunes HERE
For this playlist, Cathi selected songs that tell Jordan's story in sounds, bringing together some of her inspirations and key people who joined her in a life spent DEFYING GRAVITY.
For this playlist, Cathi selected songs that tell Jordan's story in sounds, bringing together some of her inspirations and key people who joined her in a life spent DEFYING GRAVITY.
NEW EVENT! CATHI TALKS TO EDWARD TUDOR-POLE FOR SOHEMIANS, TUES 17 JUNE, UPSTAIRS AT FITZROVIA TAVERN, 7PM
UPSTAIRS AT THE FITZROY TAVERN, 16 CHARLOTTE STREET, LONDON W1T 2LY
TUESDAY 17 JUNE, 6.30 FOR 7PM
Cathi talks to Tenpole Tudor frontman and Guardian of The Crystal Maze ED TUDOR-POLE about his fantastic new memoir THE PEN IS MIGHTIER. From auditioning for the Sex Pistols to avoiding murder on the District Line, hair-raising adventures on set with Alex Cox to lessons in luvvidom with Sir Ralph Richardson and Rex Harrison, Ed has done it all!
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT
TUESDAY 17 JUNE, 6.30 FOR 7PM
Cathi talks to Tenpole Tudor frontman and Guardian of The Crystal Maze ED TUDOR-POLE about his fantastic new memoir THE PEN IS MIGHTIER. From auditioning for the Sex Pistols to avoiding murder on the District Line, hair-raising adventures on set with Alex Cox to lessons in luvvidom with Sir Ralph Richardson and Rex Harrison, Ed has done it all!
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT
NEW EVENT! CATHI'S GUIDED WALK THROUGH LADBROKE GROVE'S CRIMINAL PAST, 22 JUNE, 2.30PM, STARTS AT HOLLAND PARK TUBE
SUNDAY 22 JUNE, 2.30PM, OUTSIDE HOLLAND PARK TUBE
Cathi will be hosting a “Ladbroke Grove’s Criminal Past” walk for The Sohemian Society. It focusses on her research for BAD PENNY BLUES about the unsolved 1959-65 killings of eight women who lived and/or worked in W11 and their tragic fates after liaisons made in the pubs and doorways of what was then London's biggest red light district. The landscape that Colin MacInnes called "our Little Napoli" in Absolute Beginners features a cast of characters drawn from real life residents of the era, including Joe Meek and Pauline Boty.
Tickets are available from HERE
Image by PAUL WILLETTS
Cathi will be hosting a “Ladbroke Grove’s Criminal Past” walk for The Sohemian Society. It focusses on her research for BAD PENNY BLUES about the unsolved 1959-65 killings of eight women who lived and/or worked in W11 and their tragic fates after liaisons made in the pubs and doorways of what was then London's biggest red light district. The landscape that Colin MacInnes called "our Little Napoli" in Absolute Beginners features a cast of characters drawn from real life residents of the era, including Joe Meek and Pauline Boty.
Tickets are available from HERE
Image by PAUL WILLETTS
NEW EVENT! CATHI AND NICK TRIPLOW TALK BRIGHTON ROCK AT HULL CENTRAL LIBRARY, 5 JULY AT 7PM
SATURDAY 5 JULY, 7PM-9.45PM
HULL CENTRAL LIBRARY, ALBION STREET, HULL HU1 3TF
TICKETS £5 FROM HERE
Cathi is delighted to be back at a HULL NOIR event at Hull Central Library to talk about The Boulting Brothers' classic adaption of Graham Greene's ultimate entertainment BRIGHTON ROCK, with fellow noir author NICK TRIPLOW. A screening of the 1948 film with Dickie Attenborough and William Hartnell will follow. Bring your padded shoulders, houndstooth checks, wide ties and trilbies and join us HERE
HULL CENTRAL LIBRARY, ALBION STREET, HULL HU1 3TF
TICKETS £5 FROM HERE
Cathi is delighted to be back at a HULL NOIR event at Hull Central Library to talk about The Boulting Brothers' classic adaption of Graham Greene's ultimate entertainment BRIGHTON ROCK, with fellow noir author NICK TRIPLOW. A screening of the 1948 film with Dickie Attenborough and William Hartnell will follow. Bring your padded shoulders, houndstooth checks, wide ties and trilbies and join us HERE
CATHI AT COLIN WILSON CONFERENCE 2025, SALON SCARLETT, 4 NOEL STREET, SOHO, JULY 7, 9.30AM-5PM
MONDAY 7 JULY
SALON SCARLETT, SCARLETT GREEN RESTAURANT, 4 NOEL STREET, SOHO, LONDON W1F 8GB
9.30AM-5PM, TICKETS FROM HERE
Cathi is delighted to be joining DARREN COFFIELD, LINDSAY SIVITER, CHRIS NELSON, DAVID MOORE, ANTHONY PEAKE, DAVID POWER, MATTHEW CONIAM and GARY LACHMAN at the fourth annual COLIN WILSON CONFERENCE in the heart of Soho. Cathi will be presenting her talk WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM? at 2.45PM
For full details, go HERE
SALON SCARLETT, SCARLETT GREEN RESTAURANT, 4 NOEL STREET, SOHO, LONDON W1F 8GB
9.30AM-5PM, TICKETS FROM HERE
Cathi is delighted to be joining DARREN COFFIELD, LINDSAY SIVITER, CHRIS NELSON, DAVID MOORE, ANTHONY PEAKE, DAVID POWER, MATTHEW CONIAM and GARY LACHMAN at the fourth annual COLIN WILSON CONFERENCE in the heart of Soho. Cathi will be presenting her talk WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM? at 2.45PM
For full details, go HERE
CATHI IN FORTEAN TIMES WEIRD CRIME SPECIAL EDITION
Cathi is delighted to be FORTEAN TIMES' 'MISTRESS OF CRIME', providing analysis and updates on the strangest cases from the bulging archives of the world’s foremost journal of strange phenomena.
From the horrific murders and cryptic puzzles of the BTK Killer to the enduring mystery of the unidentified man found poisoned on an Australian beach, this new special edition invites you to join the investigation and re-open the creepiest cold case files on the most baffling unsolved crimes. Were the Son of Sam murders part of a Satanic conspiracy? Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? Could alien mind control explain a spate of bizarre killings and suicides? Was the gruesome Black Dahlia case the work of a frustrated artist? Can you be hypnotised into committing murder? All this plus a buttock-stabbing phantom stalking London, the doggy detective of Blackburn and the ‘witchcraft murder’ that saw Scotland Yard’s Inspector Fabian defeated by a close-knit rural community… In newsagents now or from HERE
From the horrific murders and cryptic puzzles of the BTK Killer to the enduring mystery of the unidentified man found poisoned on an Australian beach, this new special edition invites you to join the investigation and re-open the creepiest cold case files on the most baffling unsolved crimes. Were the Son of Sam murders part of a Satanic conspiracy? Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? Could alien mind control explain a spate of bizarre killings and suicides? Was the gruesome Black Dahlia case the work of a frustrated artist? Can you be hypnotised into committing murder? All this plus a buttock-stabbing phantom stalking London, the doggy detective of Blackburn and the ‘witchcraft murder’ that saw Scotland Yard’s Inspector Fabian defeated by a close-knit rural community… In newsagents now or from HERE
CATHI TALKS TO RUPERT RUSSELL IN THE NEW
FORTEAN TIMES
Read Cathi's interview with RUPERT RUSSELL – director of the fantastic new documentary THE LAST SACRIFICE and son of the legendary KEN –in the new issue of FORTEAN TIMES out May 15. Find out how the unsolved Charles Walton Pitchfork Murder of 1945 that baffled Fabian of the Yard went on to inspire The Wicker Man and create the entire Folk Horror genre.
CATHI ON JORDAN AND LYDIA LUNCH IN THE IDLER
THE SWEETEST KITTENS HAVE THE SHARPEST CLAWS! In the new issue of The Idler, Cathi talks to LYDIA LUNCH who calls for us to "C*ntfront the C*ockocracy" of our current geopolitical nightmare. The genius of JORDAN, and her arrival on the King's Road in another time of chaos and anarchy is celebrated. Plus Miranda Sawyer on Keith Flint and Cathi's review of Ed Tudor Pole's wunderbar new biography. In shops and from www.idler.co.uk
Lydia pic by Jasmine Hirst, Jordan Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Special thanks to Jacob Smith and Simon Barker for helping us locate Jordan's favourite Harri Peccinotti pic for publication.
Lydia pic by Jasmine Hirst, Jordan Mirrorpix/Getty Images
Special thanks to Jacob Smith and Simon Barker for helping us locate Jordan's favourite Harri Peccinotti pic for publication.
"THE BIBLE OF GOTHIC ROCK" SEASON OF THE WITCH IS MONDO SONORO'S INTERNATIONAL
MUSIC BOOK OF THE
YEAR 2024
SEASON OF THE WITCH's Spanish sister has won Best International Music Book of the Year in Mondo Sonoro music magazine! For non-Spanish speakers, this is the translation:
It is the bible of gothic rock. Because of the breadth of its focus. For the personal involvement of its author, who experienced it first hand. For its erudition, its irony, its exhaustiveness and its literary tone. For talking not only about Joy Division, The Cure, Bauhaus, Lydia Lunch, The Cramps, The Cult, The Sister of Mercy, The Gun Club or Siouxsie and the Banshees, but also about Cocteau Twins, Echo and the Bunnymen and Einstürzende Neubauten. For threading together, albeit with a few decades of delay, the definitive history of this kind of unwritten genre to which almost nobody wanted to recognise after the death throes of punk. And to do so by reflecting an even more tenebrous reverse side: the government of Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1990.
It is the bible of gothic rock. Because of the breadth of its focus. For the personal involvement of its author, who experienced it first hand. For its erudition, its irony, its exhaustiveness and its literary tone. For talking not only about Joy Division, The Cure, Bauhaus, Lydia Lunch, The Cramps, The Cult, The Sister of Mercy, The Gun Club or Siouxsie and the Banshees, but also about Cocteau Twins, Echo and the Bunnymen and Einstürzende Neubauten. For threading together, albeit with a few decades of delay, the definitive history of this kind of unwritten genre to which almost nobody wanted to recognise after the death throes of punk. And to do so by reflecting an even more tenebrous reverse side: the government of Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1990.
A WATERSTONES BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2023
A TIMES BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2023
A MOJO BOOK OF 2023
A LOUDER THAN WAR BOOK OF 2023
NEW PAPERBACK EDITION
OUT NOW!
CATHI's horrible history of Goth out now in paperback! You can buy a copy HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE
FEATURING: Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, Magazine, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Lydia Lunch, JG Thirlwell, The Birthday Party, Soft Cell, Sisters of Mercy, Southern/Death/Cult, Theatre of Hate, New Model Army, Joolz, Marc & The Mambas, Echo & The Bunnymen, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, These Immortal Souls, Crime & The City Solution, Diamanda Galàs, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Virgin Prunes, Cocteau Twins, Danielle Dax, Cardiacs and more family favourites…
It opens 40 years ago, in the Winter of Discontent…
When months of industrial action have left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish piling up in the streets. After ten brutal homicides and the biggest police hunt in history, the Yorkshire Ripper is still at large and preparing to strike again. Punk has reached its bleak climax with the fatal overdose of Sid Vicious while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, from a hot dose supplied by his mother.
Unlikely alliances of outsiders prepare to seize power, set the political agenda and write the soundtrack for the years to come. Their figureheads are two very different kinds of dominatrices...
As Margaret Thatcher enters 10 Downing Street, four bands born of punk – Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, the Cure, and Magazine – find a way to distil the dissonance and darkness of the shifting decade into a new form of music. Pushing at the taboos the Sex Pistols had unlocked and dancing with the fetishistic, all will become global stars of Goth.
By the time Thatcher is cast out of office in 1990, the arrival of Goth will have imprinted its will on the cultural landscape as deeply as the Iron Lady herself.
This is the story of how Goth was shaped by the politics of an era – from the Cold War, the Miners' Strike, privatisation, The Troubles and AIDS – and how its outlaw imagery and innovative, atmospheric music spoke to a generation of alienated youths.
A fascinating social history, SEASON OF THE WITCH tells the tale of an enduring counter-culture, one that steadfastly refuses to give up the ghost.
THE CRITICS SAY:
"The Bible of Gothic Rock"
MONDO SONORO
INTERNATIONAL MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
"You'd be mad not to buy it": –
MICK MERCER
A freaking masterpiece" –
LYDIA LUNCH
"As monumental as its subject, a real temple of love" –
VICTORIA SEGAL, MOJO
"A cross between social history and Dickensian epic" – CLARE BIDDLES, THE WIRE
"A rich sourcebook of darkly cultural thrills" –
ROSS McFARLANE, FORTEAN TIMES
"Brilliantly written and contextualised. I couldn't put it down" –
MARTYN WARE, HEAVEN 17
"Season of the Witch is a panoramic view of the musical culture of the UK in the 1980s and its search for a voice to capture" –
GREIL MARCUS
"Cathi Unsworth brings darkness to light" –
JON SAVAGE
"An utterly compelling social history filled with passion, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. This is the essential account of all things Goth, the epic and intimate story of a great tribe that emerged from Thatcher’s Dark Ages" –
JAKE ARNOTT
"Season Of The Witch is to Goth what Jon Savage’s England’s Dreaming was to Punk… a magnificent, wild dissection of the music, the madness, and social dysfunction of the era that spawned it. Hail Unsworth" –
BILLY CHAINSAW,
former assistant, Siouxsie and The Banshees
"The First Lady of Noir seamlessly stitches politics, psychogeography and secret history into the most mesmerising musical tapestry of the Eighties, to create a Gothic masterpiece. I was spellbound" –
ANN SCANLON, author of The Pogues: The Lost Decade
ORIGINAL HARDBACK VERSION STILL AVAILABLE HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE!
FEATURING: Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Cure, Magazine, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Lydia Lunch, JG Thirlwell, The Birthday Party, Soft Cell, Sisters of Mercy, Southern/Death/Cult, Theatre of Hate, New Model Army, Joolz, Marc & The Mambas, Echo & The Bunnymen, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, These Immortal Souls, Crime & The City Solution, Diamanda Galàs, Einstürzende Neubauten, The Virgin Prunes, Cocteau Twins, Danielle Dax, Cardiacs and more family favourites…
It opens 40 years ago, in the Winter of Discontent…
When months of industrial action have left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish piling up in the streets. After ten brutal homicides and the biggest police hunt in history, the Yorkshire Ripper is still at large and preparing to strike again. Punk has reached its bleak climax with the fatal overdose of Sid Vicious while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, from a hot dose supplied by his mother.
Unlikely alliances of outsiders prepare to seize power, set the political agenda and write the soundtrack for the years to come. Their figureheads are two very different kinds of dominatrices...
As Margaret Thatcher enters 10 Downing Street, four bands born of punk – Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, the Cure, and Magazine – find a way to distil the dissonance and darkness of the shifting decade into a new form of music. Pushing at the taboos the Sex Pistols had unlocked and dancing with the fetishistic, all will become global stars of Goth.
By the time Thatcher is cast out of office in 1990, the arrival of Goth will have imprinted its will on the cultural landscape as deeply as the Iron Lady herself.
This is the story of how Goth was shaped by the politics of an era – from the Cold War, the Miners' Strike, privatisation, The Troubles and AIDS – and how its outlaw imagery and innovative, atmospheric music spoke to a generation of alienated youths.
A fascinating social history, SEASON OF THE WITCH tells the tale of an enduring counter-culture, one that steadfastly refuses to give up the ghost.
THE CRITICS SAY:
"The Bible of Gothic Rock"
MONDO SONORO
INTERNATIONAL MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
"You'd be mad not to buy it": –
MICK MERCER
A freaking masterpiece" –
LYDIA LUNCH
"As monumental as its subject, a real temple of love" –
VICTORIA SEGAL, MOJO
"A cross between social history and Dickensian epic" – CLARE BIDDLES, THE WIRE
"A rich sourcebook of darkly cultural thrills" –
ROSS McFARLANE, FORTEAN TIMES
"Brilliantly written and contextualised. I couldn't put it down" –
MARTYN WARE, HEAVEN 17
"Season of the Witch is a panoramic view of the musical culture of the UK in the 1980s and its search for a voice to capture" –
GREIL MARCUS
"Cathi Unsworth brings darkness to light" –
JON SAVAGE
"An utterly compelling social history filled with passion, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. This is the essential account of all things Goth, the epic and intimate story of a great tribe that emerged from Thatcher’s Dark Ages" –
JAKE ARNOTT
"Season Of The Witch is to Goth what Jon Savage’s England’s Dreaming was to Punk… a magnificent, wild dissection of the music, the madness, and social dysfunction of the era that spawned it. Hail Unsworth" –
BILLY CHAINSAW,
former assistant, Siouxsie and The Banshees
"The First Lady of Noir seamlessly stitches politics, psychogeography and secret history into the most mesmerising musical tapestry of the Eighties, to create a Gothic masterpiece. I was spellbound" –
ANN SCANLON, author of The Pogues: The Lost Decade
ORIGINAL HARDBACK VERSION STILL AVAILABLE HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE!
CATHI IN PAULINE BOTY, I AM THE SIXTIES
Cathi is featured in Mark Baxter and Vincent Rawding's documentary on the Queen of the Pop Artists PAULINE BOTY: I AM THE SIXTIES, screened on BBC4 on 1 March. The film is available to watch HERE.
SEASON OF THE WITCH IN THE INDEPENDENT
Read ED POWER's Valentine's Day article on the Gen Z Gothic Revial, featuring SEASON OF THE WITCH HERE
RADIO SOHEMIA IS ON THE AIR!
NEW EPISIDE: PAUL WILLETTS TALKS TO GHOSTLAND AUTHOR EDWARD PARNELL
The Sohemian Society has launched a bi-weekly podcast, Radio Sohemia, which provides free access to recordings of live events as well as interviews that didn’t take place in front of an audience.
Our new episode consists of a conversation between writers PAUL WILLETTS and EDWARD PARNELL, author of GHOSTLAND, a magnificent and moving memoir of life and loss in our haunted countryside, where the shades of Arthur Machen and M R James mix with more malevolant revenants like Lord Summerisle.
Tune in HERE or HERE
Our new episode consists of a conversation between writers PAUL WILLETTS and EDWARD PARNELL, author of GHOSTLAND, a magnificent and moving memoir of life and loss in our haunted countryside, where the shades of Arthur Machen and M R James mix with more malevolant revenants like Lord Summerisle.
Tune in HERE or HERE
NEW FEATURES: CATHI IN RECORD COLLECTOR SIOUXISE & THE BANSHEES SPECIAL EDITION, OUT NOW
Cathi is delighted to have two articles included in RECORD COLLECTOR's new SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES SPECIAL EDITION. Alongside Banshees experts and authors Kriss Needs, Wesley Doyle, Laurence Hedges, Chris Roberts, Cathi takes a look back at The Scream and interviews the legendary BILLY CHAINSAW, editor of THE BANSHEES FILE, keeper of the Fan Club and the band's PA from 1979-91. In all good newsagents now or from HERE.
NEW CROATIAN EDITION LOV NA VJESTICE
OUT NOW
SEASON OF THE WITCH's beautifully designed Croatian sister LOV NA VJESTICE is out now from ROCKMARK publishing. If you speak the language of the Count, you can order an edition or find out more HERE, HERE and HERE
• Read SOUND REPORT's review HERE
• Read SOUND REPORT's review HERE
NEW SEASON OF THE WITCH PLAYLIST!
This new and more extensive Spotify playlist was created by Spanish publisher Didac Aparicio for TEMPORADA DE BRUJAS – that's SEASON OF THE WITCH in Spanish, due on 6 MARCH from Contra publishing with a new introduction from Ana Cura. Listen HERE
NEW SPANISH EDITION:
TEMPORADA DE BRUJAS INTERNATIONAL MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR IN MONDO SONORO
The SPANISH edition of SEASON OF THE WITCH, available from CONTRA publishing, has just been voted Mondosonor's International Music Book of 2024. Beautifully designed and with photographs and extensive new footnotes throughout, it comes complete with a beautiful bookmark! For more information go HERE
• TEMPORADA DE BRUJAS in El Diario HERE
• In Mondo Sonoro HERE
• In El Periódico HERE
• AUDIO interview with Gustavo Iglesias of Radio 3 (Spain) HERE (starts 20 mins in)
DEFYING GRAVITY
NEW JAPANESE EDITION
NOW AVAILABLE
The Japanese edition of DEFYING GRAVITY: JORDAN'S STORY is available now, with an amazing LIMITED EDITION BOX SET packed full of goodies!
To order, please go HERE
To order, please go HERE
CATHI'S QUIETUS LOW CULTURE ESSAY ON TIM SMITH
THE QUIETUS asked Cathi to commemorate the recent SING TO TIM gigs with this Low Culture essay HERE. Please note, this is behind a subscriber paywall – but other Cardiacs articles are available from THE QUIETUS HERE, while news of more gigs and Cardiacs/Spratleys Marc Riley and Gideon Coe session can be found HERE
NEW AUDIO! CATHI ON NEW MUSIKAL CHAIRS – PARTS 1 AND 2
Cathi joins host JONATHAN 'J' CRIDFORD to talk about the musical and politcal climate of SEASON OF THE WITCH in part 1 of an extensive interview. In PART 2, up next week, we'll be selecting a Goth soundtrack to get dressed up to from records made before 1984. For YouTube visial version go HERE
For Soundcloud go HERE and for Spotify go HERE
PART 2 – Our Top Ten Goth abums made before 1984 now available HERE
For Soundcloud go HERE and for Spotify go HERE
PART 2 – Our Top Ten Goth abums made before 1984 now available HERE
CATHI ON ELECTRONICALLY YOURS PODCAST WITH
MARTYN WARE
Cathi talks to HEAVEN 17/BEF/HUMAN LEAGUE's Martyn Ware about SEASON OF THE WITCH, life in the Eighties and how the best of music was made from the worst of times. Tune in HERE
OUT NOW: CATHI IN SCALA!!!
JANE GILES and ALI CATTERALL's amazing documentary of the world's greatest fleapit, SCALA!!! Or, the Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits charts a story very similar to the one told in SEASON OF THE WITCH, about life in Thatcher's Britain and how the infamous SCALA cinema sheltered a generation of weirdos, feeding them a steady diet of high art and cult classic cinema, sexploitation, horror, Kung-Fu and LGBTQIA+.
For more on the film and its DVD go HERE
For more on the film and its DVD go HERE
CATHI IN AUXILLIARY MAGAZINE
Cathi is delighted to be included in the Winter edition of the fabulous AUXILLIARY MAGAZINE, a beautiful publication dedicated to subculture fashion, music and lifestyle. This issue is devoted to darker subcultures from goth to post-punk and also features Yasaman Gheidi of Blackwood Castle, The Wake, Witch Baby Soap, Coffin Goblin, AR+, La Sorgente Pagana, , Zoetica Ebb, Disjecta Membra, Chiffon Magnifique, Mildreda, Shadow Age, Andrea Hunter, Katakomb, and more. A long form delicacy full of interviews, editorials, articles, and reviews. To grab your issue, go HERE
CATHI IN
SHEPHERD FOR AUTHORS
Cathi has picked five books that inspired her on her way to writing SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH for the website Shepherd For Authors. Read all about it HERE
CATHI ON THE JAMES McMAHON MUSIC PODCAST
Cathi talks to host JAMES McMAHON about Dennis Wheatley and Margaret Thatcher, Aleister Crowley and Arthur Daley, The Rendlesham Incident and The Cramps and many more fertile Goth Leylines. Tune in HERE
REFLECTIONS ON SOTW IN TOXIC GRAFITY
TOXIC GRAFITY's MIKE DIBOLL gets his motor running and takes an epic ride around SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH HERE
Illustration by HYD
Illustration by HYD
CATHI ON DRESS: FANCY
Cathi was delighted to be asked by host LUCY CLAYTON to talk all things GOTH for her HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! Pull up a pumpkin and join us HERE
CATHI ON WORD IN YOUR EAR LIVE
Cathi was delighted to be a guest on WORD IN YOUR EAR LIVE at 21Soho on 25 September. You can hear her conversation with hosts MARK ELLEN and DAVID HEPWORTH on all matters Goth HERE
CATHI ON BETTER KNOWN PODCAST
IVAN WISE invited Cathi onto his incredibly interesting Better Known podcast. All Ivan's guests get to talk about six people or things that should be better known – Cathi chose:
The magazine Fortean Times
Getting to know London's secrets by going for long walks
The noir writer Derek Raymond
The pop artist Pauline Boty
The publisher London Books
The musician Tim Smith
Listen in HERE
Photo by Travis Elborough
The magazine Fortean Times
Getting to know London's secrets by going for long walks
The noir writer Derek Raymond
The pop artist Pauline Boty
The publisher London Books
The musician Tim Smith
Listen in HERE
Photo by Travis Elborough
CATHI IN
THE IRISH TIMES
CATHI IN
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
CATHI ON FOXY RADIO
Cathi talks Goth with Peter Fox and plays ten classics from the crypt. Listen again HERE
CATHI IN UAL SUBCULTURES
Cathi is interviewed by London College of Fashion's KEVIN QUINN about SEASON OF THE WITCH in this in-depth feature, with photos by DEREK RIDGERS (above) and DAVID ARNOFF. Read all about it HERE
CATHI ON SUZI'S BOOK BAG
Cathi talks to host SUZI FEAY – who served her own Goth apprenticeship in Leeds during the glory years of 1981-3 – about SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH. And all matters pertaining to it. Tune in, turn on, burn out HERE
CATHI ON THE BOOKS PODCAST
Cathi talks to host TIM HAIGH about SEASON OF THE WITCH and how the turbulent reign of Margaret Thatcher shaped Goth's musical response. Tune in HERE
CATHI IN THE HERALD
CATHI ON
WORD IN YOUR EAR
Cathi joins hosts MARK ELLEN and DAVID HEPWORTH to talk cider and black, hanging round in graveyards, using orange juice to spike up your hair and much more HERE
CATHI ON BRITFLICKS PODCAST
Cathi joins host STUART WRIGHT to select Three Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955), WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (Bryan Forbes, 1961) and GOODFELLAS (Martin Scorsese, 1990). Find out what these cinematic gems have to do with SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH HERE
CATHI ON C86
Cathi joins host David Eastlaugh in his Time Tunnel to the Eighties to talk about the dark psychic weather of SEASON OF THE WITCH and Goth's response to the Thatcher reign. Tune in, turn on, burn out HERE
CATHI IN THE WIRE
SEASON OF THE WITCH REVIEWED IN 3AM
Read Nicky Charlish's in-depth review HERE
CATHI ON RADIO 4 FRONT ROW
Listen to Cathi talking Goth with Samira Ahmed HERE
CATHI ON
THE LYDIAN SPIN
Cathi discusses SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH with her very own Gothmother LYDIA LUNCH HERE
CATHI IN
OUTSIDELEFT MUSIC
Thanks to Alan Rider for his thoughtful review of SEASON OF THE WITCH: THE BOOK OF GOTH HERE
And full interview with Cathi HERE
And full interview with Cathi HERE
CATHI IN THE IDLER
Read Cathi's article on Goth in the new edition of The Idler, available online HERE. Photo of Nick and Lydia by David Arnoff, from his new book SHOT IN THE DARK.
SEASON OF THE WITCH IN MOONBUILDING
SEASON OF THE WITCH IN CLASSIC POP
IT'S GOTH OF THE POPS WITH CATHI IN 3AM MAGAZINE
It’s Thursday night, it’s seven o’clock, it’s Goth of the Pops! Cathi Unsworth is in the Videodrome with Andrew Stevens revisiting five Eighties Goth classics, ahead of her Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth, out May 11 (Nine Eight Books).
DEFYING GRAVITY
New paperback edition
out now
"IF YOU'VE NEVER READ A BOOK ABOUT PUNK, THIS IS THE ONLY ONE YOU'LL EVER NEED"
– Julie Burchill, The New Statesman
The image of Jordan with her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop cylture. From the counter of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's taboo-busting shop on 240 King's Road, she helped shape a revolution.
But who was the woman behind it all? How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to the eye of punk's storm? What happened after all her hair-raising adventures with The Sex Pistols, Adam and The Ants, Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol when she just disappeared?
With commetary from key players and close friends including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson, and her partner behind the SEX counter, Michael Collins – plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti and a specially commissioned cover by Graham Humphreys – Jordan reveals her outrageous life story. Buckle up for a masterclass in true punk spirit.
To order one, go HERE
Limited edition Slipcase and Boxed Set editions of Defying Gravity signed by Jordan are still available.
For the Slipcase edition, go HERE
For the Boxed Set, go HERE
See more of our previous adventures on our DEFYING GRAVITY page
– Julie Burchill, The New Statesman
The image of Jordan with her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop cylture. From the counter of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's taboo-busting shop on 240 King's Road, she helped shape a revolution.
But who was the woman behind it all? How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to the eye of punk's storm? What happened after all her hair-raising adventures with The Sex Pistols, Adam and The Ants, Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol when she just disappeared?
With commetary from key players and close friends including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson, and her partner behind the SEX counter, Michael Collins – plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti and a specially commissioned cover by Graham Humphreys – Jordan reveals her outrageous life story. Buckle up for a masterclass in true punk spirit.
To order one, go HERE
Limited edition Slipcase and Boxed Set editions of Defying Gravity signed by Jordan are still available.
For the Slipcase edition, go HERE
For the Boxed Set, go HERE
See more of our previous adventures on our DEFYING GRAVITY page
BAD PENNY BLUES
New edition out now
London 1959: Police Constable Pete Bradley has done one year in the force and dreams of moving up. His destiny arrives when the body of a young woman is dumped on the banks of the Thames. She’s the first in a series of murders whose naked victims are left in and along the river. Pete’s search for the phantom killer will lead him deep into London’s underbelly as the 1960s start to swing.
Meanwhile Stella Reade, an art student living in bohemian Ladbroke Grove, is woken by terrifying nightmares that echo the last hours of the murdered women – all of whom have been plucked from the streets around her home. Streets where fascists and Teddy boys, migrants and anarchists chase illicit thrills with gangsters and lords.
Bad Penny Blues is based on the Thames Towpath case of 1959-65, which sparked the biggest manhunt in Metropolitan Police history but was never solved.
“Cathi Unsworth has been compared to cult noirist Derek Raymond. Here she enters a pantheon of writers exploring London lowlife that extends from Patrick Hamilton and Colin MacInnes” Christopher Fowler, Financial Times
To order a copy go HERE
To hear Cathi discussing the book with Travis Elborough go HERE
Meanwhile Stella Reade, an art student living in bohemian Ladbroke Grove, is woken by terrifying nightmares that echo the last hours of the murdered women – all of whom have been plucked from the streets around her home. Streets where fascists and Teddy boys, migrants and anarchists chase illicit thrills with gangsters and lords.
Bad Penny Blues is based on the Thames Towpath case of 1959-65, which sparked the biggest manhunt in Metropolitan Police history but was never solved.
“Cathi Unsworth has been compared to cult noirist Derek Raymond. Here she enters a pantheon of writers exploring London lowlife that extends from Patrick Hamilton and Colin MacInnes” Christopher Fowler, Financial Times
To order a copy go HERE
To hear Cathi discussing the book with Travis Elborough go HERE
LYDIA LUNCH TALKS TO CATHI ABOUT THE WAR IS NEVER OVER
From Sheffield Documentary Festival 2021, Lydia talks to Cathi about Beth B's documentary about her life's work, THE WAR IS NEVER OVER. Go HERE to view.
CATHI "TOO GOOD NOT TO BE CRAZY FAMOUS"
Cathi joins a list of 12 noir writers from around the globe who are considered by Criminal Element's GREG LEVIN: "Too good not to be crazy famous." You can read the whole story – and pick up some more top tips for your noir reading pleasure HERE
WATCH OUR TED TALK WITH DAVID PEACE, MARTYN WAITES, NICK TRIPLOW AND CATHI HERE
Cathi joined David Peace, Martyn Waites and Ted Lewis' biographer Nick Triplow to pay tribute to the life and influence of Ted Lewis in this Crowdcast event from No Exit Press and Crime Time UK. You can see it HERE
CATHI SAYS:
I LOVE LIBRARIES!
WESTMINSTER LIBRARIES – my local group of libraries in Ladbroke Grove, Paddington and West End Central – asked me to make a short video explaining how libraries have helped inspire and inform me my whole life. You can watch the video HERE via Facebook and HERE via Twitter. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
A TRIBUTE TO TIM SMITH
A mighty oak crashed down in the magic musical kingdom of my life with the passing of Tim Smith. Some years ago 3AM let me write about Cardiacs when The Leader of the Starry Skies album came out. My thanks to Andrew Stevens for restoring the feature with new links to some of Tim's most incredible songs that mean the most to me. I would also just like to send love and deepest sympathy to the entire Cardiacs family: Jim, Billiam Dee, Kavus, Sarah, Dominic, Tim Quy, Alan James, Bic Haynes and Jo Spratley who helped me so much with this feature. Everything I want to say is written HERE
THE SINGER MAKES THE INDEPENDENT'S TOP 25 CRIME NOVELS TO READ DURING LOCKDOWN
The Independent's Sarah Hughes has put The Singer in her 25 lesser-known crime titles to read during Lockdown, in a fantastic list that begins with Alexander Baron's King Dido. Get the full SP HERE
WEIRDO NAMED IN
THE TIMES TOP TEN
CRIME NOVELS OF
THE PAST DECADE!
Many thanks to MARK SANDERSON for elevating Weirdo to the upper echelons of the past decade's crime novels The Times. His review reads:
Cathi Unsworth is a brilliant writer who would be far better known were it not for her refusal to repeat herself. Her fourth and best novel is set in a seaside town not unlike her native Great Yarmouth. Swinging between the Eighties and the Noughties, it is essentially a game of cat-and-mouse between a private eye and a retired cop responsible for more than one miscarriage of justie. Teenage angst, police corruption and witchcraft combine in a full-blooded neo- noir.
The other writers in the Top Ten are Peter Temple (Truth), Ruth Rendell (The Vault), Ruth Dudley Edwards (Killing The Emperors), Karin Slaughter (Cop Town), Ian Rankin (Even Dogs In The Wild), Fred Vargas (A Climate of Fear), Denise Mina (The Long Drop), George Pelecanos (The Man Who Came Down) and Jo Nesbo (Knife) – so the little oddball is in good company!
Cathi Unsworth is a brilliant writer who would be far better known were it not for her refusal to repeat herself. Her fourth and best novel is set in a seaside town not unlike her native Great Yarmouth. Swinging between the Eighties and the Noughties, it is essentially a game of cat-and-mouse between a private eye and a retired cop responsible for more than one miscarriage of justie. Teenage angst, police corruption and witchcraft combine in a full-blooded neo- noir.
The other writers in the Top Ten are Peter Temple (Truth), Ruth Rendell (The Vault), Ruth Dudley Edwards (Killing The Emperors), Karin Slaughter (Cop Town), Ian Rankin (Even Dogs In The Wild), Fred Vargas (A Climate of Fear), Denise Mina (The Long Drop), George Pelecanos (The Man Who Came Down) and Jo Nesbo (Knife) – so the little oddball is in good company!
