Bob Stanley in conversation with Wendy Erskine

In Let’s Do It, the prequel to his universally acclaimed Yeah Yeah Yeah, Bob Stanley paints an aural portrait of pop music’s formative years with stunning clarity, uncovering the silver threads and golden needles that bind the form together. 

From ragtime, blues and jazz to Broadway, country, crooning and beyond, come along and join Bob, who will be in conversation with Belfast-based author Wendy Erskine, reflecting on the eclectic early years and evolution of pop music. 

Bob Stanley is a writer, musician, DJ and film producer. Since founding influential pop group Saint Etienne, Bob has enjoyed a parallel career as a music journalist, contributing to publications such as The Times, Smash Hits, NME, the Guardian and the Face. A former artist-in-residence at the Southbank Centre, his films have been shown at the BFI, ICA and Royal Festival Hall, and he has curated several seasons for the Barbican. He is the author of Yeah Yeah Yeah, which was the Sunday Times Pop Music Book of the Year and a Rough Trade Book of the Year. His most recent book was the critically acclaimed Excavate: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall, co-edited with Tessa Norton.

Wendy Erskine is a Belfast-based writer. Her debut short story collection, Sweet Home, was published by The Stinging Fly Press and Picador. It was shortlisted for The Republic of Consciousness Prize and The Edge Hill Prize and longlisted for The Gordon Burn Prize. It won the Butler Literary Prize and was optioned for TV. Her new collection, Dance Move, was published in February 2022 by Stinging Fly and Picador.