FAILURE IS ALWAYS AN OPTION: STEVE MASON in conversation

Scottish singer songwriter and founding member of the Beta Band Steve Mason has long been at the centre of tales of unruly non-conformism and destructive self-sabotage. Now in this long-awaited autobiography he sets the record straight (well, straight-ish) with his wildly funny, brilliantly told memoir of youth culture, failure, success, sadness and redemption.

Over the course of these pages, I will airdrop you in – and implausibly – extract you out of some of the most interesting moments of my life. I will try to stick mostly to the truth, or my truth anyway, but I never ever let the truth get in the way of a good story so, you know, think on.

Now, allow me to push you out of the aircraft and straight into the action. Not the heart of the darkness but a relatively relaxed period in which me and my bandmates really were Rock Stars. Or a kind of rock star anyway. What kind?

Well, that plays out over the course of these pages, but certainly not your average reactionary rock stars who are rebels right up to the point when the first royalty cheque arrives. Anyway, no time for that now, don’t bother checking your parachute, I did it earlier, you are up next and GO! GO! GO!