In a small town in the South Wales valleys, recovering drug-addict and nascent guitar-hero Jase Hopkins decides that the only way he can make something of himself is to finally form that band he's been talking about ever since time. Unfortunately, the best singer within a fifty-mile radius is a washed-up Tom Jones impersonator - who just happens to be his estranged father.
A story set in contemporary Britain; its subject matter - relationships, mistakes, and the potency of cheap music.
“I've read loads of stories about people wanting to be a rock god - this one begins at the moment our hero gives up on his dream of being the next Bono/Morrissey/Thom Yorke. So the end of most music stories is the start of this one, and it makes for a refreshingly different rock-read. I picked it up to read on the beach, found myself sitting down to finish it off as soon as I got home.” Gary Owen (playwright)
Othniel Smith's previous work includes a number of plays for BBC Radio Four, including "Thank-You For Talking To Me Africa" (1994), and "Man Talk" (2001); as well as the stage play "Giant Steps", which ran at the Oval House, London and Cardiff's Chapter in 1998 (and is published in "New Welsh Drama II", ed. Jeff Teare, Parthian Books, 2001). He was one of the authors of “The Exquisite Corpse”, which was performed by the theatre company True/Fiction in Edinburgh, Cardiff and London (2008/2009). He has also written a number of short stories for BBC Radio, including "Heartbreak Hotel" (1990), "All Boys Seeking Adventure" (1998), and "War Stories" (2004); as well as episodes of the children's television series, "The Story Of Tracy Beaker", "Hilltop Hospital", “Kerching” and “Tati’s Hotel”. He has also written the novellas "Miss Hanley's Letter", "The True Story Of My Alien Abductions: by Adrian Longton", and "Sons Of Nervous Lovers", which are available to download from Amazon's Kindle Store.
