Miranda Sawyer

So dig them up.

And you can send them as an email to talk90stomeat at podmasters.co.uk or as a voice note, you can DM us on our Instagram page.

Very modern.

OK, now on with the show.

This is Talk 90s to Me, where we ponce around in an indie band for a couple of years, then blag our way into a record company, become a successful A&R person through Mike Flowers Pops, of all people, turn down Coldplay, sign Mogwai, enjoy the highs and more highs of music business success before hopping off the slowing gravy train and becoming a best-selling author and scriptwriter.

I'm Miranda Sawyer, and this week on Talk 90s To Me, I am delighted to be talking to John Niven, writer of books, movies and plays such as Kill Your Friends, Kill Em All, Straight White Male, Oh Brother, The Fathers and The Battle, and, as I mentioned, an actual A&R man in the actual 90s who lived to tell the tale.

Okay.

Welcome, John.

Look, your first book, Kill Your Friends, which came out in 2008, is generally described as an American psycho version of your years in A&R.

So I feel like we should talk about your years in A&R.

Previous to your baptism of fire in A&R, you were in an indie band.

How would you describe your indie band?

And what was the name of your band?

And what did you feel like you learnt from that experience?

And you did, basically you did an English literature degree and then you went to A&R.

But how did you manage to do that?

Because I always think, you know, I mean, it's a terrible thing to say to young people these days, but actually quite often, like I got my job, I can't really believe how I got my job.

You know, I entered an advert, but then they happened to like me.

And it's like, that doesn't really seem to happen these days.

How did you get your job in A&R?