We’re very excited to present the launch of Johnnie Johnstone's book 'Through The Crack In The Wall: The Secret History Of Josef K’…”. Johnnie will be joined by former Josef K guitarist, Malcolm Ross and Allan Campbell, their erstwhile manager. The event will be hosted by Doulas Macintyre, author of Hungry Beat, and a musician influenced by Josef K.

Sophisticated, agitated, and eschewing every rock cliché, Josef K were one of the most exciting bands of the post-punk era. So why did they suddenly implode and what makes their music more vital than ever today?

'Everything was just so intense. There was an alienation and awkwardness about Josef K, but that was actually very true to life for me. Listening today I find really difficult because it brings back so many memories, so many ghosts and characters from the past.’ – Paul Haig

‘A lot of what Josef K were about was as much to do with what not to play as what to play. Josef K could never have anything rootsy, no blues scale. We were always looking for the modern.’ – Malcolm Ross

Josef K are the great lost post-punk band. Taking their name from the haunted protagonist of Franz Kafka’s existentialist novel The Trial, they posed for photographs before brutalist and gothic architecture and produced visionary, often incendiary music that felt like the product of perpetual anxiety. And it really was.

Through The Crack In The Wall is the first ever biography of the band, tracing their story from their origins in the leafy suburbs of Edinburgh through to their untimely implosion four years later. It’s a tale of fun and frenzy, filled with highs and lows. From their thrilling live shows, which left onlookers spellbound, to more anxious occasions confronting a baying audience of rioting anarcho-punks in Brussels; from a brief spell as press darlings of the inkies to the fateful decision to pull their debut album just as pop stardom beckoned—one that continues to haunt them today.

Through The Crack In The Wall is published by Jawbone Press. This event is in conjunction with Monorail Music.