The Continental: An Evening with Luke Haines

Luke Haines has been consistently excellent ever since debuting in the national consciousness with The Servants in the late 80s.

Luke formed the Auteurs in 1990 as a vehicle for his songs and ego, famously referring to one of the band members dismissively as "the cellist." After an agonising near miss on the Mercury Music Prize with their astonishing debut album, 'New Wave', the Auteurs continued to excel throughout the nineties, whilst Luke did his utmost to ensure that the success which was rightfully theirs eluded the cellist.

Trademark Haines moves included allegedly breaking both his ankles deliberately in order to avoid a 'breakthrough' European tour, telling Chris Evans what he thought of him during the pilot of TFI Friday, and swearing on the radio version of 'Light Aircraft on Fire' thus ensuring zero airplay.

Whilst piloting the Auteurs on a suicide mission, Luke set up Black Box Recorder with John Moore and Sarah Nixey in order to do a bank job on the charts. Amazingly, they succeeded for a spell and secured Haines his only appearance on Top of the Pops with 'The Facts of Life', before sliding into obscurity after Luke spent most of their record company advance on 'reggae research.'

Haines continued to fleece his share of the the rapidly diminishing pots of cash remaining in the music industry in the downsizing noughties with several ill-fated solo albums, two of which were released within a fortnight of each other to maximise their potential for commercial disaster. Two productive years were also spent developing a musical called 'Property' that was mothballed by the National Theatre.

In recent years Luke has garnered praise for his two volumes of autobiography, 'Bad Vibes' and 'Post Everything'. However, as the last one took him up to the present day, Haines has advised fans and his publisher that they may have to wait at least 15 years for another volume.

Luke's last record, the sublime 'Nine and a Half Psychedelic Meditations on British Wrestling of the 1970s and early '80s' was hailed as a return to form by those who hadn't been paying attention previously.

For his debut appearance in Preston, Luke will be reading passages from his books and playing acoustic versions of songs from his back catalogue. This is a super-rare show and we urge you not to miss it.

The show will finish in time for attendees to get the last train back to Liverpool (22.41) and Manchester (23.31).

A very limited number of cheap £9 early bird tickets are up on line here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/153342 and in Action Records and The Continental Bar.

After this tickets are £12 and are available from The Continental's bar, Preston Visitor Info (at The Guild Hall) on 01772 253731, Action Records and online from wegottickets and seetickets.