Author Spotlight - Phil Williams

Guest Post: The Dyer Street Punk Witches Playlist

Phil Williams recently released his latest standalone novel in his Ordshaw series, Dyer Street Punk Witches, and we celebrated with Jen’s review. Today we are happy to host Phil to share his guest post regarding a playlist he created for this book. And now I’ll give the rein over to him.

Meet the Author
Phil Williams

Phil Williams was born in the commuter-belt of Hertfordshire, where he learnt to escape a comfortable life through sinister fantasy fiction. His erratic career has variously involved the study of language and people- and took him to such locations as Prague, Moscow and Abu Dhabi. He finally settled on the quiet Sussex seaside, where he lives in Worthing with his wife and his fluffy dog, Herbert. He divides his time between writing educational books that help people better understand English and fantasy books that help people better escape reality.

So he tells himself.

Connect with Phil Williams

Guest Post

About Dyer Street Punk Witches

Dyer Street Punk Witches is the latest release in the Ordshaw series, a standalone contemporary fantasy thriller following Kit “Fadulous” Hamley, ex-punk rocker and local activist/magazine editor. Her shady past hides secrets intertwined with local criminal gangs and dark magic, which come back to haunt her when an old enemy is released from prison and a new witch appears in town. Set in the gritty city of Ordshaw, Dyer Street introduces all new characters and themes to the series, with a characterful crime-leaning story.

Given the book’s heavy influence from musical roots, I’ve produced an accompanying playlist to build some atmosphere and pay tribute to some of the artists that made it possible.

The Dyer Street Punk Witches Playlist

I’ve bunched together some of the musical talent that influenced the writing of this novel, or otherwise helps set the mood, but it’s worth noting firstly that I come from my own blinkered world of listening, where I’m sure there’s absolutely tons of similar content out there I’m not even aware of, and secondly this is by no means comprehensive for what I could’ve included (honestly probably could’ve shared about a dozen tracks from each of the artists in here). The list combines old and new influences, from classic rock icons like Joan Jett and Grace Slick through to modern tunes from Peaches and K-Flay, peppered with assorted Fem Rock and punk in between.

These are fairly heavy, high energy tunes with a few slower ones towards the end (well, at least one), though it could’ve been much heavier overall (see Rebel Girl, for example). It’s not entirely punk but a mix that I felt captured various aspects of the book. Whether the resulting erratic combo works, I don’t know, but that’s pretty on point for the Dyre Grrls.

This list is also US-leaning, with Kathleen Hanna and Sleater Kinney standing in for a world of Riot Grrrl music, as would’ve been Kit’s main influences. For the Brit scene, you might also look into the likes of X-Ray Spex and Huggy Bear, and British punk music in general.

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Dyer Street Punk Witches by Phil Williams