Raveheart by Graeme Armstrong review – raveheart rebels in Scottish politics | Fiction

Mbeyond his firecracker debut, 2020’s Young TeamGraeme Armstrong throws the reader into an exciting rave story, from protagonist Azzy’s pre-party pharmaceutical prep, through the loss of mystery and happiness, and the inevitable fall back to earth. The description of the depression is a welcome change from Kingsley Amis’ alcohol-soaked anxiety in Lucky Jim. All this, against the fierce battles of the world war of Airdrie, near Glasgow, won Armstrong a place on the field. 2023 Granta best in British youth list.

You might think that there isn’t much to say about illegal raves, but in his second book he’s taken it a step further, as he presents a satirical political satire. Storyteller William Patterson, AKA DJ Turbo, has a gig spinning discs for kids on ice, until a new political party sweeps Britain, demanding a return to civilized values ​​and promising to eradicate vice. On top of this plan is a complete ban on electronic music and its associated youth gatherings. Freedom, fun and independent thinking are not allowed. Suddenly out of a job, Turbo becomes a data clerk in Scotland, while plotting a secret invasion.

While the Youth Group favors the sound of words rendered in strong Scots, here the verbal skill takes precedence over the plot, with jumps, jitters, tips on how to use street drugs, and pages of dialogue written as scripts. The cast of characters is displayed in a list, with names, long descriptions and favorite songs. Turbo co-star Jessica is represented by Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, Strawberry Switchblade’s Since Yesterday and Spellbound and Siouxsie and the Banshees; The big pictures come with techno music for aficionados. Real and fictional DJs have stories.

Inspired by the Scottish hero William Wallace, Turbo mobilizes his team – Fish, Orbit, Part B and, reluctantly, his “wee brother” Rab – to form the Scottish Techno Pirates, with dangerous plans for a campaign of civil disobedience. Some groups are quick to form around them, with obvious conflicts over tactics, especially the use of violence. The Milkshake Marauders who produce the milk are usually useless, while the Wiccan, Plath-revering Scottish Hardcore Coven can be properly relied on for backup. Rab, meanwhile, complains about his brother’s eligibility to lead: “Ot ae shape, rough as toast, in live in the fadin glory ae yir young team veteran stories … I have to make myself, William.”

Although it is very different from its patches, the design is good, there are many similarities with the original book; We are recognized in the same country for JPS fags, “Tonic” bottles (Buckfast tonic wine) and Tennent’s cans, and genuine labels. The change will be fashionable. To the ubiquitous Rangers and Celtic “pumps”, and Berghaus shells against the ever-present Glasgow drizzle, are added “an old khaki Stone Island smock, cargo pants, and chunky fluorescent Hoka trainers” (for the lassie) and “2004-5 salmon” in dark pink and Juventusy black.

There is a sense of calm going on as Turbo reluctantly realizes that he is now at the end of his rave career. Like Azzy in the Youth Group, he realizes that it’s not just that the drugs don’t work anymore; in your 30s you only know more about death and physical decay. Also, “The taste of cold is real. Yir’s finger goes down and changes new names and faces, while you stick to what you know, what happened before.” (For example, the runway.) “We were in the sun at that time, and soon, magically, the ascent ended directly on the earth, the loss of altitude, the rupture of the fuselage, the impact of the fur.”

There are interesting passages against hipsters, money-makers and upper-class English students, but for all the sledgehammer insults, the conviction fits the story. Armstrong himself includes Milton, Dante, the Bible, Apocalypse Now and, of course, Braveheart, and an impressive cartoon featuring Robert Burns as Che Guevara. Turbo is a much more nuanced character than Azzy, and the plot is bogged down by information, but Armstrong’s interest in the subculture is infectious, even to the uninitiated. Above the glow sticks and the beatings lies the compelling and familiar question of what it means to live life to the fullest.