Faber bags Evan Dando's memoir

Faber is to publish a memoir by Evan Dando, frontman of alternative rock band the Lemonheads, in 2022. The book will be co-written by noted music writer Jim Ruland.

UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada), including audio, were acquired by editorial director Alexa von Hirschberg. Alison Callahan, vice president and executive editor at Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, acquired world (excluding UK and Commonwealth) and audio rights from Peter McGuigan at Ultra Literary.

The book, Rumours of My Demise, will "chronicle Dando’s rise to fame, the fun that was had along the way, the inevitable fall and its aftermath". The synopsis states: "From starting out in Boston’s hardcore punk scene in the 1980s to becoming a nineties icon as the Lemonheads’ lead singer, Dando is the embodiment of the golden age of alternative rock ‘n’ roll—bacchanalian tours with the Lemonheads, two gold records and several lifetime’s worth of drugs, sex and parties. Dando’s memoir will set the record straight on everything the media got wrong and include never-before-told stories, from the tumultuous band history to what it was like to be famous in the nineties, before the internet turned everything toxic. "

Remarking on publishing his memoir, Evan said: "My life is a muddy river. I thought I should add more dirt."

Commenting on the acquisition, Von Hirschberg said: "Evan Dando’s music was the soundtrack to my childhood and this riotous memoir contains some of the best stories I’ve ever read. It is wild, honest and fascinating about pre-internet fame. We can’t wait to dig out the flannel shirts for publication."