There’s Your Quote, Mate
by Antonino Tati

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Antonino Tati, owner of 11’788 CDs (which equates to a CD-a-day for 32 years), boasts an impressive career in music journalism and his latest book, There’s Your Quote, Mate is a collection of his best interviews from over the years.

Through his uniquely provocative style of interview he elicits reflective discussions from the likes of Patti Smith, RuPaul, Björk, and he even managed to get a few words from busy lady Naomi Campbell, who does an impressive “16 shows a day, including costume fits and other stuff”.

Although he prides himself as being the ‘asker of daring questions’, I found Antonino’s most enjoyable interviews (such as with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran) are a result of him being tactfully cheeky. In fact, when he ‘goes where no other interviewer will go’, such as when he asks Darren Hayes if is he ‘ready to come out of the closet’, Antonino unwittingly sours an otherwise stimulating interview by drifting into tabloid-style reporting which he strives so hard to distance himself from.

Notwithstanding, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Its changing format from direct interview transcripts to anecdotal storytelling (such as when Antonio ‘pashed’ Placebo vocalist Brian Molko) makes for an engaging read. Between interviews, Tati exercises his knowledge of the industry by presenting compilations of quotes which are sure to amuse.

So if you, like me, are the sort of person that discovers a few artists and then allows your music library to stagnate, this book is a must. Featuring over 80 artists and bands, is sure so to cause somewhat of a Renaissance in your Spotify collection (mine having grown about 200 songs since page 1).

So there you go Antonino. There’s your review, mate.

Conor Duggan