Dave Rowntree – best known as the drummer of Blur – has announced a series of Australian launch events for his debut book, No One You Know. The book, set for wide release on Tuesday, September 9th via Hero Publishing, collects photos taken by Rowntree from Blur’s earliest years as a band – from their formation in 1988 out of London up to the release of their debut album, Leisure, circa 1991. The full details of Rowntree’s Australian book launch itinerary can be found below.
Rowntree had previously been announced on the line-up for this year’s Bigsound conference, in which he will give a keynote speech on Wednesday, September 3rd and be in conversation with former triple j presenter and musical director Richard Kingsmill. While in the country, the drummer and photographer will sell and sign advance copies of the book at appearances in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as a stand-alone event in Brisbane the day after his Bigsound appearance.
“The pictures I took are of a band right at the start of their career,” said Rowntree in a statement. “They’re of what we did between the gigs, interviews and photo sessions. They are snapshots of what life in Blur was really like in the first few years, when the TV cameras and tape recorders were turned off. Obviously there isn’t much of the band actually working, because then I would have been working too. This is everything else.”
With the release of No One You Know, three of Blur’s four members will have published books. Bassist Alex James was the first cab off the rank, releasing Bit Of A Blur in 2007, while guitarist Graham Coxon followed some 15 years later with the release of Verse, Chorus, Monster! in 2022. James would go on to release a further two memoirs: One dedicated in 2012 to his life as a cheesemaker, titled All Cheeses Great and Small: A Life Less Blurry, and the other last year about Blur’s 2020s reunion, which was titled Over the Rainbow: Tales from an Unexpected Year.
Rowntree’s Australian trip will mark his first in over a decade, having last visited with Blur when they headlined Splendour In The Grass back in 2015. Since then, he has released his debut solo album Radio Songs, which came out in 2023, has worked on several documentaries and films as a composer, and continued to pursue a career in politics. As a member of the Labour Party, Rowntree was selected as their prospective parliamentary candidate for Mid Sussex in last year’s general election. He ultimately lost, however, to Alison Bennett of the Liberal Democrats.
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