Roddy Doyle, author of The Commitments, spoke about the recent passing of his friend, Pogues guitarist Philip Chevron, ahead of an entertaining Off The Shelf event at Sheffield Hallam University last night.
The author was promoting his new book The Guts, which he dubbed as a “middle-aged Commitments”. But he said central character Jimmy Rabbite’s diagnosis with bowel cancer was not based on the acclaimed musician, who succumbed to cancer earlier this month.
Roddy, who has also been involved in The Commitments stage version, currently showing in London’s West End, said he met Chevron every Thursday for a pint as part of a “30-year open arrangement”
And, in a pre-event interview, he said The Guts, currently on sale through Jonathan Cape, was an upbeat novel about how “rock and roll never ends”.
You can listen to the interview on the Media Centre: http://www.shu.ac.uk/mediacentre/audio-roddy-doyle-author-commitments-shelf