Andy Macleod’s How I Failed to Make It

It’s the summer of 1996, and Andy is stuck in a dead-end admin job at a Soho picture library. His dreams of becoming an indie rockstar are over, but luckily, he’s found the Next Big Thing through promoting gigs in Camden: a Norwegian three-piece who sound like ABBA meets Nirvana.

Plan B is simple, live the dream vicariously by managing them. And when a record company shows interest, a door opens into an exciting new world. The only things standing in his way are a total lack of music industry know-how and his scary boss at work, who disapproves of his extracurricular activities.

However, as the clock ticks towards his 30th birthday, success proves elusive. Everyone else seems to be making it, rival bands, ex-bandmates, his old band manager, even the record shop where he once worked has become famous. Andy fears he’ll never escape the day job to live his daydream. But he also knows that in music, there’s always tomorrow.