For over a decade, ‘The Philpotts’ have been writing old-fashioned letters to punk, pop and rock stars, picking up on genuine ambiguities within their lyrics or often deliberately misunderstanding them for comedic effect.
2023 sees the eagerly-awaited New Edition of ‘Dear Mr Pop Star’, a collection of their Greatest Hits, with hilarious replies from 100 musical legends including Eurythmics, Tears For Fears, Deep Purple, Spandau Ballet, The Specials, Supertramp, Fairport Convention and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
“Over a decade in the works, a collection of 100 ingenious, silly letters to Pop, Rock, Punk Legends with genuine hilarious replies, with a big donation from every copy sold to Musicians Against Homelessness”.
The letters are eminently publishable in their own right, but what makes this project especially deserving of attention is that it has achieved a feat never before attempted or probably even thought of. The artists quite unexpectedly started to reply, writing back in just as witty and articulate a fashion, politely pointing out exactly where the original letter went wrong…or right.
Under pressure from fans to go to print, a staggeringly successful Kickstarter Campaign in 2015 raised over 18k in order to self-publish, resulting in a wonderfully impressive book that went out to hundreds of pledgers and was met with great acclaim before being made available via Amazon prompting Five Star reviews from avid readers and the Press. This was followed in 2018 by ‘Dear Mr Pop Star’, which was if anything even better received.
Then, in conjunction with a new backer, the iconic punk clothing brand Cosh Boy Clothing, ‘Grammar Free in the UK – The Lockdown Letters’ was published in 2021. This was a collection of brand new waggish letters to UK Punk bands and artists, with hilarious responses, all written during the 2020 Lockdown.
As with the punk volume, a donation will be made to CRISIS and other homeless charities from the profits of every copy sold as a thank-you to the artists involved. It’s here…
https://amzn.to/3HBAwFe Amazon Worldwide
https://amzn.to/406zmc0 Amazon UK