Kevin Devine 'Feels Good' About Bad Books

After years of playing shows together, Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra's Andy Hull have found friendship and respect for one another's music -- Devine's even covered Manchester's 'The Only One' while Hull took on Devine's 'I Could Be With Anyone,' both of which Spinner premiered in January. Come this fall, the two are taking their rapport a step further and releasing a collaborative LP, alongside members of Manchester Orchestra.

"It's done," Devine, who additionally just released a solo EP called 'She Stayed as Steam,' tells Spinner. "It's mixed, it's mastered, the artwork's coming along. It's a record. I love it. I'm really, really happy with the way it turned out."

The album is set to come out on Oct. 19 under a moniker that Devine admits "is all Andy." When Devine asked Hull what he thought they should call their new project (in order to get around the obvious option of "Manchester Orchestra and Kevin Devine"), Hull had two words: Bad Books.

As Devine tells it, "I think he'd been sitting on this as a band name maybe for something else, and it came right out. I like it. I like the symmetry of it. I'm a big alliteration freak. I kind of tend to use a lot of it in my songs, so Bad Books feels good."

But if you ask Devine what the worst book he's read lately is, you'll probably stump him.

"I can't think of the last time I read something and was like, "This is f---ing atrocious. I need to stop,'" Devine says. "Now I can't even remember reading any book, ever," he jokes.

"You know what? I read 'You Don't Love Me Yet.' Jonathan Lethem," he adds. "I really love him and really loved 'Fortress of Solitude,' especially, and 'Motherless Brooklyn,' but that is the last thing that I read that I would say I was disappointed by. I just had high expectations because of his other work."

As a fan of Lethem's who admits he'll buy anything that the writer releases, Devine says his critique should be fair game. "It's a hugely meaningful opinion, too, in the court of opinions," he jokes. "What I think about Jonathan Lethem probably is gonna keep him up or let him sleep. So let's do that: Let's slam Jonathan Lethem. 'Kevin Devine thought that 'You Don't Love Me' was lacking. And he read the whole thing, so you owe him something.'"

The release of Bad Books' self-titled debut will coincide with tour stops in New York (Oct. 20), Boston (Oct. 22), Philadelphia (Oct. 23) and Baltimore (Oct. 24).


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