BENJAMIN BERTON - DREAMWORLD book

London 1977. Daniel Treacy drops out of school, bored to death. With friends, he records some songs thanks to a few pounds sterling lent to him by his parents and sends the finished single to legendary radio DJ John Peel, who is immediately thrilled – the Television Personalities are born…

In the turbulent life of Daniel Treacy, we encounter Jimmy Page, Bob Marley, Alan McGee, David Gilmour, Wham!, Nico, and Kurt Cobain. "Dreamworld" is the very real, very crazy story of a musical genius whose importance is often compared to that of Mark E. Smith of The Fall. Enriched with plenty of scene and period flavor from British pop from the 1960s to the present day, "Dreamworld" tells of all the highs and lows of a legend who once ironically (yet entirely rightly) referred to himself as the "Godfather of Indie-Pop" in an interview.

The translation by Gregor Kessler includes a completely revised color image section and numerous illustrations.

"Can anyone make up a story like my life? I don't think so."

– Daniel Treacy

"The Television Personalities are the ultimate punk band."

– Joe Strummer

"Dan Treacy is one of the great wondrous dreamers of British pop music."

– Christoph Dallach

"As a young punk, the TVPs were very important to me because they broke through the rigid punk shells and brought a different, new tone to art."

– Rocko Schamoni

"Tracking down Geoffrey Ingram for this story was not easy. This was due both to his quality as a fictional character and to the fact that he had not appeared publicly since the late 1980s. In his own discreet and benevolent way, Geoffrey Ingram nevertheless remained in constant contact with Daniel Treacy – from their first meeting, which can be dated to around 1974, until the years when the singer practically disappeared from the scene (we will come back to that later), i.e., between 2000 and 2005. Geoffrey Ingram and Daniel Treacy were in contact for three decades in a highly discreet and almost mysterious way. None of Daniel Treacy's friends or relatives could tell me how close they were or what relationship existed between the two, apart from the song title bearing the protagonist's name and belonging to the Television Personalities' canon. Geoffrey Ingram shows himself at his best and seems to be endowed with supernatural powers that allow him to defy the laws of nature (like rain) and those of society (like access to special places).

Once I managed to locate Ingram, of course, everything was much easier. The man is now sixty-four years old (don't ask why he's only sixty-four when he was about twenty in the early 1960s) and was paradoxically pleased that someone had taken the trouble to find him. He was glad to see me. More precisely, he invited me to meet him at his club, which is located exactly where The Living Room was forty years ago. The Living Room is a place that has some significance in the history of the Television Personalities. The band played there several times in its early days. It was here that the Scotsman Alan McGee met Daniel Treacy and Joe Foster, and it was here that he developed the promotion model that later allowed him to found Creation Records and successively launch the careers of important bands such as Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, or, much later, Oasis. When I arrived, Geoffrey Ingram was patiently waiting, sitting in a lush and excessively wide armchair. He was leaning slightly forward, legs crossed and chin tilted to the side, to show how relaxed and content he was. Even in this position, one could tell that his lanky figure had not gained an ounce in several decades.

He recommended a cocktail with gin and guava juice, which was pretty much the most delicate and delicious thing I had ever drunk, then he launched into the story of his friendship with Daniel Treacy. Geoffrey Ingram spoke with a clear and perfect London accent. His voice had hardly changed since Tony Richardson's film "A Taste of Honey," in which he had starred alongside Rita Tushingham. It was youthful and cheeky, full of authority, demonstrative yet at the same time imbued with a sensitivity that made it captivating. To put it frankly, Ingram was no gayer than he had been thirty years earlier. When he spoke, his long hands gesticulated in the air, and he had a few pouty facial expressions that might have given him away, but nothing suggested he was more exuberant or feminine than before." (Excerpt from "Dreamworld")