You stress that the book is a fictionalised account relating to actual events. How deep is your personal interest and fascination with the Basque separatist struggle within Spain?
Stephen O. Boyo: I am deeply fascinated by the survival of minority groups in general but have had a particular interest in the Basque experience within wider context of Spanish history and how that has played out and continues to play out to the present day. I’m neither Basque nor Spanish but as a past scholar of ethnology and history, and being from a small minority group myself, I am interested in the continued survival of the Basque nation despite centuries of living in the shadows of Spanish and French dominance, particularly when other minorities have disappeared through absorption, expulsion or extermination. It is their continued struggle to survive intact and the central role played by the Basque separatist struggle and ETA in particular, that piques my imagination and fascinates me.

What attracted you to this particular cause as an influence for this novel?
Stephen O. Boyo: The issue of the extermination of European Jewry during World War II and why it happened also greatly interests me and is a key element in spurring me on to draw parallels using the Basque experience. But my main motivation was to highlight the Basque experience by using it as part-background for my central character, Lars Brunner’s role. Lars walks into an experience he could never have imagined, particularly being American and Midwestern. His background and life are totally disconnected from the experience he walks into after meeting his lover Renee De Haro. However, Lars is of part-Jewish ancestry and is acutely aware of the holocaust experience of his father and impact on his history. Thus he discovers a parallel experience in the Basque situation, which he does not fully comprehend but through which he discovers his lost relative and an important part of his history.

The Holocaust memoir chapter is a very moving and vivid account of Samuel Brunner’s experiences - was it a difficult chapter to commit to print?
Stephen O. Boyo: Yes it was a difficult chapter to write, as it had to capture the right atmosphere and be delivered as a raw and condensed account of personal history. Samuel Brunner felt compelled to flee his past but equally felt compelled to preserve it for posterity. The chapter is scene setting and in many ways Lars finds himself fleeing the mini-rebellion in the Basque country, going through a similar process as his father, though in his case, he is caught up in another man’s war. The book’s essence is about ‘flight’. The story is propelled by incidents which lead to flight - flight from one’s past, flight from one’s present, flight from one’s self and flight into the future and in the end flight back.

X-Cult’s ‘superficial glamour’ and excess are a little reminiscent of one of the most famous fictional rock ‘n’ roll group, Spinal Tap.. Which group or group(s) provided the influence for X-Cult?
Stephen O. Boyo: No I haven’t read about Spinal Tap. The X-Cult was totally made up by me, and in a sense, their lives are a deliberate clichéd mix of all aspects of rock ‘n’ roll decadent living. I was particularly interested in the lifestyles of the Rolling Stones and other big stadium acts like Aerosmith and Black Sabbath but I had to give Lars Brunner’s character a more humane feel, given his past, his subjection to bouts of melancholia and the need to draw parallels with the other band members.

X-Cult are a rock band with a singer who appears to have a conscience. Do you feel that rock music’s political themes are often a case of romanticised rebellion for the sake of credibility, or genuine homage to a passionate cause?
Stephen O. Boyo: I think rock music is inherently driven by angst and by the need to rebel against established norms whether right or wrong. Lars is a musician first and foremost and isn’t interested in the trappings of fame and wealth. His character is intense, hard working and driven but equally prone to dark moods, self doubt and melancholy. He is happiest when performing and that is what matters most to him, on that basis, he enjoys his fame. He is also cynical and does not suffer fools gladly. Nevertheless, his music follows traditional rock patterns of sleazy raunchiness e.g. his songs - ‘Bang my piston’ and ‘Swallow my capsule of love’ and rock-chick romance e.g. ‘Because of Sierra’ and "Loves’ Bondage".

Post-Franco, the subject of 20th Century Spanish rebellion has proved influential for a number of British rock groups. The Clash, The Stone Roses, and Manic Street Preachers have referenced Federico Garcia Lorca, the Guardia Civil, Guernica and Las Ramblas in their songs. Are you aware of any of these connections?
Stephen O. Boyo: No I’m not aware of those connections, though I like the Manic Street Preachers song ‘A design for life’. One of my key influences was reading an article in Newsweek way back in the 80’s about the role of the Guardia Civil in the Basque town of Renteria, the issue of harassment and the move towards Basque self governance and regional autonomy all came to play. I have followed it ever since. I think my book is an interplay of the flightiness of rock music and vain living and the seriousness of history, politics and war. Usually they occur separately but in this case I have brought them together.