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Shadowplayers



Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records by James Nice


In 1978, a 'Factory for Sale' sign gave Alan Erasmus and Tony Wilson a name for their fledgling Manchester club night. Though they couldn't have known it at the time, this was the launch of one of the most significant musical and cultural legacies of the late twentieth century. The club's electrifying live scene soon translated to vinyl, and Factory Records went on to become the most innovative and celebrated record label of the next thirty years.

Always breaking new musical ground, Factory introduced the listening public to bands such as Joy Division, whose Unknown Pleasures was the label's first album release, New Order, Durutti Column and Happy Mondays. Propelled onwards by the inspirational cultural entrepreneur, Tony Wilson, Factory always sought new ways to energise the popular consciousness, such as the celebrated Hacienda nightclub, which enjoyed a chequered 15-year history after opening in 1982.

Now fully revised and expanded with a new closing chapter, Shadowplayers is the most complete, authoritative and thoroughly researched account of how a group of provincial anarchists and entrepreneurs saw off bankers, journalists and gun-toting gangsters to create the most influential record label of modern times. Based on both archive and contemporary sources, the book tells the full story of Factory' s heroic struggles, its complex web of inventive, idiosyncratic and tragic personalities, and ultimately, the acclaimed and much-loved music it produced.

Published in paperback by Faber in September 2025 with a foreword by Jon Savage. 580 pages.

A Japanese edition is available from Shinko. A companion volume to the Faber edition featuring detailed source notes, full length archive interviews and the Shadowplayers DVD film will also be available from Burning Shed.


Reviews

'Definitive and comprehensive, this is the actual story of Factory Records.' (Peter Saville)

'A remarkably comprehensive overview, with much to interest even the most informed Fac-head.' (Mojo, 4 stars)

'Solemn and scholarly, familiar fables nestle between more obscure anecdotes. Asked about the notorious cost of New Order’s Blue Monday sleeve, designer Peter Saville groans, “I am so bored of this story.” Against the odds, Shadowplayers avoids producing the same effect.' (Simon Goddard, Q, 4 stars)

'There has been so much print and celluloid devoted to Factory in recent years that you might think a moratorium on the topic should be called for. James Nice’s 546 page volume is a compendious riposte to any such qualms… He is the most dedicated archivist alive of the musical shadowplayers of the Factory era.' (David Stubbs, The Wire)

‘Complete and thoroughly researched but still loaded with ludicrous yarns.' (Bob Stanley, The Times)

'One of the most detailed music books ever written, obsessives will struggle to find this anything but a watertight treatment of Factory’s history. A masterwork.' (Record Collector, 4 stars, books of the year)

'A good story well told. Nice gets the tone of the time spot on and the detail covers not only the usual musical suspects but also the lesser recognised Factory signing.' (Manchester Evening News)

'Three decades after it began, the story of Factory remains both an inspiration and a cautionary tale. Nice’s book stands as a corrective to some of the crass mythologising, as well as a model textbook on how not to run a record label while changing the face of popular culture.' (The Independent)

'Anyone remotely interested in the Manchester music scene will find this an indispensable book, almost a reference manual for an important part of British cultures in the 1980s.' (The Line of Best Fit)

'Thankfully there’s no airbrushing the past and broken promises and cracked friendships seem to crop up as often as glorious triumphs, which makes this account all the more definitive.' (Paul Mathur, ICA)

'A stunning piece of substantial scholarship and research.' (Michael Bracewell)


DC book

The Durutti Column: A Life of Reilly by James Nice


In 1978 Tony Wilson founded Factory Records to release music by The Durutti Column, the unique music ensemble built around the singular talents of virtuoso guitarist Vini Reilly.

Written - and meticulously researched - by Shadowplayers author James Nice, this authorised biography offers a fascinating insight into the extraordinary triangular relationship between Vini Reilly, Bruce Mitchell and band manager Tony Wilson, as well as the enduring cultural influence of The Durutti Column’s peerless Factory label catalogue.

A Life of Reilly includes candid input from Vini himself, as well as band and family members, and details Vini’s troubled Manchester upbringing, cult stardom in Japan, punk rock glory at the Roxy, radical auto-destructive sandpaper sleeves, diversions into neoclassical orchestration and glossy electronica, dazzling collaborations with Martin Hannett, Morrissey and Stephen Street, and hellacious Hacienda happenings.

The third publishing venture for Burning Shed, the book is presented as a deluxe limited hardback edition with quarter bound cloth spine. 272 pages. 218mm wide x 216mm deep.


'I never imagined a book of my life. It’s amazingly detailed and factually correct. Good sense holds sway and the hard-won research gives real clarity. It’s quite wonderful for me and my family, and it means a great deal to end on positivity.' (Vini Reilly)

'Vini's guitar sound paintings create colours and textures only visible in the mind. A true psychedelicist.' (Bobby Gillespie)

'The Return of the Durutti Column is still to me one of the most beautiful and magical records ever made.' (Steven Wilson)

'An extremely gifted and unique guitarist, with a wonderful way of fusing almost classical guitar technique with something more ambient and spacious.' (Bill Nelson)


Reviews

'Excellent, exhaustive biography.' (David Stubbs, Record Collector)

'It's such a rich and fascinating book - there is just so much on these pages that you won't have known. It is very, very good - essential reading, I'd say.' (Neil Mason, Moonshots)

'An excellent history by Factory scholar James Nice.' (Ian Harrison, Mojo)


A Life of Reilly is available exclusively from Burning Shed (click here to order)