Band On The Run - James Weems
The cover image designed by Darius Britton shows the two principal characters, Ravynn St John, with long dark hair and Benji (who has short, light brown hair), they both have piercing green eyes. The title and author’s name are in front of them.
Band On The Run by James Weems (the first in a prospective series about band Phoenix Rising) is set to be published by BooksGoSocial on the 22nd April 2025.
The story follows Ravynn St. John, lead singer of Phoenix Rising, the band that, in universe, knocked The Beatles off the top of the charts. On tour, Ravynn must deal with his own demons, his feelings for bandmate Benji, the threat of his ex, his ex's friend (a journalist given access to the band as roving correspondent for Rolling Stone Magazine) and society's stigma around queerness.
Weems creates a compelling cast of characters, from the members of the band (obviously Ravynn, Benji and Ravynn’s ‘brother from another mother' Sean are the most fleshed out but Wil, Clay and Theo also have their moments), manager Greg and his assistant Diciembre ‘DC’ Delgado, a Latina lesbian who is rarely without a cigar, and Dickie ‘Nuisance’ Newsome, the journo from Ravynn’s past back to haunt him.
Will Ravynn cope with all these pressures? Will he be able to balance the band with the relationship he clearly wants with Benji (and Sean's with Clay)? Will his lies about how things ended with Ronnie come back to haunt him, and will the Ravynn St John persona hold up if he has to face his past as Robin Smith he is so desperate to escape?
The prose is sometimes rather basic, and the dialogue and song lyrics don't always quite ring true, but Band On The Run is a fun, enjoyable read full of escapism that doesn't shy away from exploring how the era affected queer people, especially those in the public eye. I would say that the fact a book with such explicit sexual scenes has prose like it does (which would better suit a younger reader) makes me think the target reader is somewhat confused, however.
In spite of Weems’ initial disclaimer, I do feel that making Benji be so young is a mistake, I get that it adds another layer of tension, another obstacle for Ravynn to overcome, but making him even just a few months older would make things far less awkward and problematic. And reducing a raft of amazing women including Lulu, Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black to effectively backing singers is a bit much for a book about empowerment in my opinion.
