Gareth E. Rees
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garetherees.bsky.social
Gareth E. Rees
@garetherees.bsky.social
1.3K followers 520 following 670 posts
Guitar/vocals in psych-noise band, Black Arches. Author of Unofficial Britain, Car Park Life, Sunken Lands, Marshland & more. Psychogeography. Mythology. Music. Ecology. https://www.instagram.com/black_arches_hastings
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garetherees.bsky.social
Gareth E. Rees @garetherees.bsky.social · Nov 12
Been an influx of new people here, so by way of (re)introduction, I wrote some books about place, memory and mythology, pictured below. Fiction, non-fiction and the zone in between. I have since moved on to making music and writing lyrics. Eventually, there will be silence.
Pile of books: marshland, Terminal Zones, car park life, the stone tide, Unofficial Britain, Sunken Lands.
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
duckpondsreview.bsky.social
2020 #82
The final book finished in 2020 was this eclectic novel full of psychogeography and strange goings on in Hastings from @garetherees.bsky.social and @influxpress.bsky.social . There's some blurb in the alt text as usual and this remains one of my personal favourite.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
💡📚
#booksky
The Stone Tide, Adventures at the End of the World, Gareth E. Rees. The problems started the day we moved to Hastings...' When Gareth E. Rees moves to a dilapidated Victorian house in Hastings he begins to piece together an occult puzzle connecting Aleister Crowley, John Logie Baird and the Piltdown Man hoaxer. As freak storms and tidal surges ravage the coast, Rees is beset by memories of his best friend's tragic death in St Andrews twenty years earlier. Convinced that apocalypse approaches and his past is out to get him, Rees embarks on a journey away from his family, deep into history and to the very edge of the imagination. Tormented by possessed seagulls, mutant eels and unresolved guilt, how much of reality can he trust? THE STONE TIDE is a novel about grief, loss, history and the imagination. It is about how people make the place and the place makes the person. Above all it is about the stories we tell to make sense of the world.
January 24, 2026 at 12:13 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
This was one of the locations I explored in 'Unofficial Britain': the site of the former steelworks where my grandfather and uncle worked in the '70s. share.google/vpOu9fvu4J03...
Wrexham: 'Creepy' sculptures appear near former Brymbo Steelworks
The statues prompted a flurry of speculation among locals before their origin was revealed.
share.google
January 21, 2026 at 3:10 PM
garetherees.bsky.social
Hackney-based artist, Nick Jensen has made a series of paintings inspired by my book 'Marshland' for his exhibition at the Paul Smith Gallery, which includes a new short fiction I penned for the occasion www.meer.com/en/102905-dr... cc @influxpress.bsky.social
Driftwood dragon
16 Jan — 15 Mar 2026 at the Paul Smith Gallery in London, United Kingdom
www.meer.com
January 21, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
victorianlondon.bsky.social
the sheer weirdness of Victorian classifieds
January 12, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
vintageobscura.net
Afrosound - El Regreso de E.T. el Extraterrestre [Colombia, Cumbia/Afrobeat/Disco/Space/Rock] [1983] - this is just crazy as it sounds
https://redd.it/518rng
https://youtu.be/R_5xtN8CUYk
Afrosound - El Regreso de E.T. el Extraterrestre [Colombia, Cumbia/Afrobeat/Disco/Space/Rock] [1983] - this is just crazy as it sounds
youtu.be
December 31, 2025 at 10:59 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
In March, we released 'Folly' a collaboration with Sexton Ming on @rocketrecordings.bsky.social blackarches.bandcamp.com/album/black-... "The Arches trio cover every blade of astral grass with rare Faust-cubed abstraction." - The Quietus
Black Arches with Sexton Ming - Folly, by Black Arches
7 track album
blackarches.bandcamp.com
December 31, 2025 at 12:22 PM
garetherees.bsky.social
And I made a video about bins youtu.be/OXvHXTFfI-w?...
Black Arches With Sexton Ming – Bin Day
YouTube video by Rocket Recordings
youtu.be
December 31, 2025 at 11:15 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
Also this year, I played some guitar and shouted some vocals on some of the tracks on 'Things that never happened' by Black Adastra @blackadastra.bsky.social
on.soundcloud.com/C0rENUavzU9Z...
Things that never happened
Available on vinyl from elastic stage
soundcloud.com
December 31, 2025 at 11:11 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
From earlier this year - my tuppenceworth on inner city motorways and cardigans - 'Monstrosities Mon Amour: Junction 3 of the M32 in Bristol' - with @grindrod.bsky.social johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...
Monstrosities Mon Amour: Junction 3 of the M32 in Bristol with Gareth E Rees
#5. John Grindrod meets writer Gareth E Rees to explore the strange hidden life of a pedestrian junction of a motorway and the haunted power of cardigans.
share.google
December 31, 2025 at 10:57 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
I wrote a micro piece about midwinter sunshine and interstellar visitors for @necessaryfiction.com's 'Points of Light' necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...
Low winter sunshine blasts through the blinds of a house window
December 31, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
duckpondsreview.bsky.social
2020 #55
My first encounter with the distinctive work of @garetherees.bsky.social , one of the best chroniclers of modern Britain around. Love the quote that described this as a "retail park Heart of Darkness." 😄 There's info in the alt text and I loved it. @influxpress.bsky.social
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
💡📚
#booksky
Car Park Life, A Portrait of Britain's Unexplored Urban Wilderness, by Gareth E. Rees. Car parks: commonplace urban landscapes, little-explored and rarely featured in art and music, yet they shape the aesthetics of our towns and cities. Hotspots for crime, rage and sexual deviancy; a blind spot in which activities go unnoticed. Skateboarding, car stunts, drug dealing, dogging, murder. Gareth E. Rees believes that the retail car park has as much mystery, magic and terror as any mountain, meadow or wood. He's out to prove it by walking the car parks of Britain, journeying across the country from Plymouth to Edinburgh, much to the horror of his family, friends - and, most of all - himself. He finds Sir Francis Drake outside B&Q, standing stones in a retail park, and a dead body beside Sainsbury's. In this darkly satirical work of non-fiction, Gareth E. Rees presents a troubling vision of Brexit Britain through a common space we know far less about than we think.
December 28, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
necessaryfiction.com
Day 2 of our solstice gathering features writing by @mizuki-yama.bsky.social, Catherine Reedy, Kendra Cardin, @garetherees.bsky.social, @nonabiding.bsky.social, @erinkeane.bsky.social, @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social, Lleyton Michael Kane, and Warren Stoddard II. necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...
December 24, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
necessaryfiction.com
Day One of our solstice gathering features writing by @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social, @travisflatt.bsky.social, @raymondbrunell.bsky.social, @eileentomarchio.bsky.social, @janewords.bsky.social, Talya Byrd, Carol M. Quinn, Tanya Kornilovich, and Joe Kalovac. necessaryfiction.com/stories/poin...
December 21, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
willwiles.bsky.social
If you are still looking for a "stocking filler" please bear in mind that "The Anechoic Chamber" is a slimline A-format paperback, so it fits snugly in a standard men's sock or the pocket of a winter coat. This also means savings on wrapping paper, postage, etc. and it's only £9.99.
A snapshot of two copies of "The Anechoic Chamber", one of which is inserted halfway into a very ordinary blue-green ribbed sock
December 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM
garetherees.bsky.social
28 days later on the Forth Road Bridge....
Forth road bridge empty but for one female figure in the distance Forth bridge viewed in distance from empty forth road bridge Selfie of Gareth Rees on cycle path on empty bridge Faded image of pedestrian footway symbol on ragged looking road surface
December 8, 2025 at 12:56 PM
garetherees.bsky.social
The crossing.
Sideways view of Queensferry crossing reflected in the forth of Forth, Edinburgh, Scotland
December 8, 2025 at 12:43 PM
garetherees.bsky.social
Spent the past few nights in a pre-WWI gun battery on the Firth of Forth trove.scot share.google/vr3egGRKvcjD...
Concrete WW1 gun battery Close up of former gun placement area Downstairs exterior of the bunker Bedroom in the interior where the shells used to be stored
December 8, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
rocketrecordings.bsky.social
"The Arches trio cover every blade of astral grass with rare Faust-cubed abstraction."

Great to see Black Arches & Sexton Ming's album 'Folly' in @thequietus.com's 'Best New Weird Britain Albums of 2025':

thequietus.com/tq-charts/co...
New Weird Britain: 2025 in Review by Noel Gardner | The Quietus
Not content to merely look back at the last 12 months of New Weird Britain’s musical content, fine as it’s been, this evening I’ve looked back eight years to the first of these year-ending listicle bu...
thequietus.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:39 PM
garetherees.bsky.social
New Weird Britain: 2025 in review @thequietus.com features Black Arches with Sexton Ming's album 'Folly' thequietus.com/tq-charts/co...
The Quietus - new weird Britain 2025 in review by Noel Gardner Black Arches Sexton Ming Folly, "this seven song LP by Sussex psych unit Black Arches with Kent poet Sexton Ming has thr undiluted New Weird Britain juice for sure, the product of a gang of outsiders in a smallish town (Hastings) hitting on something that slaps even if you're not in their gang."
December 6, 2025 at 11:37 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
Occult connections in North Queensferry
Queensferry crossing illuminated at night between trees Eye of horus on a stone in the grass
December 6, 2025 at 10:30 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
A herd of sauropods migrates south across the firth.
View of forth bridge looking like a series of red steel dinosaurs
December 6, 2025 at 10:21 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
Life beneath the bridge.
Narrow backlane with streetlamp beneath brick pillar holding up Forth Bridge Cottage with picket fence beneath forth bridge Bus stop with Forth bridge directly behind it Modern bungalow and row of victorian cottages beneath bridge
December 6, 2025 at 10:16 AM
garetherees.bsky.social
Been getting up close and personal with this bridge.
Forth bridge, North Queensferry Picnic bench beneath the forth railway bridge Close up of red struts with maintenance vehicles beneath Close up shot of Forth bridge from beneath, red metal stretching towards stone
December 6, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
rocketrecordings.bsky.social
To celebrate the 1st of December we have compiled a 'Best of 2025' playlist of tracks taken from all our Rocket's releases from this year.

It is not really a 'Best Of', just a selection of tracks we have picked - one track per release.

Listen here:

Soundcloud:
on.soundcloud.com/hIZ6JjHe4qdK...
December 1, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Gareth E. Rees
rocketrecordings.bsky.social
Watch Black Arches + Sexton Ming performing the track 'The Sailors Daughter', filmed live at the Other Side Promotion's show at Strongroom in London on 16 August 2025:

youtu.be/GsERp-1YlSI

Pick up one of the last copies of the band's debut album 'Folly' here:
rocketrecordings.com/products/folly
Black Arches With Sexton Ming – The Sailor's Daughter (Live at Strongroom)
YouTube video by Rocket Recordings
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 10:29 AM