5x15, Wilton's Music Hall

The latest installment of unscripted talk series 5X15 invites a diverse cast of experts to reveal something about their own lives, passions and inspirations

Welsh documentary-maker and non-fiction author Jon Ronson is famous for his books The Psychopath Test and The Men Who Stare at Goats. His work has also appeared in The Guardian and Time Out. Ronson will be discussing Frank Sidebottom, the comic persona adopted by comedian and musician Chris Sievey. Sidebottom was the subject of Ronson’s most recent book Frank: The True Story That Inspired The Movie.

Sam Lee is an English folk singer whose album Ground Of Its Own was nominated for a Mercury Prize. The album was funded in part by the prize money he collected as the first folk winner of the Arts Foundation Award. Lee is a self-confessed music obsessive and song collector, and his fixation on that passion forms the subject of his contribution to 5x15 .

English composer and viola player Jocelyn Pook has written film scores for Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut as well as the 2004 adaptation of The Merchant of Venice and Spanish film Caotica Ana. As a musician, Pook has released three studio albums and has played with a diverse array of artists including The Stranglers. 

Viv Albertine is a British musician, songwriter and filmmaker best known for her work with all-girl punk band The Slits. She was also a founding member of Sid Vicious’ (of Sex Pistols fame) band the Flowers of Romance. An important figure at the heart of the London punk scene of the 1970s, Albertine was close friends with members of The Clash. In 2014 she released a memoir entitled Clothes, clothes, clothes. Music, music, music. Boys, boys, boys.

Best known as lead vocalist and guitarist with Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys is also an eclectic solo artist who has collaborated with acts including Mogwai and Gorillaz. His most recent solo release is a concept album based on the life of fellow Welshman and explorer John Evans, who arrived in America in the 18th century to search for a tribe of Welsh Indians. The album forms part of an entire multimedia project- also featuring a film and an app based around Evans’ life.

As ever, the spontaneous, fast-paced fun of the 5x15 format promises an intense cultural hit, this time surveying the driving forces in the lives of a diverse group of artists.