{"product_id":"the-bass-player-surviving-the-miami-showband-massacre-9781848408333","title":"The Bass Player : Surviving the Miami Showband Massacre","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis Miami Showband massacre book sets out to ask readers how they would cope with trauma, and its author faced that question first hand. The Bass Player is a memoir by Stephen Travers, who played bass in the Miami Showband and survived the attack on the band in July 1975. On 31 July 1975 the band was driving home from a gig in Banbridge when its minibus was stopped at what looked like an army checkpoint on the A1 near Newry. Fran O'Toole, Tony Geraghty and Brian McCoy were killed, and Travers and Des McAlea survived.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a new memoir, separate from his 2007 book The Miami Showband Massacre, written with Neil Fetherstonhaugh. It picks up the story from 2007, covering the 2011 Historical Enquiries Team report, the long civil case and the 2019 Netflix documentary. Irish Legal News and Hot Press both note that the report raised serious questions about possible collusion and corruption. In December 2021 survivors and relatives settled High Court actions against the Ministry of Defence and the PSNI, without any admission of liability.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Irish Examiner describes the book as a series of short essays and reflections on his life in music, the showband era, a 2021 assessment of chronic post traumatic stress disorder and his work for other victims. Its reviewer, Colm O'Callaghan, was largely appreciative and picked out the essays on other victims as among the most affecting, while noting a growing weariness in the writing. The book was shortlisted for Biography of the Year at the 2025 Irish Book Awards.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStephen Travers was founding director and first editor of The Irish World newspaper in Britain, and has worked as a composer, arranger and record producer. In 2019 he helped found the Truth and Reconciliation Platform for people affected by the Troubles. This second Miami Showband massacre book from Travers covers both the history of the Troubles and the showband years, subjects of interest to readers following either.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stephen Travers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55910423658874,"sku":"9781848408333","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0373\/4125\/files\/9781848408333_e83dad66-b727-49c0-89d5-5d6581e93c4a.jpg?v=1765918940","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.co.uk\/ro\/products\/the-bass-player-surviving-the-miami-showband-massacre-9781848408333","provider":"Belfast Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}