Talking Shop: James Palumbo

In 1991, James Palumbo co-founded the Ministry of Sound club in south London.

Over the past 18 years, the brand has grown into the multi-million pound business MSHK, encompassing a record label, radio and TV stations and a soon-to-be-released fashion label.

Now Palumbo has turned his hand to being an author.

His first novel, Tomas, is a biting satire in which the reluctant star of an absurdly low-brow reality TV show goes on a killing spree, mowing down the grotesque patrons of an exclusive club in the French Riviera.

In the ensuing media frenzy, Tomas becomes a messianic figure, enlisting the help of a beautiful prostitute, an elderly judge, an alcoholic journalist, a spherical alien and the Emperor Napoleon.

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After a brief career in banking, the founding of a successful club and managing the MSHK brand, why write your first novel now? Was it a burning desire of yours?

The answer's no and whenever any one says to you, "I'm writing a book," you think, "oh, don't you have anything else to do?"

I had no plan to write a book, no ideas, no characters and no plot. But I was sitting in my comfortable chair at home and literally years of stuff to do with business and how people behave around money came splurting out in a totally unfashioned manner.

People have said it's naive, that it's moralising. I've had all sorts of attacks

It makes me think that the thing doesn't deserve to do well because it wasn't beautifully crafted or a well-thought-through book.

But at least if it doesn't do well, it won't do well authentically and not because it was planned.

So, to borrow a much-used phrase from Tomas, you should be willing to fail?

That is actually what I believe. If you're conscious that you're going to die - and there's that odd bit I wrote, where everyone has to be in a cell once a year believing they are going to die the following morning - if you actually felt that, then so much in life becomes trivial.

One step on from that, you might as well take some risks. You're only here once and what's the worst that can happen?

I'm 46 and I risk ridicule. Well, I have been ridiculed, people have been laughing their heads off. "What is this business guy doing? He's got no credentials in the literary world."

People have said it's naive, that it's moralising. I've had all sorts of attacks, but I think it's great. It's like going back to the start of my business career. I'm a rookie again.

To call the book scathing would be a huge understatement. Celebrity, the media, reality TV, overpaid footballers, nothing is spared. Did you worry about spreading the net too wide?

It's all philosophically connected, isn't it? Reality TV is connected to people's obsession with money. I don't watch Big Brother but I happened to flick past it the other night and within 20 minutes they had to take their clothes off for some reason. The whole thing was so awful.

But that's connected to football culture, which is connected to Russian oligarchs, which again goes back to money. So although they all seem separate, I don't think it is spread too far.

You founded one of the biggest clubs in the UK at the start of the 90s, heralding a hedonistic dance decade. Do you feel any degree of culpability in creating this money and celebrity-obsessed age?

When I started, I was a complete rookie. I had no idea about clubs or club culture or how people behaved. But Ministry of Sound is a million miles away from the champagne-spraying clubs.

If a footballer or celebrity wants to show up, then fine. If they don't, it makes no difference to us. People pay and dance around and that's it... And it's been going for 18 years.

I do have a taste for writing now but I'm a scaredy cat

It's so different to one of these places where you book a table where there's a minimum spend of 20,000 euros but realistically people spend 30,000 euros and spend half the evening spraying people with champagne.

When we first meet the central character Tomas, he's spraying one of these exclusive clubs and its braying, vulgar clientele with bullets. Massacre aside, how much of yourself did you put in there?

I have been an incredibly lucky person. I've had a great business, of which I'm very proud. But I've also had a very tough life and I've seen stuff, from the gangsters I had to deal with in south London when my club was overrun with drugs, to the super rich in their yachts in the south of France.

I've witnessed a lot of extremes and excessive behaviour around money. I'm a lot less angry than I used to be, a lot more reflective. Could I have written about these things unless I'd experienced them? No, but do I want to wreak havoc in a club with a sub machine gun? Probably not.

The book is very topical in its criticism of greedy bankers living to excess, did you seen the current financial crisis coming?

I'm a very old fashioned guy, I don't believe in debt, I live in the same place that I first bought, I am pretty conservative.

To say that I saw it coming sounds awful or smug, but half the things that were being reported I just couldn't believe - the cliches that politicians and bankers were using.

I think the answer is, and I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but yes, I was very cynical about things. I don't think you could have predicted how it was going to happen but I smelt something was up.

Ultimately, what are your hopes for Tomas?

I really want to to do well. It's tough. Would I like to have a creative life moving forward? Yes, I would.

How am I going to deal with the criticism and negative comments? As tough as I would like to pretend I am, probably not very well.

But you have a taste for writing now?

I do - but I'm a scaredy cat and, though I preach being strong and taking risks, I don't know - if this one falls flat - whether I'll have the courage.

But it's so much more interesting than looking at cash flows or worrying about your next deal.

James Palumbo was talking to BBC News reporter Kev Geoghegan. Tomas is available now.