Alan Moore, writer and creator of acclaimed comic books "Watchmen," "V for Vendetta" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman," will appear in London next month alongside musical collaborators.
 
Moore, a sometime musician and editor of the eclectic magazine Dodgem Logic, will perform "Unearthing," his collaboration with musicians Crook & Flail. The duo comprises Andrew Broder of Fog and Adam Drucker, who has recorded as Doseone and was previously in cLOUDDEAD.

The intimate shows take place July 29 and July 30 under the railway arches of Waterloo station, co-produced by Parallel Arts and the Old Vic. Mike Patton of Faith No More also features on "Unearthing" but is not confirmed for the shows. He is scheduled to be touring with his Mondo Cane project in Europe at the time.

Moore will narrate the semi-autobiographical "Unearthing" story accompanied by the musicians. It is not clear if Moore will perform musically.
 
The deluxe box set of "Unearthing" is available to pre-order via Lex Records, priced $72. The package attests to Lex founder Tom Brown's plans to come up with ambitious releases beyond music alone to counter declining CD sales.

"It's grown out of our production values and the music we work on," he said last year.

The package includes two 180 grams black vinyl LPs featuring the audiobook with soundtrack; one 180 grams white vinyl instrumental soundtrack; a deluxe photo print portrait of Moore; a dot-matrix printed transcript of "Unearthing" and poster. There are also CD versions of the vinyl included.

Billboard first revealed details of the innovative release, including Patton's potential involvement, over a year ago. Curiously, Lex then sought to play down Patton's involvement and (successfully) tried to get other media outlets to deny the story - as the Guardian reports. Two months after Lex's denial Doseone confirmed to Pitchfork that Patton was always in the frame.

Other musicians on the score include Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite, Hella's Zach Hill and Justin Broadrick of Godflesh.

The Lex site says a sequel to "Unearthing" is planned.

Moore was not involved in the "Watchmen" movie and demanded his name be removed from the credits.