The Blue Aeroplanes’ mainstay untangles his past…
1 What was the first record you bought and where from? And can you remember the price?
“Either ‘Stormcock’ by Roy Harper or ‘North Star Grassman & The Ravens’ by Sandy Denny, can’t remember which came first. And it would have been £2.40 from Wakefield’s Record Bar (behind the sweet shop on Wells Road, Bristol).”
2 What was the record that changed your life and how did it do so?
“Probably hearing someone play Ten Years After’s ‘Cricklewood Green’ in my comprehensive school’s common room and thinking there’s something going here I don’t understand.”
3 What’s your driving playlist and who, if you had the chance would be riding shotgun?
“I don’t drive, so no one’s riding shotgun, and I have no playlists just CD’s thrown randomly into a carrier bag.”
4 What’s your favourite Elvis song?
“Hunka, hunka, burnin’ love.”
5 Who’s your favourite Beatle and why?
“You can have a favourite solo Beatle, but you can’t have a favourite Beatle. They were a group. Probably the definitive group.”
6 If you were commissioned to write the theme song from any TV programme what would you choose and how would you tackle it?
“Our track ‘Broken & Mended’ was used for the background music to the Goals Of The Year on Match Of The Day once. That’ll do me.”
7 Which song have you always wanted to cover but never quite managed yet?
“Suzi Quatro’s ‘Can The Can’.”
8 What, after a social evening, is the one album that you insist your fellow socialites should hear before they leave?
“I don’t really know any socialites, and I wouldn’t really insist on anything, but I would probably play the most recent thing I bought that I liked in the hope that they might like it too.”
9 Which film do you wish you’d had a cameo in?
“Playtime by Jacques Tati.”
10 In the biopic of your illustrious career who plays you in the movie?
“Jacques Tati.”
11 If you were on a night out with Ozzy Osbourne where would you suggest you went?
“Home.”
12 If you were asked to cover a Simon And Garfunkel song in the style of Frank Zappa who would you rope into the band to get it nailed?
“Lou Reed.”
13 Pete Townshend had pictures of Lily, what did you have on your teenage bedroom wall?
“Audrey Hepburn.”
14 Did you ever join a fanclub? If so, tell us about it?
“The only thing I ever joined was the Museum Club at school, for two weeks.”
15 What’s your most treasured piece of memorabilia?
“The programme from Sandy Denny’s last ever gig but one at the Colston Hall, Bristol.”
16 What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
“The Extras at the Fairfield pub in Sheffield, 1976.”
17 Which gig did you wish you’d seen?
“The Fairport Convention gig at Middle Earth where Jimi Hendrix apparently jammed with Richard Thompson, or the Sex Pistols Bamboo Club gig in Bristol for which I had a ticket but the venue burned down.”
18 John Lydon – hero or villain?
“Well, he’s not a villain.”
