Music

1 He recently met the novelist David Peace…
‘I played the Edinburgh Festival and was surprised when David Peace introduced himself after the gig. He said he’d listened to The Auteurs LP “After Murder Park” a lot while he was writing his “Red Ridings” quartet. There’s an odd synchronicity – a track on my new album was inspired by the “Red Ridings” quartet! His new book about Leeds United is fantastic.’ Feature continues

2 He’s written a song called ‘Leeds United’ that appears to be narrated by Peter Sutcliffe…
‘It’s, err, the tale of a simple northern lad. The starting point was how the hunt for the Ripper dominated my memory of the 1970s. The song wrote itself from there. There’s a reference to a “13-nil defeat”; Leeds fans used to chant “Ripper 13, Police nil”. Sensitive guys, these Leeds fans.’

3 He’s also written a song called ‘The Walton Hop’…
‘I grew up in Walton-on-Thames, which was the home of Jonathan King’s old haunt, the Walton Hop. It was converted in the mid-’70s and continued as an over-14s disco until about 1990, when it was killed off by rave culture. I did hear lots of stories from older schoolfriends…’

4 He’s written a musical…
‘It’s called “Property” and it’s bit of a romp about the rise and rise of a property tycoon from the 1950s until the present day. The National took it to full workshop stage – we’re talking to some other big theatres about staging it in 2008.’

5 He thinks you couldn’t call a band ‘Baader Meinhof’ any more…
‘There was certainly a sense in which I glorified terrorism by making it very cool and iconic, and I’m sure that’s probably illegal now. But it was only the Baader Meinhof. They were largely useless.’

6 He thinks punk has a lot to answer for…
‘The only real legacy of punk is things like “Pop Idol” or “The X Factor”. That’s what you get when you say “anyone can do it”. You don’t even have to learn the two chords. You just have to turn up!’

7 He prefers glam rock…
‘Gary Glitter records were much more inventive than anything punk did. The last track on this album is about how all those happy memories of him on “TOTP” are now obliterated. Still, it’s The Glitter Band I feel sorry for. They’re not going to get another gig in a hurry, are they?’

8 He hates all-day licensing…
‘The experienced drinker starts in the afternoon. By about seven you’re finished. If you want to drink at 3am, you should be in an illicit drinking club.’

9 He’s an unreconstructed man…
‘I do find jokes about women not being able to drive quite funny.’

10 No, he really is…
‘I was on a plane recently and the captain made a speech. There was a palpable fear in the air when we heard a woman’s voice on the Tannoy, which was hilarious. Oh dear –Time Out is probably the wrong magazine to be saying this to…’