Music

He’s a fan of the comedy gravestone
‘I’ve always wanted to have “Back in five minutes” on mine. It’d look really quaint with moss over it. You can just imagine people chiselling through them in years to come, assuming anybody does.’

He’s also favourably disposed towards uncertainty
‘It would be great if probability was privatised, like Thatcher did in the ’80s, so that every day the likelihood of things was completely variable.
So will the sun come up, or will we be invaded by giant wasps? And you had this team of people bidding for reality.’

He’s not really one for ‘rock definitives’
‘To me, the past is mutable. It’s not like a picture you paint and it’s there that way forever. I suppose it’s like an author revising a book. Or like
the 134 bus which goes past your office on Tottenham Court Road. It changes shape, but the route is always the same.’ Feature continues

He’s happy to enjoy a different (ie, poorer) kind of success
‘I never discovered a formula that makes loads of money, that I don't really care for but I’d be a fool to neglect: “Oh Jesus, I don’t think I can face another nine-month world tour, but I suppose I will be another £10 million better off by the end of it so, ho hum Jevons, pass my cane.” I’m
more like a folk musician, I do gigs and earn a living.’

This might have less to do with artistic integrity and more to do with a leaky attention span
‘None of this stuff is set in stone. It’s not set in vinyl. It's not even set in jelly. I put the record on and think: Blimey! Is that how it goes? I didn’t know that. Well, well, well… So I apologise if it’s not how people remember it, but it’ll be how it is right now.

He ‘just attracted’ his star-studded collaborators by way of artistic osmosis
‘Terry Edwards used to be in The Higsons, which was fronted by Charlie Higson. They were a kind of student Talking Heads, much beloved of John Peel. And I wrote a song where I pictured the devil sitting in a bedsit in NW3 listening to the radio, with Peel saying [uncanny Peel impression] “This is The Higsons, one more from them…” So that drew Terry into my web. He has “individual” tattooed on this neck, and his granddad was a tram driver.’

He achieved an altered state on stage at last year’s ‘Games For May’ Pink Floyd tribute show
‘The lights were amazing. It was fantastic standing in the middle of that; the guitar played itself. You just had all these concentric circles flashing around you – God, no wonder Barrett went. All I’d had was a cup of coffee. It really is a portal to beyond, doing that stuff. If you’ve got a couple of thousand quid and you wanted to treat yourself, you could do worse than hire that light show and just stand in the middle of it.’

He’s better known for his zany imagery than his tunes
‘People say, "So what’s this with the fish and the dead wives and the transubstantiation and the men with lightbulb heads?", all the visual things. And it’s because they’re easy to think of. I like lyrics you can see; I draw a lot and my dad was a painter.’

Like any good reality TV entrant, he’s been on a journey
‘This sounds corny and middle-aged, but I’ve learned an awful lot from being a musician. What got me into it was my attitude, which was quite a narrow one really – to be the next Syd Barrett, to mix up “Trout Mask Replica” and “Abbey Road”. But now I find I’m playing bluegrass with John Paul Jones.’

He’s into easy hobbies
‘Yes, I like trams. Being into trams and trolley buses, there weren’t any. So, if you’re a tramspotter, it’s all in the past. It got me ready for a life of things that weren’t there.’