Morning,
We’ve got a Life & Times interview with the great Damon Gough today, the artist formally known and loved as Badly Drawn Boy.
Badly Drawn Boy has been out on the road with a full band in the UK for the last fortnight, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his much-loved, Mercury Prize-winning debut album, The Hour of The Bewilderbeast. That record set the template for BDB’s career, forging his reputation as a highly skilled craftsman of poetic songs that weave together folk, rock and electronic influences to huge emotional effect. Maybe put it on now as you read: it still works magically, as audiences across this tour can attest.
There are still four more nights of the tour to go this week, on Thursday and Friday in London, the weekend’s hometown shows in Manchester, plus more dotted throughout the summer. Ted spoke to him when he arrived in Cambridge on Monday, contemplating his Life & Times in the spring sunshine outside The Junction.
Enjoy the edition - we have a bonus ball for subscribers on Wednesday. Keep ‘em peeled!
Ted and Niall.
The Life & Times Of…Damon Gough
What was the first record you loved?
There's too many to pick from, really. I remember getting Message in a Bottle by The Police on seven-inch single for my birthday when I was 10.
I'm sure I had records before that. I remember going to the record shop in Bolton week after the week to try and get Geno by Dexy's Midnight Runners. The first album I had, actually, was the one with all the BBC sporting themes on it, where you hear all the finished versions, like, with the middle eighth of Match of the Day with a big trombone. I still love that album today.
And the last?
These days I just buy records because I like to keep supporting other people's music. I don't necessarily listen to a lot of it, I just buy them. I like having the records in my collection for a rainy day. I’ve bought, you know, records by Black Midi and Squid, bands that I've not yet actually listened to. My son, Oscar, lives in Bristol, so when I played there the other day, I went to Rough Trade in Bristol and bought him a few records that were recommendations. I bought him The Strokes, the box-set of their singles: he loves that. He's into the equivalent stuff that I was into in the early 90s, when I was in my early twenties. Oh, I really liked that last album from the guy from Parquet Courts [Andrew Savage].
What is your earliest memory?
I'm pretty sure it must be breaking my leg when I was three. Well, I didn't know I was three, but when I asked my mum and dad how old I was when it happened, they say I was three. Not many people have memories earlier than that. I was on a little milk float, sitting on top of it and propelling it with my legs. I took a turn too sharp, ran over my own leg and broke it.
What is your daily routine on tour?
I get to the venue like this, find my dressing room, make sure there's a decent toilet close by - usually I'm lucky enough to have one in my own room, but not always. It’s important because I have Crohn's Disease. So, I've got to be careful where I eat when I go on the road. It can be a nightmare with bowel control, which I don't want to go into too deep. But it could be worse.
I just try and keep calm. Meditation has become important to me, so I find a space for that. There’s all the stuff that's going on around the world, but I have a lot of home stuff going on too. I've got four children: all sorts of stuff going on with them, because I have children on an age spectrum from 24 to three. So, there's just so many things always happening. I just try to stay calm and chill out until sound check.
What’s your relationship to The Hour of Bewilderbeast on its 25th anniversary?
I'm playing it with a bunch of new musicians and it's literally breathing new life into the songs. Each night, I've been announcing it as our version of Bewilderbeast. It’s nice that by doing it with a new band the music still’s got life in it. I was loath to go back to the past, but the way the music industry is now it’s so important to play live, because it's the only place where we're making a living. I don't mind that because I like being a grafter. I like putting the hours in. My stage craft is growing every time I do it and that’s satisfying, but I want to make records really, so revisiting the Bewilderbeast wasn't high on my agenda. And getting the right band together was a bit of a convoluted process. But now that we're doing it, I'm glad I have, because it's reminding me that I have an ability to communicate something to other people and that’s the reason why I wanted to make music in the first place. There's usually someone in the front of these gigs that I focus on, and my heart breaks looking at their expression when they listen to a certain song, what it means to them.
It means a lot to me that people are saying to me after the shows, ‘God, it sounds as fresh as ever.’ I hit a zeitgeist, apparently, with Bewilderbeast and won the Mercury Prize and stuff. So, I was kind of somewhat on trend once, but I wasn't trying to be. I find it interesting that the music still feels new to people. There are seven-year-olds, eight-year-olds, nine-year-olds, 10-year-olds, coming to these shows, I'm meeting them after and shaking their hands. It’s so lovely.
Has anyone you've met ever made you feel starstruck?
I've got to say Bruce Springsteen. I mean, I've been in close proximity to Bob Dylan a couple of times. He was coming out of Manchester Apollo, a huddle of these guys around him, a blanket over his head. I knew it was Bob Dylan under it. I also saw Bob Dylan once in New York, wandering around the streets with a hoodie on. But I've been lucky enough to meet Bruce Springsteen on more than ten occasions now and Bruce is so welcoming. You probably know that…you’ve never met him? I’ll put you in touch, Ted! He makes it so easy for you. He's such a nice guy. The last time I saw Bruce was five years ago, I was turning 50 and he was showing the film that came with his Western Stars album. My wife bought us tickets for that. I was stood on the street having a vape. Bruce pulls up, sees me and instead of going in the venue walks up to me, just gives me this big hug on the street in front of all these people. I might have cried. I just said, ‘I love you Bruce.’ He's just such a kind, real person. Bruce changed my life with Thunder Road, so I’m lucky to have even got to meet him.
I also had a cup of tea in Mark E Smith’s kitchen in Prestwich. I remember thinking to myself, What the hell am I doing? Mark E Smith is making me a cup of tea. That's a whole other story, though. I could do a whole interview about that.
What do you wish the 18-year-old you knew?
So many things, but mainly not to worry about what people think of you. I've always been a bit too self-conscious as a person. It's been one of my traits, being too self-aware. I'm not good at letting myself go. I'm not somebody that finds it easy to get on a dance floor and let myself go. I'm quite restrained. I’d tell myself to be freer, not worry about what others think, because most of the time they're thinking about themselves. We all are, we're all kind of wrapped up in our own thing. Don’t worry whether you look good or don't look good, whether you're really on form. You just have to be the best you can be. I'm learning that now.
What was the home you grew up in like?
My mum and dad are, bless them, still with us. They’re in their early 80s and still working every day, because they have to as they run their own business. We lost my brother Simon three years ago, he was the eldest of four of us and that has been a pretty big loss for all of us. Simon was someone that I looked up to, and I never argued with him once. He'd lived and breathed music. He went to see The Smiths twenty-five times; just a huge influence on me. When I think of home, I think of Simon. We grew up in Bolton, it was a bit of a rough area, but you didn't know that when you were little. We had quite a small house, then we had a bit of bigger one, but it was always busy, a packed house as my parents were running their business from home, my brother and two sisters there too. A very loving household. My mum was from the Moss Side part of Manchester and had loads of records, a drawer full of Motown, Northern Soul singles. So, music was important to us. I go back to those streets now that Simon’s not with us and find it comforting that, like, there are the exact cracks in the pavement that I remember running across with him.
What's your favourite film and why?
Straight Story, probably. Certainly since David Lynch died it’s been on my mind a lot because it's about two brothers trying to reconnect. I haven’t been able to watch in the three years Simon’s been gone, it always breaks my heart. The Gallaghers broke my heart a bit before they got Oasis back together. I felt like saying to them before then, Liam, Noel, get on with it. I mean, it’s not for me to tell them anything, but life is short. Your time runs out and it’s hard to predict. Say hello to your brother while you can. I’m glad they’ve made up.
What is your desert island disc?
I'd have to pick Thunder Road, our friend old Bruce Springsteen. It changed the course of my life when I heard it for the first time. I was so into it I bought loads of bootlegs and heard all the versions of it, hearing how often the song’s changed, how the lyrics changed, and that intrigued me. Through that I became a sound engineer, and by accident became a songwriter through that. Thunder Road set me on that path of wanting to know more about how music was put together. It's just a great song as well.
Have you ever been arrested?
I was kind of arrested for drink driving. I'd had a couple of drinks and I had to drive my car somewhere around the corner, but unfortunately got pulled over and got a driving ban. I was, like, 18. I haven't had a drink for ten years now, and I've not been pulled over once in that time.
Do you have any phobias?
I'm not keen on spiders. I can't kill them either. I do the old glass and piece of card trick. I need to have therapy about them because I still struggle with them a bit.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I’m good at making people laugh. That’s one of the best things I do. But the talent to lift people’s spirits reliably, that’s so important these days. I do that with my music, but imagine being able to do that all the time? I suppose, always be kind to people, people serving in shops or wherever…that’s not really the question, is it? I’m happy with my talents really.
What is your pet peeve?
People. Just people being rude or ungrateful. But again, you have to learn to not let these things get you down. I'm learning to filter out this stuff that can annoy you, because there's so much of it. Like, when you’re driving and you let someone out and they don’t thank you, that’s a peeve. Just general rudeness, I suppose.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Simon was a massive Smiths fan and through my music I was able to get Simon along to meet and hang out with Andy Rourke – who we’ve also lost last year – and Johnny Marr. So that is my greatest achievement, that through my music Simon met his heroes.