Interview by David Jarvis and John Crosby

Do you remember the time when you worked for Kasanetz Katz in New York? You’ve said that you didn’t enjoy that but looking back at it now, do you think it’s been a good experience for your song writing?
Well, I think I might have said that to justify it but it wasn’t really my thing, this song writing under pressure. We did have a big hit in France with Susan’s Tuba for Freddy & The Dreamers. But the one redeeming thing was that I already got involved with Eric in the Strawberry Studio and I was working in NY studios at the time. I said to KK that I wanted to go back and use the one in Stockport and they said "Fine". You could even say that, as strange as it sounds, that Kasanetz Katz were partly instrumental in the formation of 10cc because of that. They were one of the links in the chain.

On the Bloody Tourists promotion tape, there was a song called The Acapulco Kid which didn’t make it onto the album. Do you remember that and can you tell us something more about it?
I played Rick Fenn a recording of this song and we were bloody amazed at hearing that again. We both really enjoyed it and we started talking about why it did not make it on to the Look Hear album because it would have been such a good track. I think it was because we already had enough songs for that album but this song itself is very 10cc'ish.The song was written at a period where Eric was writing with some of the other guys and Rick and I wrote this one but I think it should have been included on the album.

We heard from Andrew Gold that one of the songs on your new album, Walking With Angels, is about your time with 10cc. Can you give us any more details about that?
I can give you more details about it! It’s nothing to do with 10cc. Nothing at all. I started doing these charity treks about four years ago. And I told Gordon Kennedy about it. I said I felt very connected with my late father when I was trekking through Israel. He is a born again Christian and he immediately popped into this. We were talking about spirits protecting you, whether it is real or not, and the fact that your ancestors are always with you. That's when Gordon and I wrote this song. It's interesting, he's a very religious man, much more religious than I am, but we found a commonality in this subject matter. That's how we wrote this song. It’s nothing to do with 10cc!"

Were the tracks on your new album written with real people in mind?
Yes, I won’t tell you who they were but Walking with Angels was definitely written with my late father in mind. The track Dancing Days, which I wrote with Gary Burr in Nashville, was an imaginary song and yet, it’s about certain regret, what could have been; we all have that experience. There is a song that I wrote with Gary Barlow. This hasn’t got anything to do with anybody but it’s a nice pop song. I did a new version of Ready To Go Home which I did with Miles Benedict who is a more modern kind of producer and it has worked out well. When you write a song it can be about something imaginary but there is always some experience in it that is your own. With Walking with Angels, the influence is up front.

Do you know when your album will be released?
Yes, it will be out in October (9th October - ed.). Dome Records is releasing it in the UK and they are licensing it with different labels in Europe and Japan. I don’t know about America yet and Australia. We are trying to get some tracks into films or commercials. That’s the best way for me to do it, to get people interested in the album.

We heard that you might be releasing a single from your album.
Well they might put a single out but it will only be like a lead track, it will not be on Top Of The Pops and it will not be played on Radio 1 but it will probably be played on Radio 2. We are not quite sure yet what it’s going to be, there’s a bit of debate about it, but yes, there is a strong possibility of a single being released.

Do you have any input as to which track is released as a single?
Only in so much as I think that it may be totally inappropriate, there are so many different opinions flying around at the moment, but I think that between us we will get there, but to be perfectly honest I wouldn’t mind any track being released as a single because I am very proud of them all.

Have you now decided on the title of your new album?
Yes, it will be called And Another Thing. Originally it was going to be called Walking With Angels but everybody liked And Another Thing and finally I could see their point of view so we did a photo shoot recently and kind of nodded to the front cover of The Graham Gouldman Thing. We found a similar location, similar pose but with different clothes and different hair.

Do you feel the musicians on this particular tour add a new sparkle?
Well, it’s been really great to have Paul Burgess back. He is a great drummer. We haven’t used him before because he doesn’t sing. And we need to have four voices. With Spike Edney who does sing, we can have a drummer who doesn’t. Last year, we had Simon Carter on keyboards who doesn’t sing but we had Stuart Tosh drumming who does. Stuart wasn’t available this year anyway; he is working in the West End a lot. When you go for the standard basic musician it always works. We go for the best people and it gets better every year. This is a really good combination. But wherever you are and whatever combination you’re in, you always think like that! And then the next time you find that it’s even better but you didn’t know that, did you?