CityLife

Badly Drawn Boy is back in town

FRIDAY NIGHT PROJECT: BDB

THE kitchen sink drama has long been a staple of the sensitive-souled pop music lyricist, but for Damon ‘Badly Drawn Boy’ Gough, the busiest room in the house has been causing real problems.

Suffering not so much from writer’s block but from a lack of a cogent theme for his longest awaited album to date, Gough the woollen-hatted troubadour says quite simply that “Just living life ” – as in the kind of surprisingly ordinary family life which we don’t expect of our pop stars – has been getting in the way.

“I’ve had some distractions,” says Gough, 39, a resident of Chorlton now for 15 years.

“Having a new kitchen, having a new bathroom…

“No seriously, that’s f****** everything up. My kitchen was turned upside down for about six months and that’s where I write, and since it’s been finished, I haven’t been able to write either.”

Not that the singer is complaining about quality time spent at home with his girlfriend, Claire, and the kids, Oscar, seven, and Edie, eight.

He even directed them in a music video when they formed their first band recently.

“It was called the Young Pretenders, or something like that,” he adds.

“And after about two days, Oscar quit: he just didn’t know what his role was – he couldn’t handle being in the band,” he laughs.

“I’m in the public eye and I think they find it fun and exciting. There’s instruments all over the house and my daughter, in particular, she plays piano.”

His next album is quite possibly the most nerve-wracking one that Gough has ever driven himself to produce.

Next year is the 10th anniversary of his having beaten Doves to the Mercury Music Prize with his debut album long player, The Hour Of Bewilderbeast, a fact which he can’t get out of his head.

“I can’t say I’ve been working on an album to be honest, because I haven’t,” he adds. “I’ve been doing what I always do, which is write songs. I haven’t really tapped into the songs which I’m really looking for, for the next record.

"So I haven’t started working on it, apart from the fact that it’s all you ever think about when you’re a musician, so the work began as soon as I’d finished the last tour

“It takes ages to find a feeling for what you’re going to do next and that’s the first step. It’s just about finding in your head a mood of who you are in the world. It’s taken me two years to do that.”

He says he isn’t nervous about what will happen next year but that he is determined to produce something that he’s proud of.

“I know I’m capable of doing that,” he adds.

Anniversary shows

“The Mercury Music prize was 10 years ago. I really want to work on new material, because I don’t want to end up just doing anniversary shows. I’d like to do some of those next year, but before that I need to get some new material out. I don’t want to get stuck in a rut.”

He’s also conscious of the fact that Elbow’s having won the Mercury Prize win has seems to have had a bigger impact on their careers than it did on his.

“I’m really pleased for them,” he adds. “They were dead supportive of me when I won the prize. I saw them on TV and I had my Mercury on top of the telly just for the fun of it. I don’t think Elbow need my advice – I’d just tell them to enjoy the moment.

“I don’t want to sound jealous, but when I won it, I don’t remember there being a dramatic change. But then I was a debut artist. There’s also that incredible story of them having been together so long.

"Maybe they’re just riding the wave at the moment. The whole album’s great but two of those songs were fantastic pieces of music – the kind you’d go to a show just to see.”

Born In The UK

Working (or should than be not working) towards a follow up to 2006’s Springsteen-inspired Born In The UK, is another reason why we haven’t seen quite so much of the once ubiquitous singer on the live circuit.

That’s why there’s a treat in store for anyone who makes it along to the Spinningfields Summer Festival tonight, where Gough is the free event’s headline act.

In typical Badly Drawn Boy style, he says he hasn’t really rehearsed at all and that he’s in a fortuitous position where he’s able to simply select a load of songs which suit his mood on the day.

“There will be some old stuff, maybe a couple of new songs,” he adds.

Aside from a Glastonbury appearance and a series of back garden gigs auctioned off as a prize at for his children’s school fundraiser – “I found their intimacy and the atmosphere really enjoyable” – he’s not been saying yes to many gigs this year.

“I wasn’t going to do any,” he adds. “I really need to focus on writing. But I’ve found that I’m pretty good at it.”

But then the Badly Drawn One hasn’t been sitting entirely idle.

Another reason for the lack of original new material after seven years of producing pretty much every two years has been a soundtrack he’s working on.

He won’t say too much about the project for fear of jinxing it, but does tells me that it’s very different to his 2002 soundtrack for About A Boy.

“It’s far grittier and very British,” he adds.

And he also admits that his own love of all things English – of ordinary life in Greater Manchester – has defined his career.

“It’s a weird thing being famous, or accepting that you are – you don’t ever feel that are famous, or notorious. It’s only when you go out in the public eye. The people who get caught up with it are those who go out in London and have their pictures taken. by the paparazzi. I prefer to stay away from that. My roots are important to me.”

He may be a tortured soul with a smile on his face but it sounds to me like he has the best of both worlds – a life which isn’t too badly drawn at all.

Badly Drawn Boy headlines the Spinningfields Summer Festival tonight. 6pm - 10am. Free admission on a first-come first-served basis. Frazer King, Kamal Arafa & the Moonlight Band and John Mackie support.