He likes Liverpool. "Some of my best friends in music, 'The Real People', are there. I have many memories concerning them which I can't repeat. But there are very happy ones".
Today he takes a philosophical attitude to some of the bad criticism that the band has had to endure although he suggests most have been kinder recently.
"It can be hurtful but personally I do not set great store by what the NME thinks. That paper is closer to Smash Hits than when I was a kid. It is more interested in bands for young people - and so they should be." With that, he arrives home, parks the dog and settles down to some song writing.
* Ocean Colour Scene at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, May 22.
