Live on the air with Julio Ruiz, the "Espanish John Peel". National radio, six in the evening. He played lots of tunes from Gentleman Adventurers. I played "Melanie Hargreaves' Father's Jaguar" and "Girlfriend". For the interview I had an interpreter. At one point she failed to translate whatever Julio said but it involved the words "Kevin Ayers, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan..." I enjoyed that bit, though, now I come to think about it, he was probably saying "This bloke is not as good as..."2. Melanie Hargreaves' Father's Jaguar
Julio Ruiz: He asks if you remembered in the last visit you had the opportunity to speak with him as well and whether you remembered the place where you were playing.
Pat: That's right. Because when we travel and play, it's a kind of Peak Experience. And the memories stay.
This album is like a coming back. How do you think people have taken it?
Well, it's been very pleasing for us, the response. We did it with crowd-funding on the Internet. And that.. we were kind of scared, you know, the money wouldn't come. And, in fact, we have the money to make the L.P. by bed-time that night. It took a day. So, that was nice. We pick a lot of our favorite people to work with, that was good. And it was just a pleasant little project, you know?
This is a very good album, it has your identity, it has a little bit of everything. And, what do you feel about it?
I sort of agree, actually. (laughing)
You have a French song on the album. Why is that?
Ah, well (laughing). A long, long, long time ago, we wrote a song called La Mer. And that was in French. And we were talking about the idea of maybe.. re-recording that, and trying to put out a record for French people. So, I thought "we need a B-side". And.. I don't know much French. The only thing I could think of was - my friend has just come from Bordeaux and he said that - when they're in Bordaeux and they've had a few too many, they say 'ah.. Tombé dans les pommes" and I thought: "ok! title!"
There is also another song written by Max, full of feelings. He's asking if you already miss Max.
Emmmmm. Of course, we do. We didn't expect to lose him quite so completely. But we took him out for some gigs in August and we broke him.
Is he a life-long friend even with the issue when you were young?
Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, we had one argument, once, and it became famous. But we have a lot more time we just enjoy together.
The other day, he was looking at your Facebook and he saw, like 30 musicians that have played with you. Do you think those musicians will brag about it in the future?
(laughing) I'd say no. I was talking on the way over, I once went to do a gig in Lisbon with the Bristol band Blue Aeroplanes, and at the time, their drummer was my old drummer, Paul Mulreany. And, they got to Lisbon, they got drunk, and they had a massive argument. They were fighting each other. And, we got back to England, and, like, they all hated each other. And, we got back to England, we sat in a pub, and Paul the drummer just went into one like "it was much better in the Jazz Butcher's, Pat showed us some respect" (laughing)
Was it easy to convince Steve, Steve and Simon to come with you and then you adventure off?
It was really easy to convince them, yeah. Really easy! Yeah, it was a happy accident.
It is not easy to choose a setlist with so much material and so many asks from the audience. How do you choose the setlist?
Well, at the minute, we've had - this band's only been together for about what? Four months? Maybe four months. So, we don't know too many songs. So, it's not too difficult. But we've got some old ones. We'll almost certainly play Partytime, I think, tonight. Yeah, some of the old ones get in.
The album Scandal In Bohemia - has a folk-pop touch that nowadays is quite popular.
I suppose so, yeah - only 25 years ahead of our time (laughs).
And Fishcotheque - is the most sold album?
I don't know. It could be, not sure.
Do you have good memories of your time at Creation Records? Do you still get in touch with Alan McGee? He read somewhere that one time you played with him.. in a church?
Oh! I'm going to. He's bought himself a church in Wales where he lives now and he's putting gigs on in there, now.
Do you still perform covers, in concert?
Lots, yeah. Some quite old.
Are you still attracted to the electronic music? Do you still experiment with it?
I've kind of got that out of my system, now. Yeah, I'm back with wood, now. For about 10 years, I got into computer music. But, then, I.. it's that thing - I went and bought a legitimate music software thing. I bought a legal version of Cubase. And as soon as I bought the proper one, it stopped working. And I just said: "Ok, that's the sign. I understand".
Are you going to make a new album?
We want to, yep. We've got some new songs, already. And, yeah, maybe next year.
You just been in Japan. How was it?
Um. Pig of a commute. A difficult travel. But very pleasant to be there, very nice.
They still love you a lot in the United States?
In some towns, yeah. Los Angeles is strong. Chicago, Seattle. We were in New York last year, Max and I.
After the decades you've been playing, you're still an undiscovered treasure in Great Britian.
(laughing) Yeah, yeah. They quite like us in Northampton, now. But that's a small town.