Be extremely focused on what you want , what your end goal is , and to head towards it with abandon , and be confident even if you ’ re wrong .
Be extremely focused on what you want , what your end goal is , and to head towards it with abandon , and be confident even if you ’ re wrong .
CD : The second album was our best , it included ‘ Cool for Cats ’, ‘ Up The Junction ’, ‘ Slap And Tickle ’, it was full of hits . So I think – we never had that second album syndrome . If we did , it was probably on the eighth album .
J : You knew what you were doing by then , so that ’ s okay .
CD : Mmm , you can still get it wrong , though and we did
A : Has your music taste changed much from when you first started out ? What are you listening to now ?
CD : When I was at school the stuff that I listened to I still love to listen to now . Retrospectively , the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead and then on the other hand you ’ ve got really commercial things like Sweet and Mud and all the fun stuff that was on Top of the Pops , so … I think the 70s was a glorious time for music for me . A lot of people say the 50s and 60s , but 70s were incredible .
J : The music was so diverse in the 70s , wasn ’ t it ?
CD : It was really wonderful , so I ’ m very nostalgic for that period in my life . Now it ’ s just really different- no more record stores , people don ’ t buy records like they did and it ’ s not important , kids are not interested particularly now it ’ s a Spotify culture .
A : Who are your top five artists on Spotify ? Do you use it …?
CD : I ’ ve got an account , but I ’ m very lazy , I don ’ t really use it I find my own playlists , and if I get time to listen to music it ’ ll be in the car and that ’ s probably the only time , and then I just listen to , whatever springs to mind . I don ’ t stream music like that . The two radio stations that I listen to the most are FIP , which is a French radio station , because it ’ s so diverse , and KCRW , which is a Los Angeles radio NPR station , and that ’ s very diverse too , and they do great interviews , they did one with Leonard Cohen at the weekend which was amazing .
A : Going back to your song writing , how you do you think it ’ s changed over the years ?
Photograph : Julia Claxton
CD : Well , it ’ s had its peaks and troughs , but I think the last record , ‘ Cradle to the Grave ’ was probably a real turning point for us , and possibly the best album we ’ ve recorded in 25 years .
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