2. The Sisters of MercyFloodland

Again, my wife is totally to blame for this! She went to see Depeche Mode at Crystal Palace and The Sisters of Mercy were supporting. She’d bought me a ticket and for some reason, because I was doing the gardening or something boring, I decided not to go and I’ve regretted it ever since. She came back and she was raving about it so the next time The Sisters of Mercy played – I think it was at the NEC in Birmingham – I didn’t want to miss out so I went to it. I had met them before when I did Top Of The Pops and ‘This Corrosion’ had come out and they were doing that and I was doing some shit from my middle years and I thought they were amazing.

It was a real eye-opener. I was doing some horrible fucking shit and watching them doing that made me think, ‘Oh Christ! I should be doing something like that!’ My career is littered with me hearing people doing things and thinking that’s what I should be doing. You need a kick up the arse every now and then and that was another one.

So I saw that gig and came back a massive fan. I loved every song they did and they sounded huge and powerful. I played Floodland and heard ‘This Corrosion’ and said, ‘I remember that!’ I’ve always loved that song. That was it, really.