3. The MonkeesHead

TV shows and old musicals were my first entry into actually liking music. I didn’t really have parents who bought a lot of music, so watching The Monkees and having them perform on a show was really exciting. I also thought about [2021 sitcom about a Muslim female punk band] We Are Lady Parts, I did wonder if there are a bunch of people who are going to watch this who just would not be into this kind of music at all. It’s a first step for them to go, ‘maybe I need to find out about this’, and to be shown that being in a band can be really wacky and fun.

I probably got into the film [Head] because I was quite involved in the ‘80s garage scene where even people like My Bloody Valentine started off as a garage band. There were quite a lot of ‘60s references in that. I don’t think I would have seen that film until that particular period of my life when I was in my late teens. It’s quite interesting that they wrote their own songs on this. Is it as good as The Monkees? I mean, it’s different, but I thought there were some great songs on it. On ‘Circle Sky’, I remember there’s this descending bar chord riff in it which was one of the first riffs I learned when I was trying to play barre chords, which are a nightmare when you’re starting out. If you watch the film, it’s a proper wig out ‘60s moment with psychedelic lights and everything. It’s brilliant.