Your story "No One is Innocent" was later incorporated into the novel, Big City Blues. Can you tell us a little bit about Big City Blues and how the short story found its way into a longer work?
With Big City Blues I wanted to have a bundle of OTT characters collide in London. The blurb says: ‘British coppers, an American private eye, London gangsters, international spies, and a serial killer known as The Black Crow all collide violently and hilariously in Big City Blues.’ I changed the main characters from No One Is Innocent a bit to fit in with the bigger story.
The jukebox in "No One is Innocent" plays Jane Morgan's "The Day the Rains Came." If you could program your perfect bar jukebox, what would be on it?
There are far too many to choose from but any jukebox without Tom Waits, Sinatra and Dusty Springfield isn’t a real jukebox.
Last Year’s Man is your new novel, what’s it about and what inspired you to write it?
A troubled, ageing hit man leaves London and returns to his hometown in the north east of England hoping for peace. But the ghosts of his past return to haunt him. I always liked the idea of the comedian Tony Hancock as a hit man or gangster and Last Year's Man is my stab at that.
Seatown
is a grotesque version of my home town, Hartlepool, and the areas
around the town. A lot of it is based on real people and real situations
but by throwing them all together at one time it makes the quirky sides
of the town seem all the more bizarre. There are, of course, lots of
normal people doing normal things in Hartlepool but there's no fun in
writing about them.
There
are so many great details about the life of a musician, from grimy bars
to band breakups to business scams. This isn't even the glitter and
glam of VH1 Behind the Music, but the real-deal grit. What is your own
background in music, and did any of the details come your own musical
experiences?
My
oldest brother was a musician who mostly played in hotel bars, working
men's clubs, on cruise ships and the like. I played in a couple of post-
punk bands. I've been around musicians of various shades of success all
of my life. Many musicians' reach exceeds their grasp and vice versa,
so it can have a tragi-comic aspect to it that suits my spin on noir.
Lots
of music is referenced through the book, including Tom Waits, Julie
London, Fairport Convention, and John Martyn, but none is so surprising
as Dire Straits. This must be the first noir book to mention that band.
You describe them as the sound of gloom. Do you really hate Dire Straits
that much, and just what is so bleak about them to your ears?
I
don't mind them in small amounts, to be honest. Knopfler is a very
tasty guitarist. Never been a fan. They signify a certain pastel
cloured, '80s, hotel bar corporate rock sound, though.
More
than a couple people are wearing Doc Martens. What's the cultural
significance, and do you still still have a pair yourself?
I
haven't worn Doc Martin boots in my life! Not with my feet! They are
very Brit Grit, though. Like Fred Perry, Carry On Films and marmite.
One
of your characters defines irony as "when the audience knows more about
what's happening than a character and knows that the character's making
a mistake." So, do you think all noir is inherently ironic?
As
I've said before, I think noir has a lot in common with slapstick, in
that the characters are on the verge of falling down a metaphorical
manhole all the time. They usually think they know what's going on but
haven't a clue!
Apparently no good shows happen in Seatown any more … so tell me, what's the best and worst shows you've ever seen?
Gang
Of 4 at Middlesbrough Rock Garden, Magazine at Redcar Coatham Bowl,
Ennio Morricone at the Barbican Centre, Lyle Lovitt ant Hammersmith
Appollo were all great. Both times I saw Kinky Friedman. Both times I
saw the Subway Sect. Leeds Futerama Festival in 1979 - Joy Division, the
Fall etc. I don't remember the crap ones: enough with those negative
waves, Moriaty!
Give
me some music recommendations! What are some of the best British punk
bands that people don't talk about as much as they should?
Although
British punk was about re-inventing rock muic, some of the best bands
were the ones that were anti- rock. Subway Sect, The Prefects, ATV. They
had a different approach to music and lyrics.
One
of your characters says, "Democracy drags things down to the level of
the lowest common denominator. In music, that's usually the bass
player." Why does everyone always make fun of bassists?
I
used to play bass, so ... It does seem that bass players are not so
much the ugly friend but the mousey one you always forget about. There
are many exceptions of course: Barry Adamson, Bootsy Collins, for
example.
I
actually thought the Dalton world was a good one that I didn't have the
ability to exploit fully. Letting someone like Allan Leverone or Matt
Hilton take a bite of it put more meat on its bones, he says mixing metaphors.
What's this about the Polski Noir project on your website? Who does the translating?
Polski
Noir is a webzine where flash fiction in English is translated into
Polish. The translations are done by my friend Marta Crickmar and her
students. Writers published so far include Patti Abbot, Richard Godwin, K A Laity.
What are you working on now? Any upcoming publications you can share with us?
Small Town Crimes is a flash fiction and short story collection that will be out from Near To The Knuckle at the end of the month. I’ve just finished a follow up to Last Year’s Man. It’s called "The Iceman Always Rings Twice."
"The Iceman Always Rings Twice!" That's a great title. Do you come up with titles before you start writing?
That title was suggested by Daniel Moses Luft on Facebook when he found out I'd written a yarn called "The Postman Cometh."
