The Waterboys frontman tells how domestic ditties helped him create their new album

Mike Scott and his band The Waterboys have been on a fascinating journey ever since he emerged from Edinburgh in the late 70s.

He’s charted the hit Big Music, reinvented folk rock with the mighty Fisherman Blues, played with Bob Dylan (and had the maestro roll spliffs as he did so) and seen songs such as The Whole Of The Moon and How Long Will I Love You (a recent smash for Ellie Goulding) become classics.

But Scott is not one to rest on his laurels, and his new love for hip-hop loops and samples colour songs on new Waterboys double album Out Of All This Blue. His new Japanese wife, artist Megumi Igarashi, inspires some of his most eloquent love songs. And writing songs for Lila, four, his daughter from a previous relationship, also drives him on.

“It means my creative engine is running all the time,” says Mike, 58. “I’m making songs up all day long about what’s going on, it could be the dinner cooking, or putting shoes on the wrong way round – something silly but it means I’m writing and it’s only a short jump from that to writing a pop song.”

After recreating the work of his adopted homeland’s most celebrated poet in Appointment With Mr Yeats, and bringing a unique Waterboys twist to country soul on the Nashville-recorded Modern Blues, Out Of All This Blue was mostly created on a computer in the Dublin studio space he shares with Megumi.

“I’m really glad it worked out as it did. I love working on my own, I made the early Waterboys albums and a few others like that.

“I love just trusting my own judgment and seeing where it takes me. I didn’t miss anything.”

The album is loaded with future Waterboys classics – such as New York I Love You and The Hammerhead Bar (an eyepopping re-imagining of the drinking den in Who bassist John Entwistle’s mansion).

“I like putting humour into my lyrics though I haven’t always been successful,” Mike grins.

“When I was younger I was very serious. I think the first time I managed it was Bang On The Ear – it started off in Fife and it ended up in tears. It was a breakthrough for me, to get a few laughs into a song. I’ve been working hard to polish that skill ever since.”