ALL BACK TO MY PLACE

IN WHICH THE STARS REVEAL THE SONIC DELIGHTS GUARANTEED TO GET THEM GOING...

Karen Elson, Stephin Merritt and Cosey Fanni Tutti whack it up. But what’s with all the cereal packets?

Cosey Fanni Tutti

T.G.’S ART-MUSIC DISSENTER

What music are you currently grooving to? Well I’m not grooving to anything at the moment because I’m actually putting together a new set for a solo gig and I don’t want anyone else’s music bleeding in there.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? Because it’s so emotionally rich and beautiful and evocative, it’s got to be Songs Of Leonard Cohen. I listen to it quite differently now – I appreciate the beauty of his lyrics and his delivery and the sounds he used. He tugs at you something incredible.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it? I bought Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced in Hull, possibly from Binns. I’d listened to the singles and seen him perform, but ironically I didn’t even have a record player, I had to go round to my mates’ houses. Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? I don’t want to be anyone else.

What do you sing in the shower? Melodic songs like Joni Mitchell’s Clouds or Nico’s My Only Child, or even ’50s songs and Doris Day that my mum used to sing round the house. I sing like she does, nothing like I sing on our records.

What is your favourite Saturday night record? For a good time, what I regard as ‘up’, like The Doors, is someone else’s down! Abba’s going to come into it though, and Blondie is wonderful as well. I was so into industrial music and anti-pop in the ’70s, but now I enjoy pop music as something I couldn’t do. I like listening on a big PA, so if I want something to dance about to I’ll go in the studio. It’s like being in a club. And your Sunday morning record?

Soundtrack music, mainly – Micachu’s Under The Skin and Jackie. I like to be taken away from the music I normally do. Cosey Fanni Tutti’s Art Sex Music is published by Faber on April 6.