Mark Butcher

ENGLAND BAT-SWINGER TURNED SINGER/ GUITAR-SLINGER

What music are you currently grooving to?

Just today I had the new P.P. Arnold album drop through my letterbox – The New Adventures Of… So I’ve just been playing that. Traffic’s second album, the eponymous one – that’s the right word isn’t it? Then one of my Boom Band bandmates, Jon Amor, has an album out called Colour In The Sky, which is cracking – like an R&B Elvis Costello.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album? I’d have to go back to being 15 and an album I still play all the time: Derek And The Dominos’ Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs. It was formative when I was learning to play guitar.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it? The first single would have been Ant Music by Adam & The Ants, from Woolies in Purley. The first LP I think was John Mayall – Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton – from Tower or HMV in London. I was always drawn to Eric!

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? There’s only one: Prince. I’d be able to dance for a start. But I’d love to just have the musicality he had in every ounce of his being. Which cricketer did I want to be? Viv Richards. He’s still the coolest.

What do you sing in the shower? I’m not sure I do that any more. But my mum tells a story that when I was about four I could sing the entirety of Billy Joel’s The Stranger – so maybe I should revive something off that.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

If I won the argument, Midnight Stroll by Robert Cray. But my wife’s a massive fan of acid jazz, and I’m not impartial. So maybe something by The Brand New Heavies.

And your Sunday morning record? Moondance by Van Morrison. From start to finish it’s just an awesome, awesome record. That’s Sunday taken care of. Mark Butcher’s Now Playing album is out now on Man In The Moon Records