WAYNE HUSSEY
The Mission main man returns with a new book, and album
Tell us about some of your latest projects.
I have several on the go. I’m endeavouring to complete an album to fall asleep to, as I suffer from insomnia, and often listen to vocalless ambient music to send me off: A Cure For Insomnia.
What film could it soundtrack? Koyaanisqatsi.
Is there anything still unissued? Some of my bands in the 70s. If there are any members that have tapes, please, get in touch. I’d love to hear ’em. I think!
With whom would you like to make a split 7”?
Billie Eilish. Pop music of the highest order, and a brilliant role model for kids. Maybe I could persuade Billie to wear a Mission T-shirt onstage? Where were you when you first heard one of your songs on vinyl? In Liverpool, 1979, when I was in Walkie Talkies – Rich ’N Nasty.
A huge thrill to get that vinyl.
What were your first records? T.rex, Jeepster, George Harrison, My Sweet Lord, Benny Hill, Ernie.
What’s the last album that you bought?
Kate Bush The Other Sides.
What music made you want to go pro?
Watching The Beatles’ A Hard
Day’s Night.
What music has been the most influential on you?
T.rex, Led Zeppelin, Television Marquee Moon, Siouxsie & The Banshees Kaleidoscope.
Is anyone in your family a musician?
My younger sister plays piano in church.
Did you ever write songs
‘under the influence’?
Tons. The first three Mission albums were all written while speeding. Speed was as essential a writing tool as a guitar, a pencil and paper.
Have you kept studio notebooks? Yes, from the late 80s on – lyrical ideas, chord progressions, notes on the mix, running order. Plus boxes of photos.
Which of your songs is the most personally meaningful?
Tower Of Strength, our
‘communal’ song.
Of all the people that you’ve worked with, who taught you the most?
John Paul Jones, who produced Children. A fount of wisdom and knowledge, and nothing we got up to surprised him. The best piece of advice that he proffered was to always make the records that we want to make, rather than what’s expected of us.
Which album, on first-listen, is the most startling that you ever heard?
Radiohead Kid A. I’d loved OK Computer and was totally nonplussed and deflated, not understanding the new direction that they’d taken. I persisted and quickly came to love it. But that first listen was a headfuck. They’ve been the best band in the world for the last 30 years.
If you had a record-listening party, what’d you play, and who’d you invite?
The Cure Pornography. Robert Smith, Morrissey, Paul Weller, Bernard Sumner, Ian Mcculloch. Sparks would fly!
With whom would you most like to record?
Massive Attack.
What’s your favourite songwriter’s best lyric?
John Lennon: “g’goo goo g’joob”. Which of your lyrics would you like to see on a T-shirt?
I still believe in God, but God no longer believes in me.
“I WAS TOTALLY NONPLUSSED AND DEFLATED BY KID A”
What unfulfilled ambitions do you have?
To compose music for a film.
Which of your former homes should have its own blue plaque? 27, Ashville Grove, Headingley, Leeds: Sisters Of Mercy, 1983-87, and a year of The Mission.
Dying peacefully on your deathbed, what would you like to hear?
The Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, and Gerry & The Pacemakers’
You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Wayne Hussey Heady Daze book is out via Omnibus.