Hero worship: Gemma Hayes

Gosh, there are so many! I only got into Neil Young’s music recently and he’s just bowled me over. I think everyone found him at different stages of their lives and then they push him on you, saying “you gotta listen to Neil Young”. I just never listened to him. I had a little time on my hands a while back and I started getting into him, and he is what everybody says he is. So I would say Neil Young and Van Morrison.

When got into music first it was all about Nirvana and wearing their T-shirts, Pearl Jam, My Bloody Valentine. I went through phases, The Pixies, The Frames! That was my introduction. Then I started to get into music and look around and I got into songwriters like Nick Drake and John Martyn. I used to play Revolver by The Beatles in the shop where I worked all the time and bop around the place. And when I was younger, it was all tapes. I was never part of the record generation. It was all tapes and CDs for me.

Then I started listening to bands like the Red House Painters and American Music Club. I was listening to them when all that Britpop stuff took off in England. I didn’t really like that so I started to look on the other side. When I met up with David [Odlum] he introduced me to the Palace Brothers. I loved the fact that everything was so simple and so sleepy. You could picture the guy falling over while playing! They, and Low, were a revelation.

Then I started listening to Mogwai and Papa M. You’d hear one band and people would tell to check out such and such another. Gillian Welch is the bloody bee's knees. A friend of mine got me a PJ Harvey album as a present, she is another person I found late in life and she’s great. I just hear the odd album and go, “Wow!” So there's some old and some new. And it doesn’t really matter how long they’ve been with me, it’s just what happens when I listen to them.