Lloyd Cole

August 2010

I’VE been living in Massachusetts for the past 22 years.

I don’t really work Monday to Friday so the weekend is kind of meaningless to me.

If I’m on a deadline then I’ll be working, if I’m not I’ll see my family and play golf.

Last weekend I played a doubles golf tournament each morning and when I got home worked all afternoon and evening. We pre-sold a thousand copies of the new album to fans for $45 each and we have to ship them out in the next couple of weeks, so I’m mad busy.

I’ve got to sign most of them and a third of them need dedications. As a modern day independent artist it’s hard to survive without marketing yourself in such a way. We have a web shop that does quite well.

I don’t watch television much at all. My 11-year-old tends to monopolise it.

The only thing I make a point of watching is the Premier League on Fox Sports. I’m a Chelsea fan. Everybody hates us now but we suffered for twenty years to be able to have some of the glory.

My wife has got pretty good taste in TV so after the children have gone to bed I’ll sit and watch Mad Men with her. I also like Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The kids will watch DVD box sets, they’ve got Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And Frank, my 11-year-old, is very keen on this kids show called Degrassi Junior High, which is a Canadian high school drama. If they want to get me out of the room they just have to get the Degrassi box set out.

We occasionally go to the cinema. I took Frank and my nephew to see Scott Pilgrim Vs The World which was very good. I’d recommend it. It’s maybe not aimed at 50-year-old but it was fun.

My eldest son is 17 and he’s actually a very good musician. He took guitar lessons for a very long time and he’s just started his own band. He does ask me for advice all the time but he never takes it. We have a band, me and the kids, with my mate John, who is also from Derbyshire. We play Slade and Alice Cooper and stuff. I play bass and John sings. It’s great fun being the bassist.

I occasionally go to gigs. I went with my son to see a band called The Walkmen. They’re great so that was fun although I did feel about a thousand years old in that audience.

There’s a bar down the street from me that has music every Saturday night but I usually try and get there early enough to miss the music.

I hate the gym but I do ride my bike regularly. We live in a small town but there’s a quite extensive bike path that runs through the countryside and it’s 300 yards from my door. It’s beautiful in the summertime with all the wild flowers coming in to bloom.

I usually go on my own. Very rarely do we go out like a family of ducks. If you want to get anything from a bike ride you have to go fairly fast and you can’t do that if there’s four of you.

The best restaurant in town hasn’t got much of a vibe so you’re quite often better off getting a carry out. It’s a Moroccan restaurant that does really good food.

A perfect weekend? The weather would be about 70 degrees, I’d play golf then basketball with my kids and order in an Indian meal. There’s not a lot of good Indian food in America. It’s not like Nottingham or the Midlands which are fantastic for Indian food. I had a brilliant Indian meal in Nottingham one time near the Concert Hall. The Mogal-E-Azam? Yes, that sounds right. I must go back there again - I love Indian food.

Lloyd Cole plays The Glee Club at Castle Wharf on October 29. For tickets call 0871 4720400 or go to www.glee.co.uk. His new album, Broken Record, will be released next month.