Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie: ‘I had a veil over me for a long time’

1. What is your earliest memory?
   Being in a pram in the back garden. Is that mad? Would you remember that?

2. Who was or still is your mentor?
   People I’ve never met have influenced me massively, but no one hands on. I would have loved to have someone show me the way. I feel I’ve fumbled and bumbled my way through life.

3. How fit are you?
   I started eating more healthily, I’ve lost weight, I feel healthier, but I’m completely unfit. I don’t go to the gym, I don’t run, I’m rubbish on a bicycle, I can’t swim, I’ve stopped playing football — I’m 64. But I do gigs where I’m singing for an hour and a half.

4. Tell me about an animal you have loved.
   In the past, I had a golden Labrador, Truffle — officially my brother’s — and I loved that dog. And when I was first married, we had a cat. Skipper got knocked over and killed. I was devastated.

5. Risk or caution, which has defined your life more?
   Caution. Lack of confidence is massive in me. It’s been good in some ways because I’ve constantly underestimated myself, but I also constantly underachieve.

6. What trait do you find most irritating in others?
   When people speak badly to a waitress or someone doing a job. I hate it when someone is nice to you, but horrible to the people around.

7. What trait do you find most irritating in yourself?
   A plethora. I get anxious, and I hate that I’m like that. I used to be self-sufficient to the point of arrogant when I was a kid; now I worry.

8. What drives you on?
   I’ve been obsessed with music since I was five or six. It’s just what I do. It’s second nature. And because my son Riley is involved, playing guitar, and he’s my manager at the moment as well, I want him to experience the great things I’ve experienced through music.

9. Do you believe in an afterlife?
   The title song of my album is “See You in the Stars”. A friend died while I was making the album. So I suppose, if I’m writing that, I must believe on some level. But it’s more hope than certainty. There’s a line between what you wish and what you believe.

10. Which is more puzzling, the existence of suffering or its frequent absence?
    Life is a massive lottery. It’s all about luck: being born on the right continent, in the right year. Right now in the world, everything’s global, so now we’re seeing this big picture it’s impossible not to cry about it. If I try to focus on that big picture, I’m lost. Music is my bubble.

11. Name your favourite river.
    The Mersey. I love the town I come from; I love Liverpool. That river signifies a lot: the port, the docks, the ships that went to America, music coming into the country, The Beatles’ era, the melting pot, the character of the people through the years.

12. What would you have done differently?
    Probably more or less everything; but I know I’d just mess it up in a different way. I felt I had a veil over me for a long time; I wasn’t able to communicate with the world. That’s why I started writing songs. The veil lifted at some point, I was OK. But I think I’m probably better when I don’t look back.

“See You in the Stars” by Lightning Seeds is out now. The current tour runs until November 26

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