Elbow to take your questions...

STAR QUESTION - Are you enjoying yourself? Dog, cat or fish? Who would you give your last Rolo to? Am I getting Electronic Battleships for Christmas? What do you want for Christmas? - Richard Hawley

Do I have to answer all of them? Yes, No, Seven and a half inches, Portugal, and a BSA Bantam Motorcycle.

Me and Hawley got together when a drinks company gave us a load of money to go to Tennessee and do a gig with Frank Black and a load of old country legends. me and Rich were on the same flight out. We were both drinking in the airport lounge and he says "Look what I've just bought," and he pulls out Travel Battleships. And I knew we were destined to be friends. On the plane there and back we weren't sat together so we were shouting across the aisle in mock-German accents, "Schweinhund! Gott im Himmel!" and so on. Very bad behaviour on an international flight.

Fantastic, cheers MT.

Who would be your choice as the Leaders Of The Free World? - Matt Leach, Rainham, Kent

If he wasn't dead, Peter Ustinov would have been perfect. In his absence...it'd have to be someone who wanted the job wouldn't it? For all my problems with New Labour, I quite fancy Hilary Benn, actually. I don't mean I find him attractive, that would be absurd. But I think he's quite a positive, likeable modern politician and not a careerist.

STAR QUESTION : You're known for your startling opening lines such as "I'll be the corpse in your bathtub" and "They're pacing Picadilly in packs again". Whose bathtub and who is doing the pacing? - Tom Robinson

Ha! The people pacing Picadilly are the Friday night sattelite town dwellers of Manchester coming in for their piece of the weekend, to reinvest their wealth back in the city and have it large. Everyone from the surrounding areas comes in looking for love. I've done it myself. And I guess the bathtub would belong to my sweetheart, Emma Jane Unsworth. I'll probably end up as the corpse in her bathtub - the theme from The Archers will probably be the last thing I hear.

From our own Emma G.

I'm a similar age to Guy and in the last two years lost two very dear friends. the whole experience has drastically altered my outlook on life. has the death of [Manchester musician and friend of the band] Bryan Glancy had a similar effect on Elbow and how has it affected your songwriting? - [/i]Emma Garfit[i]

It's massive. It's massive because he was such a huge character. Anyone who met him was better off for having met him. He was a very funny man. And I think he slept with every woman he ever knew! But it had a massive impact. Some positive things come out of it as well. When you're down it's tempting to think that your friends don't mean that much to you. Especially when you've met them all drunk. And it only takes you to lose one for you to realise how much a part of you they are. My dad's in his seventies and he's lost most of his mates, and in a weird way Bryan's death has brought me closer to my old man. It also makes you realise that the clock's ticking, which you should do.

STAR QUESTION : Hello Guy, don't take this the wrong way, but you're not related to Marcus, are you? - John Cooper Clarke

Ah, I love Clarkey. Actually, funnily enough I do have a brother called Marcus! I think my mum did name him after the great Marcus Garvey. No, I'm not sure if my mum's a Panafricanist, but she is a righteous character. She worked very hard all her life - she brought up seven children, worked as a policewoman and a psychologist - and is now enjoying life as a lady of leisure.

What posters did you have on your bedrooom wall when you were a kid? - Chris, Hertfordshire

I was an altar boy at the Catholic church, so there was the obligatory Christian one - probably the footsteps in the sand that everyone had. I also had a Judge Dredd poster at some point, and I seem to remember a Starsky And Hutch one. There was also a pin up of The A-Team from Look In.

I remember other people's bedroom posters, too. Craig Potter [Elbow's keyboardist and producer], he's such a dignified man, so distinguished, and I love remembering that he had a picture of a Ferrari with a chick in a bikini stuck on the bonnet! Mark Potter [guitarist] had an AC/DC poster and a U2 poster in his room. And Pete [Turner, bassist] had an HR Giger picture of an alien with lots of tortured babies' faces on it. He eventually took it down because it gave him nightmares.

STAR QUESTION : Guy, you have both a voracious appetite and impeccable taste in music. What bands at the moment are swooning your big beautiful heart? - Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol

I'm really into an American three-piece called Bowerbirds. The guy's got a healthy obsession with nature, the lyrics are great and the songs are fantastic. I really love the Laura Marling record, and a young man called John Redfern. And The Cave Singers were the best thing I saw at Glastonbury. There are also bands that I've only just started to get into, like The Red House Painters. Before I had my radio show I was guilty of ignoring music. Now I get recommendations all the time, and most of it is great. my show features old jazz, the odd reggae tune,and bits of old opera, but by and large, I tend to play alt.folk and Americana.

Will the Elbow In Cuba film ever be shown? - Frank, Stirling

I hope so. It was a very good film made by my friend, Irshad Ashraf, who now works for Melvyn Bragg's production company. It was through the British Council, and it was to establish tourism links with Cuba. So we played in Havana not long after the Manics and then in a town called La Matanza where they've never had a rock concert. It was extraordinary. It was also a bit of a scary experience.

Cuba isn't this peaceful little rebellious socialist paradise. It's a tightly controlled dictatorship where people are spirited away in the middle of the night, the same as any communist country. The frightening thing was that people couldn't speak openly without fear of El Presidente hearing them. We were being followed because we were on British Diplomatic visas. A Finnish ambassador we met told us to look out for spooks. True enough, these two fellas followed us everywhere. And they were shit. It was hilarious. They kept changing clothes and really obviously takiong photographs of us when they were pretneding to be tourists taking photographs of each other!

STAR QUESTION : What embarrassing prog albums would I find in your record collection? Tom Smith, Editors

There's plenty of Yes. Actually, their early stuff isn't bad. "Roundabout" is a top tune. They start getting a bit naff around Tormato [1978]. Actually, I do have a GTR record - I think they featured Steve Hackett and Steve Howe and at one point I'd have known every note! That has to be the most embarrassing record there. Fucking awful.

I was kinda brought up on prog. My sisters played me lots of Genesis and they were a great influence, especially the early stuff with Peter Gabriel - a lot of it just was magical, bedtime story stuff for me. And I've always loved Led Zeppelin, even if Robert Plant's lyrics are just absurd. Apparently, at the Mercury Awards, he came up to our table while we were on stage and he informed the head of our table that our music sounded "like Elgar on acid". Now Robert Plant probably has listened to Elgar on acid, so he'd probably know.

Aw, I was just about to post in here to volunteer to scan the article, but it looks like MT's done all the hard work. Thanks! And congrats to Emma.

MagicalTrevor wrote:

What's the last dream you remember? - Elli, Germany.

I had a horrible dream the other night. It was the day before I was on the Andrew Marr Show with the Prime Minister, so I was a bit anxious. And I had a dream that my girlfriend, Emma, was going to marry an older man for his money. They had an arrangement where I would stay on as her live-in lover, but he was going to consumate the marriage. So in my dream I'm saying, I'm sorry I can't do this, and I had to leave the woman I love. It was horrible and really gothic.

I was stirring and when I woke Emma asked what the matter was. I explained the dream to her, and how she'd married a man because of his money. And she pondered the scenario and said "Hmmm, did he have a swimming pool and cats?" I thinkshe thought it might not be a bad idea...

I am gonna f***ing (sorry for using the f-word so often) screem and die!!! That is ME!!!! I can't belive it!!!!!!!!! Yesterday concert and handshake with Guy and now this!!!!!!!!!!!
Edit: btw. That dream is heartbreaking but the answer of Emma was pretty cool! Alghough I don't think that Guy is that poor!

Seeing your reaction makes all my typing feel worthwhile Elli...congrats!

MagicalTrevor wrote:

Seeing your reaction makes all my typing feel worthwhile Elli...congrats!

Yeah, Magical Trevor! Thanks soooooo much!!!!!!! Yeah, you're right! You made my day!!!

Kudos to Mr Magical for doing all the typing.
Thanks a million!

Yes I'm making a Magical Trevor appreciation thread

Great, I called my cousin today and he's buying me the magazine!!!! Wohooo!

Quote :

On the plane there and back we weren't sat together so we were shouting across the aisle in mock-German accents, "Schweinhund! Gott im Himmel!" and so on. Very bad behaviour on an international flight.

*LOL* Yeah yeah, if someone knows a few German words it's something like that!!!
Guys, you have to learn something else: Something like: Wir sind Elbow und die beste Band der Welt!!! (We're Elbow and the greatest band of the world). That would impress! But maybe you've learned something through your German tour!

Quote :

And I guess the bathtub would belong to my sweetheart, Emma Jane Unsworth. I'll probably end up as the corpse in her bathtub - the theme from The Archers will probably be the last thing I hear.

I'm just courious: is Emma the author Emma Unsworth? If so, they seem like a nice cupple!

@ Emma G: what a great question!
It's different in my life. My dad's also in his 70s. And the older we get the more I realise which impact he has in my life.... Thank god early enough.

Quote :

Mark Potter [guitarist] had an AC/DC poster and a U2 poster in his room.

Have to love Mark now! I am a huge U2 fan!

nice one Trev!

Sooo, today, I am the proud owner of this Magazine!!! That is sooooo cool!