What I always wanted to do

I interviewed the British Punk/New Wave legend Wreckless Eric on a Saturday last December, as he was playing at a local pub. I never got my review published, the notebook from my interview has been in my drawer ever since. Now I‘m thinking I just have to post it here.

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Den Tenksomme Vraslosken

During the end of the seventies he shared stage and record label with Nick Lowe, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello. He was part of that legendary Stiff Records tour. Then he disappeared. Now, Wreckless Eric is back on the road with new songs.

I met him ahead of his concert in Wolverhampton. The intimate Newhampton pub is the kind of venue you are likely to find him at these days. I know you shouldn‘t dwell too much on the past, but when you are talking with a man like Eric Goulden, it‘s really hard not to. “I went out of the public eye in 1980, a lot of people think I‘m dead”, he says while examining his pizza. He doesn‘t look dead. In fact, he looks like any other Brit in his late forties.

Obviously, I have to ask. What made you leave the music industry all those years ago? “Well, it was all very funny at the start. Touring the USA, Europe and New Zealand was fantastic. Hanging out with Nick (Lowe) and Elvis (Costello) was a lot of fun. Nick (Lowe) gave me money and sent me to Dublin to write songs, I usually wrote the songs in taxis on my way to band rehearsals. I had fun. But after a while it all became marketed, I felt expected to come up with witty songs about boys and girls. I lost my hunger and left it all behind.”

He‘s come a long way, Eric. After leaving Britain in 1985 he spent two years in a Parisian suburb drinking red wine as well as looking after his girlfriend’s garden. He then found peace of mind in the French countryside. In fact, it was so peaceful there he stayed for seven years. He started missing his friends in Britain and returned to regenerate his career in 1994.

During all this time he‘s been doing concerts and tours around Europe, but it‘s all been very quiet. Until now, that is. He is under new management, and tells me his career is finally moving in the right direction.

Yes, things are definitely happening. He‘s started his own label, Southern Domestic, after spending years trying to find a label interested in new songs. He also published his autobiography in the summer, called “A Dysfunctional Success”. He can see himself write another book, possibly a novel. “The boundaries blur these days, but being creative is really what it‘s all about”, he tells me as his manager taps him on the shoulder. It‘s time to be creative.

“Doing this is what I always wanted to do”, he says as we shake hands. What more can you expect from life, really?