The 5-Minute Interview: Damon Gough, Singer/songwriter (aka Badly Drawn Boy)

Damon Gough, 37, released his debut album, 'The Hour of Bewilderbeast', in 2000, winning him the Mercury Music Prize. Badly Drawn Boy play the Wireless Festival on 14-17 June alongside the White Stripes, Daft Punk and Faithless

The Wireless Festival should be...

Good. I just played a festival in Cheltenham and it went really well. Up until that Saturday I doubted I could get back on stage after months away.

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

Watching crap daytime TV or playing the guitar.

A phrase I use too often...

"Kind of". I keep kind of using that kind of phrase.

I wish people would take more notice of...

Detail. With music, for example, take the artists that sell millions and compare it to the effort I put in and attention to detail that I use - I don't think people know the difference. Everybody is satisfied with nonsense. I don't understand why so many are prepared to stand in a line and be judged by Simon Cowell.

The most surprising thing that happened to me...

Playing on stage cheek-to- cheek with Bruce Springsteen at Carnegie Hall at the start of April this year. The whole night was supposed to be a tribute to his life. Nobody knew Bruce would be there. He was my hero when I was 15 or 16 just at the point when everyone in school hated him.

A common misperception of me is...

That I'm scruffy. There's a difference between scruffy and casual. I might wear a woolly hat and have a beard but Johnny Depp looks like that sometimes and they don't call him scruffy and most of my clothes are expensive. I strive to be smart but it just doesn't work on me.

I am not a politician but...

I would like to think I'd find a way of sharing the money out more evenly.It would solve a lot of issues.

I'm good at...

[Whispers] nothing.

I'm very bad at...

Decision-making.

The ideal night out is...

Going to the dogs and perhaps going for a curry or Chinese.

In moments of weakness I...

Probably have a cigarette or a drink or pick up the guitar and try to write something.I have recently given up smoking but I've lapsed and had the odd one.

You know me as a musician but I might also have been...

I wanted to be a recording engineer. That's how I got into it really. When nothing was going onI started playing the guitar and eventually discovered I could write songs.

The best age to be is...

10. According to the Trivial Pursuit science and nature category it's the optimum point in life.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

To attempt to do something fulfilling with one's life and not to trample on anyone else.

Sara Newman

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