1. My grannies

MY mum was a single parent, so both my grannies played a really important part in bringing me up. Some of that was doing the really simple things, like taking me in after school or giving me my lunch – that tended to be my mum’s mum, Granny Wallace.

My Granny Skinner taught me to read before I went to school. She had me reading the Glasgow Herald when I was five years old, but she would never tell me what the words meant. I’d ask, “Granny, what does preposterous mean?” and she’d say, “Go and look it up!”

Of course, that meant I had to go to the dictionary, so I was reading again, and I would see so many other words. She was a really forward-thinking person.

This gave me what I thought was a superpower when I went to primary school. I found the first years really easy and I was well ahead. That made me think that this school thing was a bit of a breeze. Of course, by the time I reached secondary, I wasn’t ahead of anybody!

My Granny Wallace was also a great musician. She was a brilliant piano player and could play pretty much any tune by ear. I can’t say I adopted all of that talent, but I do think I got something of a musical ear from her.

2. Moving house

DURING the time I was at school we had to move home quite a few times. I was brought up on housing schemes, but I don’t look back and think it was terrible. However, when we moved, it tended to be to another housing scheme and these could have a bit of a strange mentality going on when it came to incomers. I didn’t know anybody, which could be difficult, always having to start again.

I have to say, though, every time we moved it was always at a point where if we hadn’t moved, I might have gone down a different path. A bad path, definitely a bad path. I’m not saying I would’ve ended up being a criminal, but there were definitely things starting to happen.

Every move meant making new friends and I think this has not only given me the ability to make friends easily, but also made me self-reliant. I can be myself quite comfortably.

I had an older brother who had a lot of health problems and died when I was eight and he was 11. His problems meant that we didn’t really have that normal relationship where brothers play together. My dad remarried and had a daughter but we weren’t brought up together, so really I was on my own.

3. Punk rock

I’M sure loads of musicians of my age choose this, but I had a weird relationship with punk. Before it, I was into a lot of the glam rock stuff and David Bowie, of course.

For me, punk, as it did with loads of other people, gave me the licence to think I could do something myself. I didn’t like every punk band. I liked the Sex Pistols and The Clash, but not The Damned and a lot of the others.

My first gig was The Stranglers supported by The Rezillos at Glasgow Apollo in 1977, but to be honest I preferred all the stuff that came after punk, like Elvis Costello. Punk was more something that provided that gateway into doing something yourself.

4. A chance meeting at a railway station

Hipsway in 1987

ONE Saturday, when I was about 19, I was waiting for a train to head in to Glasgow. I saw my friend on the other platform, heading in the opposite direction. We hadn’t seen each other for a year or two because he had gone to university and I had taken a job.

I sat on the edge of the platform, dangling my legs over as I was talking to him. Later he told me that he thought this was totally gallus. I didn’t think anything of it, I was getting comfortable to talk to my mate. Seemingly he thought, “I want this guy to come into my world”. He asked me to come out with him the next week, to hang out at the students’ union. I did and it changed everything. I met all his friends and I got to know Harry Travers (pictured left in the picture above), who I started Hipsway with. I also met my wife there.

I went from a guy who lived in Drumchapel to a guy who slept in Drumchapel, but lived the rest of his life in this completely different world. That was the time of “Let’s start a band” and, as everybody thinks, “Let’s change the world!” Well, one out of two isn’t bad.

5. James Grant

THERE are two occasions with my old pal James Grant that have changed things for me. The first was early doors when Harry and I had been in a few bands that had split up. We thought we’d record a couple of tunes and give them to managers to see what they thought. We got James in to play guitar and help us out – to be honest he should have got a credit for The Broken Years. That demo got us a manager and it was the start of Hipsway.

Then, about 12 years ago I think it was, he asked me to sing a couple of songs at a wee show he was doing. I honestly didn’t want to, but because it was him I did. There was a great reception and that encouraged me to get back into music.

I had been out for at least 10 years. That was 10 years without lifting a guitar and throughout that time I couldn’t even sing. I was so sad that if I tried to sing I would just burst into tears – I must have been going through some kind of crisis, whether it was a midlife one or not. That night was the turning point that got me back into doing music again, which is what I love.

6. The 30th anniversary of the first Hipsway album

I WAS managing a bar called the Rio Café (pictured above) when a guy came in and said he wanted to do a 30th anniversary reissue of the first Hipsway album. He asked if I would help him do the sleeve notes. It would make things a lot more interesting if I could give him my input.

This wasn’t something I was going to make any money out of, I was just doing it to help him out. Then, when it was released, I thought it might be good to do a one-off show to coincide with it coming out. I phoned up a promoter called Mark Mackie from Regular and asked if he’d be interested in putting on a one-off show at the ABC in Glasgow and he said, “Aye, let’s give it a bash”.

It sold out very quickly so we put on another one. When he phoned to tell me we had sold out both shows, I was on the golf course. I thought, this is better than a hole in one, man!

That completely changed my life because it got me back into music pretty much full-time. It’s certainly what I’ve been doing to make my living over the past few years now. It’s very different from the first time – it’s the shows that pay the wages rather than the records – but I’m so glad to be back.

7. My paper round

I WANTED to get a wee job so I bought a paper round from my pal. I had to give him my first week’s wages, then the money was mine. I wanted the independence to buy things that were mine – anything from a record to clothes, but mostly clothes, because you could borrow other people’s music.

I never bought food though – maybe a fish supper on a Saturday, but my grannies always kept me well fed so I didn’t need to spend it on confectionery!

It also taught me to take responsibility for myself, having to get up early for a start. I think doing that is really important before you leave school because it also teaches you the value of money.

8. Okja

I SAW Okja on Netflix quite a few years ago and it’s far from the best film I’ve seen, but I can point to that being the reason that I became vegetarian. It’s about a giant artificially created pig-type creature that a little girl fights to save from the slaughterhouse.

I had been vegetarian before, a long time ago, but it wasn’t anything to do with caring about animals, it was probably about being trendy.

Now, I couldn’t imagine eating animals. I think this time I have more compassion for them. My wife’s vegetarian, but it used to be that if we went out to a restaurant I would have meat. Not now – and I feel better for it in a loads of ways.

9. Going back to college

AT one point I realised I hadn’t gathered many skills. I was a musician, then I had a bunch of daft wee jobs when I was in London, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I came back to Glasgow. So I went to college.

It was around the time when computers were becoming useful and reliable and the internet was being sorted out. At that time I didn’t know how to use a computer. I’m really not joking ...

I could log on to the internet but I didn’t know how to use any programs.

I did a course called Using Creative Software, which is basically Photoshop and Illustrator, learning how to edit video and build websites. It was a great course and I really enjoyed it. Apart from dragging me into the modern world, it also dragged me out of the funk I was in.

10. The death of my mother-in-law

WE had been living in London for about 15 years but were looking to move. Places like Spain had been discussed, but what really mattered was getting out of London.

Then my mother-in-law died suddenly, and at the same time my father-in-law had started to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

It was at the early stages, but he did need someone to look after him.

So these events brought us back to Glasgow about 15 years ago.

My wife did a lot of looking after her dad and her sister has moved back from Japan to help out.

I’m so happy to be back in Glasgow and in many ways this has brought us all back together. It’s a silver lining on an extremely dark cloud.