The Durutti Column – The Return Of The Durutti Column

I used to go to the Record And Tape Exchange in my teens. At this point, I was into Joy Division and Manchester and saw this and thought, ‘Oh, this is on Factory, and it’s got a good sleeve’. So that was it. I didn’t know anything about it – I was about 17, but I remember it was summer, and I put it on and I was mesmerised. I’d play it over and over again. There was a chair I’d sit in my bedroom just listening to it for hours. I’d sometimes fall asleep to it.

I also liked how Vini was such a low-key character in that whole Manchester scene, compared to the New Orders and whatnot. Years later, I worked with Jeff Barrett [founder of Heavenly Records] as his assistant when he was doing press for Creation and Factory, in the Creation offices in Clerkenwell Road, around 1988, so I used to answer the phone sometimes to Factory people. We only had one phone, so sometimes it would be Tony Wilson or Vini Reilly. I was always starstruck. And did Vini influence my guitar playing? Maybe a little bit! In no way would I say I could play anything like him, but I loved him.