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Northern Soul is for trainspotters, a busman’s paradise. And I just find it incredible to listen to, and wonderful to experience when people are talking about it, but the enthusiasm all goes a bit ‘catalogue number.’

I can’t embrace it fully as I’m only ever 10% committed, so I just enjoy hearing it through compilations. Mel Britt’s ‘She’ll Keep Running Back’ is the one for me. It’s danceable, but also melancholic. The A-side is called ‘Love Invented Misery.’ What a title! An original copy costs about £5,000.

What appeals is the lack of polish, you can hear the mistakes in those records, the odd bum note or missed beat. That’s what interests me. Some of those session musicians would have to cut a track in 15 minutes, so there was a sense of immediacy. It becomes almost like a drawing, or a gesture. First thought, best thought. 

I hate weddings, but funerals are the best day out, because you see everybody being the most honest they’re ever going to be in their lives, and there’s something about the collective consciousness of the room, which reminds me of what northern soul is. I know people who still live for the weekend, every Friday and Saturday. It’s a group of people there for the same specific purpose, and I know that happens in other places, but with the Northern Soul thing, it does seem unique. And of course I’m slightly on the outside of that. I’ll always be the observer looking in.