Chris Brookmyre

And it's partly because he's sort of deep in misery, isn't he?

And yet he jokes.

He's mired in regret.

And I suppose when he's looking back to the past, that seems...

It was because pre the end of the Cold War, there was issues with them actually paying in cash for royalties.

So certain albums, he was paid in lieu with things like tractors and vodka.

But yeah, Ian really embraced that.

I'd forgotten that.

That sense of fun, the fun that you could have if you were a rich rock star, because Danny has embraced all of that.

You're right about the fun.

It's got all of the sort of scabrous things that you'd expect for a Scottish book of that period.

There's vomit, there's sex, there's drugs, there's swearing.

But there's a real sweetness at the heart of this and somebody who knows what is right and what is wrong and who has their moral code.

And I think that shines through.

And thinking about the period, which was a period where it was really...

hard to be queer there's a moment in it when he says well you know i tried i tried going off with a man he said it was interesting it was really interesting i didn't want to do it again but i was glad that i tried it i thought for a book of that period written by a man that was mind-blowing actually to represent in that way

I feel like this is a book very much about self-esteem and self-identity.

It's funny, he's confident about himself as a songwriter, but he's cripplingly shy.

He's very awkward.

He creates this onstage persona that embraces his own physical awkwardness.