JOHN EARLS
“PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LET DOWN SO BADLY BY FIGURES IN POP AUTHORITY, I’M EASILY ABLE TO CLAIM THE CROWN” PAUL HEATON
On the train to Stockport to meet Paul Heaton, a text arrives. “Hiya. It’s Paul Eaton. Ouse Martins? Five Get Over Exciting? Your car will be waiting at the rear of the station, and your drivers are Barry and Linda.”
Now 56, Heaton only passed his driving test over the summer. Full of hugs and with a natural interest for anyone he meets that’s fed itself into his lyrics for decades, Heaton is excited to greet Classic Pop – “It’s the first time I’ve picked anyone up from the station!” – and admits he gets over his new-driver nerves by chatting constantly. During the short drive to his semidetached home, Heaton confesses that his initial plan to treat driving as an opportunity to listen to more new music has already slipped away because, “I just listen to Radio 2, the same as anyone.”
Although Heaton’s house has been mentioned in profiles before, nothing can prepare you for its sensory overload. It’s magnificent. A black and white photo of local record shop Kingbee is in the hall, next to a framed display of football badges. The kitchendiner where our interview takes place has football scarves around the walls, a test pressing of the most recent Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott album, Crooked Calypso, on the floor, plus the ephemera of Heaton’s two teenage daughters: a Doctor Who magazine cutting, Chewits, a Halloween pumpkin… Paul Heaton’s house is certainly full but in every respect, Paul Heaton has a very full life.