Badly Drawn Boy star Damon Gough: I needed a break from music after marriage split

The Bolton-raised songwriter has had a break from music following the end of his marriage, but is now marking the anniversary of his Mercury Prize-winning debut by touring the UK, playing the record in its entirety before its re-release in the autumn.

Looking back on its initial release in 2000, Damon said: “People I knew back then who were 15 are now grown-ups with babies of their own.

“It feels like another world, although the standard reaction when I say it was all 15 years ago is to say ‘Ooh, it doesn’t feel that long ago’. I think it feels like longer.”

The 45-year-old, known for his defacto uniform of shoulder-length hair, beard and bobble hat, his slightly shambolic gigs and his heartfelt lyrics, also talked about how he needed to take time out after his marriage to wife Clare ended.

“I split up with my missus three years ago,” he said. “We were together for 16 years and have two kids. I didn’t really want to talk about it at the time, out of respect to her and our relationship, but now three years have gone, I feel like it’s probably OK to talk about what’s been going on. That’s also why I’ve not been playing or doing anything, because I’ve been putting my life back together.”

There’s a bitter irony to Damon talking like this while gearing up to perform Bewilderbeast, because the album is largely centred on his attempts to woo Clare. “I fell for her, and now we’re not together and I’m touring it. I hadn’t thought about that before and now it’s dawned on me.”

The silver lining is that the heartache has spurred him on and given him the kickstart he needs to start making music again. He says he’s been in the studio, and has more than an album’s worth of material ready to record after a long period of not wanting to bother.

“The idea of putting myself back in the frame with some gigs and a re-release of the first album is a good incentive to crack on,” he said. “I want to make everyone aware that this isn’t just me resting on my laurels and releasing an old album and playing some old songs. This is the opposite, it’s to spur me on to do something new; a new album next year.”

It’s highly unlikely any new record will feature songs about the breakdown of his relationship, however, as Damon said he finds the idea impossible to stomach, and could never write something as confessional as, say, Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks, which documented his split from then-wife Sara.

“Losing a relationship is one of the hardest things you can go through, but everyone needs to move on. For me, especially as I write personally, it’s very difficult, and for a while, I just didn’t know what to write. The climate as it is, with more and more reality TV, everybody giving everything of themselves, that’s what’s expected, but I won’t be down about it.”

Badly Drawn Boy begins a UK tour on July 16. For information, visit www.badlydrawnboy.co.uk