Formerly the frontman of Eastern Lanes, Derek Meins now trawls the venues of the UK with a battered acoustic guitar, wowing audiences with his mix of performance poetry and jagged blues.
With his debut mini-album, 'The Famous Poet', out now on 1965 Records, we thought it was about time with found out some more about this warped mind.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
I started writing things, lyrics I suppose you'd call them, when I was very young and then I got a guitar when I was about eleven. So, then I started singing the terrible lyrics badly over the poor guitar playing. That was how it started, I hope that things have progressed!
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Lots of things inspired it but the idea behind it was to mix together music and poetry in a way that could still be accessible and not too pretentious. I was trying to do something with a little brains behind it and prove that not everything has to sound the same.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating an album?
Firstly, I sat alone in my house and wrote all the songs and poems. Then, we rehearsed with the musicians and then we got drunk and recorded it. Not really rocket science.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Ella Fitzgerald, Ivor Cutler, Edgar Allen Poe, Tom Waits, William Soutar, The Sonics, Bruce Nueman, Gertrude Stein, Leadbelly, The Carter Family amongst another endless list.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Take the time to listen, don't be put off immediately if it's not what you expect. And most of all, enjoy it!
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album/single, and for the future?
I hope that people enjoy it enough for me to make another. Time is ticking and I still have more I need to do!
More>> www.myspace.com/derekmeins