20 - how can it be 20? in Prosebox Desert Island Discs

Indie just told me that Ash’s debut album 1977 is 20 years old this week.... what??????

And then I thought about the year it came out and how much I played it until the tape went all wonky and why I love it so much. The Ex used to play me chords from Lost In You into my answer phone when he couldn’t get hold of me… this being the days before mobile phones and me working odd hours as a nanny. Just those few chords and all the lyrics flood into my head.

Lying wide awake under strange skies,
Want to speak to you but it is late at night,
I’m far away but you are always on my mind, always on my mind.

I just love it. It’s weird I don’t remotely have that kind of heady wow amazing connection soul mate thing with AgentX at all. I went out with AgentX on a very calculating basis that things couldn’t get much worse - and it does work. We live very well together and want the same things… we rarely argue over anything important (to be fair he usually just gives in to me!!).

And yet The Ex.... well what can I say? We ended up knowing exactly what buttons to push to cause an argument. How to inflict as much pain as possible. I did lots of things which I’m really not proud of. But ultimately the reason I got clean was because of him. And to his credit every time I wobbled, even after we split up, he was right there.

He let me borrow his bath when I got sunburnt. He even came and slept in my bed when I had chronic insomnia due to work stress (again after we split up!). I’ve never slept well with any of my boyfriends except him.

A good man. A much misunderstood person - he has the ability to really piss a lot of people off. The best guitar player I know (I know a lot including international rock stars!). The most entrepreneurial bloke I know by far - he’s always that little bit ahead of the crowd, my dad and him always got on. My mother hated him with a passion I’ve never fathomed why yet - he probably decided to wind her up one day and she’s never forgiven him. He crashed a Mercedes before he even had a full licence (he’s actually the best driver I know, he just does incredibly stupid things). He rented me a TVR for my 18th (it broke down! I still loved it). We danced to Jimmy Buffet. And now? I more or less promised him I’d let him be.... I’m a terrible person when it comes to him, I can’t bear to see him with anyone else. Now I don’t even have his phone number - he spent a while in media sales and doing alternative energy, I think he’s now doing film making and selling TV series to the states.

I actually do have a claim to fame relating to Ash - Rick McMurray was sick on my shoe at a house party in South London somewhere.... I didn’t actually speak to him amd the others weren’t there but he was just mingingly drunk and rolling around the floor and then vomited everywhere. (see? Not all my rock N roll stories are cool!!!).

20 years!!!

Last updated December 14, 2016