Turangaleela2: Why haven’t you gone on tour and performed A Grand Don’t Come for Free to celebrate its 20-year anniversary?
It’s interesting to reflect on anniversaries, but for me, as The Streets, it’s always been about moving forward. Looking back is not really my style. I’ve always been focused on what’s next, what’s in front of me creatively. Of course, playing the old tracks is great, and they are the foundation, in a way, that allows for new creations. Think of it like this: the older songs by The Streets pave the way for writing new ones, even if the appetite for new material isn’t always guaranteed. I see that some artists, like Liam Gallagher or Dizzee Rascal, have embraced anniversary tours, but personally, it’s not something I feel a strong pull towards. It’s not about the financial aspect; it’s more about a need to feel relevant and engaged with the present. For my own creative sanity, I need to believe that what I’m doing now, as The Streets and beyond, holds importance.
JJethwa: I read in your memoir, The Story of the Streets, that you read books by Hollywood screenwriters while you were writing A Grand Don’t Come for Free. Did they come in handy for your film debut [The Darker the Shadow, the Brighter the Light]?
That period of immersing myself in screenwriting books definitely had a lasting impact. It wasn’t just about the technicalities of script structure; it was about understanding storytelling on a deeper level. I even sought guidance from Robert McKee, a quintessential Hollywood screenwriting consultant – very direct, very American in his approach. There’s a lot to absorb from someone like McKee, but ultimately, he boils it down to fundamental principles: “show, don’t tell,” maintain a thematic through-line from beginning to end, and ensure characters embody your ideas through their actions.
Mike Skinner of The Streets captivating the crowd during a 2003 performance in Brooklyn, New York.
McKee emphasizes that a compelling story revolves around how and why characters transform. I find that idea fascinating. Whether it’s universally true or not, it certainly encapsulates a significant portion of Hollywood narratives, especially from the 80s onwards, from epic space operas to romantic comedies. The protagonist often starts with a core flaw that they must overcome. Initially, these storytelling rules feel very rigid, but then you begin to discover the art lies in knowing when and how to bend or break them to create something unexpected. My film, “The Darker the Shadow, the Brighter the Light,” centers around a DJ – a world I know intimately from my time with The Streets. We had some preview screenings in Everyman cinemas, which was a great experience. There are still some refinements to be made, but it will be released properly soon.
Nay-face: I consider you a singer-songwriter up there with Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. Which singer-songwriters, past or present, inspired you?
That’s incredibly flattering company to be placed in. When it comes to songwriting inspiration, I’m drawn to the power of the song itself. My all-time favorite song is “A Boy Named Sue,” performed by Johnny Cash, but penned by Shel Silverstein, who was primarily known for children’s poetry yet also wrote hits for Dr. Hook. I gravitate towards songs that tell a strong story, songs like “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” Pop music occasionally produces moments of lyrical brilliance that make you wish you had written them. Jay-Z’s “Song Cry,” from The Blueprint album, is a prime example of incredible lyricism in a contemporary context. It’s about those individual songs that resonate deeply, regardless of genre.
Benhabs: Of all the brutalist architecture available, why did you choose the University of East Anglia ziggurats for the artwork of Computers & Blues?
The album art for Computers & Blues was an interesting process. I remember the “creative” at the record label advising me not to judge album art at full size because most people would see it in a much smaller format. This made fitting the brutalist architecture into a small square easier conceptually. Places like Trellick Tower or the Ainsworth Estate are often used in films to signify tough, working-class backgrounds, but they’ve become so visually associated with those narratives that they just remind me of the films themselves. When I saw the University of East Anglia buildings, it was immediate. They had a stark, futuristic quality that felt right for Computers & Blues. It was less about the typical associations of brutalism and more about the unique visual impact.
paddybappin: Was the sound of your debut, Original Pirate Material, a conscious decision to distance yourself from associations or comparisons?
The sonic landscape of Original Pirate Material, the debut album for The Streets, was something I obsessed over. Production was my first love; I actually aspired to be a producer initially. Becoming an artist happened almost by accident. But that producer mindset shaped the sound of The Streets from the beginning. I was always striving for extreme minimalism, which, in hindsight, might have felt a bit stark or abrasive to mainstream pop radio. Lyrically, I didn’t perceive my life or experiences as particularly noteworthy. I had this impression that everyone in the music industry lived incredibly glamorous lives. So, the approach with Original Pirate Material was to try and elevate the mundane, to make the normal feel extraordinary, to find the glamour in everyday street life.
Splutterer: I think you wrote great music about experiences everyone could understand: Friday night at the chip shop, losing a girlfriend, etc. But then you started singing about your experience of being a pop star [on his third album, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living], which is not something everyone can identify with. Why the change? Do you regret it?
As The Streets evolved, so did the subject matter. For me, artistic integrity demands honesty. So, no, I don’t regret that shift in lyrical focus. My life at that time was genuinely tumultuous. At 25, my world was completely turned upside down. It was chaotic. I could have concealed those experiences, and some artists choose to do that – to maintain a persona, to put on an act. But that felt disingenuous. Ultimately, I believe we each have a finite number of core stories to tell, and once those stories have been shared, maintaining that initial level of novelty becomes challenging. Authenticity is the only path forward, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate that audiences have connected with that honesty throughout the journey of The Streets.
CharlesCustard: Are you really “45th generation Roman”?
[Laughs] The “45th generation Roman” comment was definitely tongue-in-cheek. If you trace ancestry back just a thousand years, which is only halfway to Roman times, we are all pretty interconnected. So, in a broad sense, yes, we are all descendants of the Romans. But the “45th generation” was a very rough, back-of-the-envelope calculation I probably spent 20 minutes on back in 2001. Please don’t judge my mathematical precision based on that! It was more of a playful observation about interconnectedness than a serious genealogical claim.
Turangaleela2: Has there ever been an opportunity to perform the original version of Dry Your Eyes with Chris Martin?
The original version of “Dry Your Eyes” featuring Chris Martin remains unreleased because Chris himself felt it didn’t require his contribution. The creative process in music is full of experimentation. Sometimes you overestimate the impact of something, and other times you underestimate it. With “Dry Your Eyes,” it resonated far beyond what anyone anticipated. Ultimately, the audience decides what connects, and as artists, we become facilitators of that connection in a strange way. Chris and I have remained in touch; we’ve socialized whenever our paths crossed geographically. It’s just part of the somewhat surreal world of famous people connecting – or at least, that’s what they do, isn’t it?
DorsalDin: Did taking drugs in your youth affect your mental health now?
Mental health is a recurring theme in my work, including a lyric on the new album: “The story that I tell myself is everything, but it cannot be a lie because I’ll know.” There’s this popular notion that positive self-talk is a cure-all, but I believe that if your external circumstances are difficult, simply telling yourself nice things isn’t a sustainable solution. You can create temporary comfort – turn up the heating, watch a feel-good movie – but genuine fulfillment comes from confronting challenges. I tell my children that true happiness lies on the other side of overcoming difficult things. For me, embarking on filmmaking felt like a daunting, almost impossible task, but the process of doing it, of creating “The Darker the Shadow, the Brighter the Light,” has been incredibly empowering and has strengthened my sense of self-confidence and mental well-being. That’s been my personal mental health journey.
birokiheck: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Fabric Presents the Streets, your first official mix album?
DJing has been a significant part of my life for the past decade, but a mix album wasn’t on my radar until Fabric approached me. It was a real honor to be asked. Fabric Presents the Streets is a mix of the music I typically play in my DJ sets, and within that mix, I incorporated new original songs that are thematically set in a club environment. “No Better Than Chance” and “End of the Queue” are two of those tracks, exploring the experience of a night out, particularly the journey home at the end of the night. It’s a sonic exploration of the club scene that has always been intertwined with the music of The Streets.
John198820: Which Streets album are you most proud of and why?
Original Pirate Material remains the album I’m most proud of. It took a significant amount of courage to create, and it defied expectations. Making my film, “The Darker the Shadow, the Brighter the Light,” evoked a similar feeling – that constant sense of embarrassment because you’re stepping outside of conventional boundaries, and people might perceive it as madness. At the time, some dismissed Original Pirate Material as a joke, but it has been an incredibly loyal companion throughout my career. I don’t always excel at making music in a conventional sense, but I’ve always been comfortable embracing the unconventional, being a bit weird, and that spirit is at the heart of The Streets.
Shaaddsouza: How did you feel when Charli xcx shouted you out on Club Classics with the line “Tight like Mike kinda flow”?
It’s always a buzz to get name-dropped or referenced in other artists’ work, especially within genres like rap. Charli XCX actually asked me to contribute to a remix of “Club Classics.” I wrote some material, but it wasn’t up to par, in my own estimation! So, it never saw the light of day. But those kinds of acknowledgements, those nods to the influence of The Streets, are genuinely gratifying. If I could speak to myself 20 years ago, at the beginning of this journey with The Streets, I would definitely reassure myself that things are going to turn out alright.
