"I’ve always been really drawn to female singers and artists. I’m a massive Joni Mitchell fan. Same with Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders – there’s something about her voice that just goes through you.
"And then there’s Kate Bush. She just flattened me when she first came out with The Kick Inside. The first thing of hers I heard was the Wuthering Heights single on the TV, and I couldn’t believe it - it didn’t sound like anything else.
"I used to go round to this vinyl store to get all my Quo records and everything, and on the day The Kick Inside came out, I went in and brought it. I wore the thing out – absolutely amazing album. There was nothing I could compare it to, none of that, ‘Oh, she’s got this influence from here, that influence from there.’ It was completely unique.
"People thought there was something comical about her. She wasn’t some trained dancer like they have on The X Factor these days – she had more of that Lindsey Kemp [influential dancer and choreographer], make-it-up-as-you-go-along-and-see-how-you-feel, almost spiritual kind of thing going on. She was coming from the soul, from how she feels. It was the same with her singing and her music.
"She did a record signing in Newcastle for the second album [1978’s Lionheart], and I sneaked away from the studio where I worked and pushed my way to the front of the queue – I was ready to fight anybody who got in my way.
"I had a poster of the album – and I can prove this cos I’ve still got it – and she signed it: ‘Lots of love, to Cronos.’ And I got a kiss off her. I said, ‘Can I have a kiss?’ And she leaned over and plonked one right on my lips. And the guy behind me asked for a kiss, and security went, ‘No more!’ I’m, like, ‘Yeeeessssss! Fuck off!’ I didn’t even get the train home, I just floated.
"I don’t have disappointments, but I was gutted that I couldn’t get tickets for the gigs she did a few years ago. But I did get to see her first time around when she played Sunderland [on 1979’s Tour Of Life]. I missed the first couple of songs, cos I didn’t have a ticket – I was begging at the door, offering ten times the price. I sneaked in through the back door and got on the balcony, but the security threw us out.
"So I end up back at the front door, going, ‘Pleeeease…’ I finally managed to get a ticket off of somebody, and I saw three-quarters of the show. I had to walk home that night, all the way from Sunderland, which was 20-odd miles away. I don’t even remember walking home, I was that fucking happy."
Cronos was speaking with Dave Everley.
