What Helen Heard: A chat with Edwyn Collins

Oct 30 2009 By Helen Clarke

This week I had the honour of talking to one of my heroes – Edwyn Collins. I've seen him live a few times since he suffered two massive brain haemorrhages nearly five years ago, and his passion and gratitude never fails to move me.

But after speaking to him and his wife Grace, from their hotel room in Orkney, I came away grinning like a Cheshire cat. Their humour, positive outlook and adoration of each other is infectious. Grace told me they come as a 'double act' now, and Edwyn confirmed this by interrupting, in his very Scottish but still slow and stuttered, speech, with sarcastic comments and little jokes.

It's easy to let his recent experiences overshadow what a great band Orange Juice were. As pioneers of the 80s indie scene, their funk fused guitars and Edwyn's inimitable vocals – one thing which remains unaffected by his illness – carved the way for countless bands after them. If you don't believe me, whack Rip It Up or Love Sick on, nice and loud...

On October 21 I went to see a very pregnant Cerys Matthews at the Union Chapel. It was the perfect venue for her – she's really reigned her voice in, and the out of control yelps that could sometimes grate, back in her Catatonia days, have given way to a beautiful, husky vocal.

She used the night to tell the story of her career to date, starting off with the old Welsh and Irish folk songs she used to sing in her bedroom, moving on to her indie days, her years living in Nashville and right up to her new album Don't Look Down.

We were even treated to a lovely version of Road Rage ("This was a song that was especially kind to us," she purred) which she sang sitting down, but waved her arms all over the place, with that familiar cheeky glint in her eyes.

There was a great version of Chardonnay, from her first solo album Cock-a-Hoop, but for me the highlight was her first encore song, a cover of Love Me Tender that was just beautiful and had me in floods.

On Friday (October 23) I saw Juliette Lewis at Shepherd's Bush Empire. The woman is completely off her rocker! She wore a feathery outfit with a red vail and went crazy for the whole gig. She dropped the scientology and her kooky on-screen persona and was an out and out rock god. It's just a shame her songs don't quite match up...