King Rocker

What a great film! On a purely personal level, I miss the Nightingales. They are so open and friendly. When you see them, you sit down next to them in the pub and carry on talking as though there has been no gap between now and the last time you saw them. They are also a gracious band. I remember the first time I supported them, I think in 2014, at The Prince Albert in Brighton. Robert Lloyd chatted to me about The Lost Women of Rock Music, which he said he had read, and the whole band watched my set. What headline band does that? Not very many, I can assure you. I've still got some of their earliest vinyl releases. I've grown up with them, like a lot of other people, and always delighted in their lack of fame (a bit mean!), because they belonged to me (and people like me, of course).

Favourite bits of the film? Robert's constant surprise at everything... and the fact that he was once a food reviewer for a men's magazine... and Stewart Lee's comparison of Fliss Kitson's taxidermy activities to the preservation of old and worn out things (like, ahem, The Nightingales)... Samira Ahmed's voicing of Robert's voice as he talked through the band (absolutely hilarious, and what a sport she is!)... Gina Birch and Robert's duet at the end. The whole heart and soul of being in a band was there: not the rock'n'roll excess, but the sitting in curry houses, the bantz, the casual wandering about in a  rehearsal room with a bunch of people that know each other really well and that are completely relaxed in each other's company, the dedication to a common cause that can't be explained. The No Money.

The whole thing. 

Why live your life like that? Why on earth not, thinks Robert.