MELODY MAKER April 13 1991

There's a hint of annoyance in the voice bubbling down the phone. PETE WYLIE reckons that the Maker's been misrepresenting his mates, and he's keen to set the record straight.

"The Farm are by no means 'ordinary blokes'" he insists. "The way they make people feel is special - and no-one plays guitar like Keith Mullen. He's as unique as Chuck Berry or Hendrix!"

Wylie's had plenty of opportunities to hear his guitar hero lately. After he'd been special guest on The Farm's tour last year, Pete and the band went straight into the studio to record the old Wylie hit they'd performed together each night on stage during the tour. And now "Sinful" is out as a single, marking the end of a long period out of the spotlight for Wylie.

"I spent a lot of time in the clubs," replies Wylie, when asked about his recent whereabouts. "The club scene in the past four years has been the best scene I've ever known - better than Liverpool 10 years ago, better than punk - so I was going out and meeting a lot of great people, hearing a lot of great music, and sorting my brain out.

"We used to be in these clubs where they'd be playing (the original) 'Sinful' and people didn't know I'd made it. It was the same thing on the Farm tour - 16 and 17-year-old kids who didn't know who The Farm were wheeling on."

The single works just fine though - a tough, bold song turned into hard, effective dance music. But it'll surprise Farm followers. "It doesn't sound like anything else they're doing," agrees Pete, "and it doesn't sound like anything on my LP." And no, he doesn't see any shame to revisiting an old success. "You don't moan at orchestras for playing Beethoven's Fifth. You don't mind that 'On The Road' has been reprinted!"

It's no great surprise to discover that club culture suited Wylie, after all his reputation as a party animal is legendary.

"I don't think it's all false," he confesses, "but I don't think it's all true either. It's just that I talk and shout a lot more than other people. I used to go out with Matt Johnson from The The a bit, and he thought it was a funny thing that he'd be out as much as I was, but I'd be the one getting in all the papers! I think it has a lot to do with me gob. But I don't see anything wrong with partying - my health is fine and always was. People spent two years going on about how all I did was party - then suddenly when people aren't being told that I'm doing it anymore, it's suddenly cool to do that and everybody's going 'Oh, I've been out all week man.'"

His enthusiasm for music rekindled by the Manc phenomenon, Pete began recording again last year.

"I did the Big Hard Excellent Fish single (last year's indie hit "Imperfect List"). I wrote it, I told Josie (Jones) to do the talking, and I played all the stuff on it. That was one of the biggest buzzes, doing something that people wouldn't expect you to be capable of. I did 'Grim Up North' with the KLF, sung a track on Screaming Target's LP and worked on my own LP at the same time."

That album, due sometime in summer, features contributions from a host of North-West heroes - but Wylie refutes any suggestion of a contrived bid for hipness by association.

"Gary and Paul of the Mondays are on one track on my LP just because we were going to go out together one night. They came down to the studio, heard the track and said they wanted to play on it. I did half the LP with the KLF, but we started that in January last year, and it's just a coincidence that they've become this chart-smashing band. People can look at it cynically if they want to, but it really was just a mates thing."

Wylie will soon be unveiling a new, as yet unnamed, collection of workmates. "There's going to be a new Wah!," announces the man who fronted Wah! Heat, The Mighty Wah! and numerous other variations on the theme in the Seventies and early Eighties.

"I'm not sure of the new name yet. But there will be a Wah! single in April or May, and we'll be playing live in the summer.

"After doing the Farm tour, I can't believe that I stopped doing gigs. I really enjoyed being onstage, travelling around having a laugh with those people.

"And I am good onstage - I don't mean that arrogantly, but it's something that I do easily and that I enjoy doing. I think that to start off it'll be one or two low-key one-off things, and then by the end of the year we'll be going for the full rattling effect."

Which leaves just one crucial question to be answered. Why does the sleeve of 'Sinful' feature the dedication "To Kenny Dalglish"?

"Because he meant a lot to me," sighs Pete, "and it's siful and tragic that he's gone. But I saw him on TV the other week and he was laughing, which had never been seen! No, I wouldn't like the job. Much as I'd love the free tickets."

"Sinful" is out now on Siren.

DAVE JENNINGS