"Comeback? I only ever make comebacks, mate. I was making comebacks before my first single all those years ago."
You can call him the Liverpool Lip, you can call him ligger extraordinaire, you can even call him a cab, so long as you don't forget to call him a great songwriter, a great singer and a great guitarist. Pete Wylie has a brand new Mighty Wah! single, Heart As Big As Liverpool and a brand new Mighty Wah! album, Songs Of Strength & Heartbreak.
It's fair and reasonable to note that the '90s were not the decade of Pete Wylie. They began well enough with Infamy! Or How I Didn't Get Where I Am Today, a splendid album deservedly awarded four stars by Q magazine: "an unheralded gem," It trilled, little knowing the dark turn Wylle's life would take on November 11, 1991.
With a series of Christmas gigs arranged and a host of labels vying for his signature, the fence our hero was leaning on in Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool gave way and Pete Wylie tumbled for more than 20 feet, breaking his back in the process. Then he flipped over and his broken breast bone missed his heart by a centimetre, When he briefly came too, the fireman who rescued him asked, "What's your name? Wylie replied, "You should know my f*cking name" and slipped into unconsciousness again.
The fireman hadn't recognised one of Liverpool's greatest sons. He'd first surfaced in the late-'70s with Julian Cope and lan McCulloch as The Crucial 3, pioneers of Liverpool's second musical boom. By 1979, Cope and McCulloch had formed Teardrop Explodes and Echo & The Bunnymen respectively, while Wylie embarked upon Wah! whose name would change whenever their leader felt like it. "I've made a bunch of great records," declares Wylie. He's right: most of the time, Wah! Heat, who made two classic, 30,000 -selling singles Better Scream and Seven Minutes To Midnight (played to this very day by Steve Lamacq, although there were those who favoured Forget the Down! or Somesay) and one album, Nah! Poo! The Art Of Bluff in 1981.
Wah! Heat became Shambeko! Say Wah! who lasted for one single (but what a fabulous one it was) Remember and the compilation Wah! The Maverick Years 1981-1982. Shambeko! Say Wah! became just Wah! and the classic that was The Story Of The Blues reached Number 3 in early 1983. Pete Wylie became a pop star. He enjoyed that. However, record company difficulties (not for the first or last time) ensured there was no simultaneous album. Wah! became The Mighty Wah! and Come Back, John Peel's favourite Liverpool song, reached Number 20 in 1984, the year of the magnificent A Word To The Wise Guy album and another compilation, The Way We Wah! The Mighty Wah! became Pete Wylie and Sinful became another Top 20 single In 1986. The album of the same name was delayed and, despite it featuring the fabulous single Fourelevenfortyfour, the momentum was lost. Again. Pete Wylie became Pete Wylie & Wah! The Mongrel. The '90s began. Infamy! Or How I Didn't Get Where I Am Today didn't get its just desserts and then came the accident.
For four years, Wylie's body slowly healed itself. When, in 1995, he emerged blinking into the Merseyside glow, still collecting his sickness benefit, everything had changed. He had no deal, no management, no agent and no back catalogue in the shops. He did, however, have a massive debt to his bank and a reputation perched midway between Jay Gatsby and Peter Stringfellow. "If I'd died," he laments, "I'd probably have sold some records. People assume everything is going to be alright and that I'd just clock back on as a rock star, but it's not like that."
Instead, he returned to what he knew best (writing songs of course) and slowly things came together. Lovely Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's asked him to support her re-formed band ("The audience didn't have a clue who I was. Went down a storm.") and lovely James Brown wrote a lengthy Guardian Weekend cover piece about the wilderness years and the genius years.
Confidence restored, he met ex-Smith Mike Joyce at an Oasis gig in Manchester and asked him to drum for The Mighty Wah! and The Farm recommended lanky bassist Danny Lunt. The trio played 1996's unsigned band competition (and why not? They were unsigned) at In The City In Dublin and once more the labels began to queue up. Columbia won the race.
With the help of producers Mike Hedges, Steve Lironi and Peter Collins, The Mighty Wah! made Songs Of Strength & Heartbreak In London and Nashville. As if in homage to how great things were going, Wylie spent the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death in Gracelands, Memphis. For luck, he liberated some soil from the grave, some carpet from the living room and a branch from a tree.
Word of mouth was excellent and radio stations even took to playing a promo single version of Heart As Big As Liverpool. Wylie undertook two highly successful promo tours as the album was put back. Then, just like that, The Mighty Wah! were dropped: "I laughed me head off. Then I cried my eyes out. Then I went to a restaurant and put my dick in a chocolate cake. From Elvis to jobseeker in 24 hours..."
The sheer quality of Songs Of Strength & Heartbreak counted against its creator, 42 this year. "People liked the album, so they thought it must have been something to do with me. The barge pole is available for you and that's all. Then the rumours start... Last summer was a f*cking grim one. I'd always been told that this was my last chance and, although I never believed It, I was beginning to see what people meant." Truth is, there was nothing to tell.
Pete Wylie's decade horriblus is over. "The world wasn't ready for me in the second millennium. They are now." The Mighty Wah! were swiftly picked up by Castle, who released Heart As Big As Liverpool in mid-March and closely follow it with Songs Of Strength & Heartbreak.
It's a terrific record. Jim Horn, who's played on Pet Sounds and Thrlller is on it, but the songs and the all-out sweeping widescreen vision is all Wylie's. Heart As Big As Liverpool has already been played at Anfield "I want people to feel the way I feel when I hear my favourite records. I honestly think I'm getting better and better. The values I hold - quality songwriting mainly - will stand me in good stead. I'm going to be around for a long time."
Before the end of the year, Castle will have re-released most of the Wahl stuff and there'll be a proper best of, which they may yet call The Handy Wahl Hole. "People need somewhere to start, they need a Wylie primer," he explains "I hope for a bit of Justice," smiles Wylie. but I know justice don't come easy. Do you wanna know my ambition?" Oh yes, "To win both Best Newcomer and the Lifetime Achievement Awards at this year's Brits."
Pete Wylie: he's still got it. In every way.