Andy Lewis

What is your favourite word?
Cribbins

Tell us some of your favourite places.
The bath, Ireland, the Lake District and the mad record shop of East Finchley.

What does Spearmint mean to you?
Long lasting freshness.

Do you collect anything?
Records, musical instruments, books and debts.

How do you indulge yourself?
Long hot baths early in the morning.

Tell us some of your favourite films.
Withnail and I, Almost Famous, A Clockwork Orange, The Lavender Hill Mob, Get Carter, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, The Sound Barrier, Breaking Glass, Take It Or Leave It, Party Party.

Who would play you in a movie of your life?
Dustin Hoffman.

What annoys you?
Almost everything, but especially Saturday morning kid's TV- too loud!

What would you like to happen over the next year?
All the various musical projects I'm involved with to be both critically and commercially successful - Spearmint have had many critical successes, and it's about time they had a commercial one too.

What is your ritual before going onstage?
A snooze, a wash, checking Wrigley's the cuddly cat is still atop my Marshall stack, and making sure my top doesn't clash with Simon's.

Which are your favourite Spearmint songs?
Vivian, Sweeping The Nation, Left Alone Among The Living, Howling Christmas, Go, Julie Christie!, I Can't Sleep, Don't Get Me Started, It Will End, A Week Away, A Leopard (a new one we're working on at the moment).

Tell me a secret about another band member.
Ronan knows all the words to "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash, and does an excellent version of it in Karaoke bars.

What did you want to be when you were young?
A pilot.

Which songs would you like to play more live?
Of Spearmint's...This Is A Souvenir, Funny How you Know, Vivian; I'd also love to break with a long-held Spearmint tradition, and do the odd cover version- maybe Oliver's Army or This Is Planet Earth (Now do you see why we don't do covers? - Shirl).

Tell me a story about being in Spearmint.
The eve of my birthday in 2002- location Dusseldorf, Germany. After many glasses of Jagermeister, Jeff did his very best bat impression from the rafters of our hotel room. The result- one injured driver and my birthday treat of being initiated to the delights of Autobahn driving all the way to Munich.

What is your favourite smell?
The unique aroma of a newly opened box of electronic equipment (Does this scare you? Cos it scares us... - Shirl).

Tell us some of your favourite books.
Most of London author Christopher Fowler's (especially "Darkest Day" and "Psychoville"), Jasper Fforde's "The Eyre Affair", "Ride Out The Storm" by John Harris, "Rumours Of A Hurricane" by Tim Lott, anything by Christopher Brookmyre (I bet even his shopping lists have a lot of wonderful Scottish slang and a substantial body count), "The Ha Ha" by Jennifer Dawson and John Wyndham's apocalyptic classics, "The Kraken Wakes" and "The Day Of The Triffids".

What is your least favourite thing about being in a band?
Sharing rooms (or even worse, beds) in dodgy hotels.

Which songs make you cry?
"River Man" by Nick Drake, "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks, "The Drifter" by Ray Pollard (Now you're talking my kind of linguini!!! - Shirl) and "Jerusalem".

What is your favourite city?
St. Albans.

Tell us some of your favourite records.
Albums- "Where Am I going" by Dusty Springfield, "Till The Band Comes In" by Scott Walker, "World Shut Your Mouth" by Julian Cope, "Soul On Top" by James Brown, "The Soft Bulletin" by The Flaming Lips, "Our Favourite Shop" by The Style Council, "Odessey And Oracle" by The Zombies, "A Typical Scorpio" by Monty, "Polnareff's" by Michel Polnareff, the Kent soul compilation "Right Back Where We Started From". Singles- "Outdoor Miner" by Wire, "A Man Without A Face" by The Chants, "Colour Him Father" by The Winstons, "Penny Lane" by The Beatles, "This Is How It Feels" by Inspiral Carpets, "Eye On The Gold Chain" by Ugly Duckling, "Failure" by Skinny, "Stronger" by Contempo, "Calleth You Cometh I" by The Ark.

What is your favourite song on the new album, and why?
It's got to be "My Missing Days"- because the whole turned out considerably greater than the sum of its parts.

What is your favourite Spearmint catch-phrase?
A toss-up between "Resist The Urge" and "We really ought to be cutting down on this sort of thing..."

Have you any hobbies?
My life is a hobby.

What are the best things in life?
Michelle, Nathan, Bert and soul.

What is your favourite item of clothing? The "Parka of Doom"
it's been with me on every tour, and comes in very handy for impromptu naps and keeping out the cold in dodgy hotels.

Tell me about a low-point you had during the band's career.
Having to hire, and then drive, a van in Sweden when Jeff's bus broke down - again.

What is your favourite thing about being in a band?
Sharing rooms (or better still, beds) in dodgy hotels.

Where are you from originally?
Kendal in the Lake District-where I was born; Barnet- where I first discovered the Tube and red buses, and Watford- where I first discovered London as a teenager.

What do you like about living in London?
It's easy to get to other places from London.

3 words to describe yourself.
Could do better

Recommend some great bands to us.
Jinrai, The Detroit City Council, The Vessels, The Trashmonkeys, The Caesars (or Caesars Palace as they were when I first encountered them in Sweden), Polyphonic Spree.

Choose 3 slow songs to smooch to.
"Stoned Out Of My Mind" by The Chi-Lites, "Son Of A Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield and "Somethin' Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra (and absolutely NOT by Robbie and Nicole!)

What is your favourite Spearmint lyric, and why?
"Where'd you meet yourself, Shirley", because I've never been satisfied with his answer.

What is your favourite Spearmint album and why?
A Week Away- because I was still just a fan then (and I'm still a fan now!)

Tell us about your DJ'ing.
I do a lot of it, in places all over the world...Italy, Japan, Austria, Germany, Lincoln...I suppose it's what I'm best known for doing, and it comes as a surprise to some people when they discover I can actually play a musical instrument! Just as well I can, cos I can't mix or scratch...

What about your solo records?
I make solo records for Acid Jazz- I'm doing an album at the moment, and have recently released a track on their compilation "New Testament Of Funk Vol. 4", and a couple of singles, "One By One" and "Alive In My Heart". I was also in a band called Pimlico during the heady days of Brit Pop, who made three EP's and an album for Vinyl Japan, and may well record another...

Anything else to declare?
I saw a mouse going clip clippety-clop on the stair.