"When I was a kid I grew up in a house with lots of classical music in it. My dad will still put the Messiah on at Christmas and that sort of thing. He’ll put it on that loudly that it will make his and Mum's house shake. I grew up thinking rock music seemed cool, but we never had any in the house. So I got into music at school basically.
Around the age of 9 or 10 I just knew that I wanted to play the drums but at school, they wouldn’t let me. So I had to learn the piano for a couple of years, which I did under great sufferance until eventually, I got into playing the drums. Since I’ve been about 12/13 there has always been a drum kit somewhere, I’ve always been into playing and really into playing in bands.
As I’ve got older, I have got more into recording and writing music as well. It’s just a thing that has always been there and it’s always sort of been my second thing. Since I became a comic, that’s kind of led my career obviously, but there has always been music for shows that I’ve written and all that sort of stuff.
I always think that musically I am a drummer, everything else has come from that. We’ve got this album out now, the band I’m in called the Fat Cops and I did produce a couple of those tunes - or did what I think amounts to producing; 'can we play it a little slower and that keyboard sound needs to sound like this' and that sort of thing, and then I mixed and mastered it.
Everything comes from being a drummer, the same way that everything else in my work life comes from being a comedian. I’m not an actor or a presenter, I’m a comedian who sometimes acts and presents and it’s the same with music, I’m a drummer who occasionally writes and produces stuff. I have a big home studio set up here and I’ve got a drum kit permanently plugged into the computer so If I want to write something I can just sit down and do it. I’ve got a mega multi-track thing with a sound card, I’ve also got a huge drum kit that is both open and closed mic’ed."