Credit: Found On Internet

Cast your mind back to 2003 and you might remember a bright-eyed, bushy-haired Irish minstrel who went by the name of Simple Kid.

Hailed as a “post-modern Bob Dylan” and “the British answer to Beck,” thanks to lo-fi feet shuffler Truck On and anti-anthem Average Man, he had it all before him.

Or not, as it happens. The demise of record label 2M, to which he was signed, and a gnawing sense of disillusionment saw him quit music and head for a job at his local video shop.

Turns out watching films all day isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and thank goodness for that, because Simple Kid is back with new album SK2 – a record that grows on you with a crooked smile.

Music Towers caught up with Simp at the tail end of his UK tour to find out if it really is good to be back.

Hello Simple Kid, where do we find you?

“Driving in the back of a transit van, it’s that glamorous.”

What are you doing in the back of the van then eh?

“Up the front they are listening to some arcane old BBC comedy which I can’t really make out so I was just really fazing out.”

How has the tour gone then?

“It’s been really good. Eating crap food, drinking too much and playing gigs so I’m feeling ill all day then getting a brief respite for two hours in the evening.”

What’s the crowd response to the new material been like?

“When I was busy doing very little people seem to have been passing the first record around or something because there is a lot more excitement at gigs than when I left.  Scotland has been pretty amazing, and that’s always been the way, Manchester too. There has been a load of heckling which is always good for me.

“When I was younger I used to play up to all it and make everything sound great but I’ve realised people know what’s really going on now. I was watching Totally Boy Band and I was hiding behind the duvet thinking ‘Jesus this is all too familiar’ and they are a boy band so it was quite scary. Awesome television, though.”