Name - Basil Pieroni.

Date and Place of Birth - May 1963, Kilwinning, Scotland.

Instruments Played - Guitar, mandolin, learning piano.

Where Do You Live - South side of Glasgow.

Favourite Films - Dead Man, The Big Lebowski, Gregory's Girl, Imitation Of Life, Now Voyager, Ronan, Fitzcarraldo, The Bicylce Thieves, Bob Le Flambeur, Porco Rosso, Young Frankenstein, Rude Boy.

Favourite Books - Anything by Kinky Friedman, Andrew O'Hagan, John Niven, Alan Bennett, Annie Proulx, Alan Sillitoe, John Steinbeck, Alasdair Gray, Peter Guralnick, Redmond O'Hanlon, Captain W E Johns. Some Iain Banks. The 33 1/3 series.

Favourite Coronation Street Character - Soaps? These days - no thanks. But from when I did, Bet Lynch.

Favourite Records - The Clash's first album - I think of my life as pre-Clash and post-Clash: the mysterious (to me) themes of that record opened my mind to a world of possibilities that until then existed outside my contemplation. A very dangerous record for a fourteen-year-old to listen to.

That Man Is Forward by Rico Rodriguez - an instrumental ska record released on Two-Tone that includes the magnificent playing of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. I like to think I'm the only person in the world who owns this record.

Gram Parson's GP/Grievous Angel and Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits And Some That Will Be - when my kids were little I had to work away from home for weeks at a time and I used to drive down to Bedford with tears in my eyes and an ache in my heart listening to these two records on repeat. I had them on cassette and when I finally got around to getting Willie Nelson's GHASTWB on CD Don't Get Around Much Anymore was missing. I went on stage to Don't Get Around Much Anymore for my first solo show (in support of an interim Butcher Boy outing that John played billed as The Bumble Bee - the climax of which was the release of a jar of bees into the audience) and played along with Willie over the end of the song. The rumour starts here: I've played with Willie Nelson.

Bonnie Prince Billy's The Letting Go - what's not to like?

Favourite Flavour Of Crisp - Worcester Sauce flavoured Wheat Crunchies or Spicy Nik Naks.

Favourite Food - Anchovy Spaghetti (melt tinned anchovies in a low heat pan until they dissolve, add toasted pine nuts, a few chopped capers, green olives, garlic, parsley, lots of olive oil and black pepper, gently cook on that low heat for ten minutes then mix into cooked spaghetti). Great cold too. Add chopped cherry tomatoes for a bit of variation. Omit the anchovies and add a dash of salt for veggies.

Favourite Place To Eat - Home or Asia Style on St George's Road in Glasgow, although eating at Asia Style is like eating at home.

Favourite Drink - Boiled water, Kir Royale, green tea, malt whisky (Bowmore for the summer, Laphroig and Talisker for cold wet days, Balvenie, Glenmorangie, Highland Park, Glen Livid at any other time), espresso with a shot of Jamiesons.

Greatest Embarrassment - That's what nightmares are for.

First Job - Apprentice plater/welder, McCarthy Construction, Ardrossan 1979-1981. Saved from a life of hard drinking and cold feet by The Decline Of The British Industry (copyright M Thatcher).

First Crush - Miss O'Hagan my primary five teacher at St Mary's in Irvine. She wore crazy hexagonal gold-rimmed glasses and the whole class loved her so much that we successfully petitioned to have her for primary six as well. We were cute kids...

First Record Bought - Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and the Comets on cassette was the first music I bought myself. The first record I remember ewas Mouldy Old Dough, a novelty hit by Lieutenant Pigeon in 1972. Our dad bought it for us kids to go with the old valve-powered Dansette that our Uncle Martin gave us. The record player went up in flames due to overheating valves a week later. I think it was suicide.

Previous Bands - Various murderous attempts at punk rock mostly. The occasional country band. I'll let the guilty go unnamed.

When Did You Last Cry - Watching Imitation Of Life a couple of months ago - I sobbed pretty much throughout the entire movie.

What Books Are You Reading At The Moment - Trying to start Annie Proulx's latest collection of short stories. Also have a couple of Toni Morrison books to start. Last book I read was Charlie Brooker's Dawn of the Dumb - a really great Christmas present for your aspiring sociopath.

What Would Be Your Ideal Holiday - A couple of weeks at home with my partner, but with better weather.

What Do You Wear Around The House - My normal everyday clothes. I'll tell you what I would never wear - a fucking leisure suit. I would however like to dress like Basil Rathbone playing Sherlock Holmes - silk smoking jacket over a tweed suit, a meerschaum pipe full of opium and a deerstalker hat.

Who Would You Least Like To Be Stuck In A Lift With - Any boring, opinionated, right-wing, racist Daily Mail reader.

Have You Ever Seen A Ghost - We used to hold seances in a blacked-out lap-timber garage when I was a kid and scare the living shit out of each other. So ghosts are better left to the children.

What Have You Got In Your Pockets - Left pocket - paper hankie, right pocket - loose change and wear plugs, back left pocket - four nicely worn white sharkfin plectrums, back right - empty, shirt left pocket - a single Clydesdale Bank ten pound note, shirt right pocket - mobile phone.

*