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As a decade the 1980's often left a lot to be desired. Rampant Thatcherism, mass unemployment, the miner's strike, the virtual castration of the Trade Union movement and the emergence of crap Aussie soaps. In sharp contrast when the charts weren't filled with ultra naff novelty records and New Romantic foppery, the gloom was occasionally lifted by some sterling post punk pop music. Leading the pack were some of the finest and at times most underrated bands Britain has ever produced Echo And The Bunnymen, the emergence of The Cure as an individual musical force. The Teardrop Explodes, The Fall reaching their majestic peak. The list is a personal and ultimately endless one.

One band at the vanguard at this new found pop dream were THE ICICLE WORKS. A big open hearted trailblazing rollercoaster of a pop band fronted by the ebullient Mc Nabb. As the 80's closed and the nineties began, so ended the story of The Icicle Works. In 93' McNabb returned with the criminally ignored "Truth and Beauty" album, before surprising everyone, himself included, by teaming up with Neil Young's legendary rhythm section the mighty Crazy Horse, on 1994's "Head Like a Rock" LP, returning him firmly back into the limelight. He continues to make some of the best music of his career on his new LP, the effortlessly impressive "Merseybeat". So how does a lad from Liverpool finally come to make an LP with his boyhood heroes? Could this Roy of the Rovers scenario not have the potential for disaster McNabb takes up the story. "Well I was shitting myself, they (Crazy Horse) hadn't heard anything I'd done, the only reason they agreed to do it was because they weren't doing anything else, and we were a bit cheeky and nobody had ever approached them before and the album was going to be co-produced by me and a guy called John Porter, an English guy who lives in Los Angeles who hangs out with all these muso's and they knew him, so they trusted him, so they didn't think that they were gonna' get some idiot who was not in the same ball park as they were. When we got over there it was a case of on the Monday morning their gear pulled up, unloaded and they walked in, then I came in after they did and just had to walk into the studio" Were you at all nervous about the situation? Oh yeah, if you can imagine the heaviest job interview that you've ever been to and multiply it by a hundred, that's were it was at, and of course there was a million things running through my mind, like what if they don't like the songs, what if they think I'm just a half asset Neil Young impersonator from England, but you know, you've got to be grown up about these things and just go for it, so I just barnstormed in there put a smile on my face and tried to be cool and introduce myself to everyone. Then it was a case of alright Ian what have you got for us? I couldn't even go to the control room and stick on a dead impressive loud demo of a new song because I hadn't done any. So I sat down in the middle of the floor and crossed my legs with the acoustic and played them a song and they all stood round me in a semi circle with their arms folded. I would imagine that would be a fairly intimidating experience. "It was but we all get the breaks at some point and that was clearly mine and you've got to keep your chin up and you've got to handle it. I was very proud of myself, that I had the bollocks to do it". Were you pleased with the results? 'Yeah, I was made up it came out better than I ever imagined, it was as good as it could've been. I wrote those songs knowing that they were gonna play them. The thing with Crazy Horse is that they have their own style and if they stray outside of it, it all gets a bit embarrassing, like it did in the eighties with Young when they started doing all that electro stuff. It was so weird watching Neil Young parading around doing all this techno shite." The album's sound is very exuberant, expansive even, I'm thinking in particular, songs like "Fire Inside my Soul" and "Prepared To Dream" these are larger than life songs. "It was very important to me with 'Fire Inside My Soul" with a title like that it could've come over a bit po faced but I just wanted to say "Look this is me playing with Crazy Horse this is the first track on my album. This is what I've done to get here and here we go" I. I know that people who didn't give a fuck about me, would want to hear at least one track I did with Crazy Horse even if it was just for a giggle. "Prepared To Dream" that's a similar thing, that was me saying. "I've done this you can do it too and never give up", you know all the usual shit that I always say, I'm not really saying anything new here. The whole thing was a realisation of a dream and it was intense and very draining. When it all wound down I was quite relieved because it was hard going. They're very demanding but it was a great experience". You played Glastonbury with them, was there ever an option of doing a full tour to follow the record? "The Glastonbury festival was two weeks before the album came out so we wanted them over for that. Needless to say it was very expensive. When the album came out the real trick would've been to bring them over and do some good sized halls and do a big show where everybody knew the material. There was a couple of problems though. First of all financially it was a bit dramatic, secondly, I had trouble getting an hour and a half out of them because we could only play a certain amount of my songs because only a certain amount of my songs fitted into their style, so I couldn't do a comprehensive McNabb show, It would've been great if they could have come back and done a bit more we were rehearsing in Liverpool for five days then straight to a show in Manchester, then two shows in London then onto Glastonbury it was just knackering!. No time to party and by the time they'd gone I had no energy to party. It was a bit like going to Vietnam and not getting shot." Having worked with your heroes is there anyone else, given the choice, you would like to work with? 'God.... Where do you want to start?. I'm such a big fan of music there's just so many I'd love to work with, but people were saying to me "What are you going to do with the next album? Are you gonna get Steely Dan to reform, are you gonna get Little Feat", but I was saying Whoah! Hang on a minute here. I am not the guy who plays with people more famous than me". This cannot be a precedent it was just a one off thing. Did that worry you at all then, that people would think that? "It was in the back of my mind. That album got me back in the top 40 and it really worked. but I wanted to be self sufficient, I wanted to put together a new band, something that was mine and I could go out and tour with. I wanted the same rhythm section on the whole album, then I wanted to go out and tour with them which is what we've done". So the new band is a permanent fixture then? "I'd like to think so, it's the best band I've had possibly ever, it's difficult for me, I mean I'm living in this time now where Radio 1 wont play my records. The Radio 1 playlist people, I don't think there's anyone over the age of 25. The thing that we are lacking in this country and it's really scary, you've got Radio 1 who have got rid of all the old guys I'm 35 and I used to listen to Bob Harris and Johnnie Walker because they used to play the music I was interested in. I'm not interested in hearing twenty indie albums. I'd like to hear a couple but I want to hear what Jackson Browne's doing! Where does Paul Westerberg get his music heard in this country? Where can you hear a High Llamas track? You couldn't hear an Edwyn Collins track until he had that freak hit. My albums gone in the chart this week at number 30 which I think is pretty good, I haven't had any airplay or television whatsoever". Does that piss you off then? "Yeah! Damn right it does. There's a hell of a lot of artists that I buy records by that I know I'm not gonna hear those records unless I go out and buy them. Most people walk into HMV and buy whatever is racked up at the front of the store, they don't go in the back and start looking for obscure Tom Waits albums. So there's a lot of records I'd be keen on buying but I never get to hear them anywhere". That's the whole marketing thing isn't it?. If something doesn't immediately fit in a little pigeon hole then there's no place for it. "You see me and you are now supposed to be listening to Simply Red, Tina Turner, Phil Collins you can laugh, but it's true, that's what they want you to listen to. The thing is, if you're a little bit adventurous now you'll have bought the Oasis album, that's the alternative album everybody can own. Again by now you and me are supposed to be married with two kids and a nice car listening to the music people of that age and situation are supposed to be into. You're not supposed to be into Julian Cope, you're supposed to have grown out of that now. Beyond that you're supposed to buy the albums you had when you were at school on CD. It's really terrible". So of the contemporary scene at the moment, who are you listening to? "I buy and listen to as much as I can. I love The High Llamas, I loved the last Teenage Fanclub album, I battered into that. I loved the Springsteen album, It took me about 10 listens, I might have to say I think it's his strangest record. The reason for that is that the story telling is just superlative, it just sounds like you're in the guys living room. So there you go, I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen. I'd like to say I've been murdering the Cast album, I think the singles okay. but the rest of its shite. Oasis are alright I don't think they're fantastic but they're pretty good. They've been incredibly lucky, right place right time, I'm sure they would say they planned it from the beginning." What you do though is more of a traditional singer/songwriter/storyteller type of thing. "There's mates of mine in similar, slightly better slightly worse situations than me. For instance I'm working with Mike Scott on his new album. I loved The Waterboys and I really liked his last LP. That's what it's about for me. It's a 40 watt lightbulb and a guitar. But where are you going to hear him when he puts his record out. There's another mate Gary Clarke who had a band King L they made a fantastic album last year and they've just been dropped. These are really talented guys, Great writers great performers and they've just been laid off. What are you supposed to do? Are you supposed to say "There's no place for me, fuck it", and give up. You can't do that we've been doing this shit all our lives". So How does the new record compare to what you've done in the past? "Every artist you speak to is going to say the new LP is better than the last one. There would be no point in doing this interview otherwise. The great judge of art or music is time, I'm not going to try to recreate the vibe I got on the last album. "Head Like a Rock" was me playing with legends. This one is me playing with my band. I think its substantially mellower. Stylistically it's very diverse, It's the best I can do, most of my stuff, you can tell where I've got it from but I try to put so much of me into it that it doesn't matter." Does it ever bother you, or are you at all interested in critics and the opinions of the music press?. "Oh God Yeah... Anyone saying "Oh no man it doesn't mean anything", Its a lot of bullshit!. If I get a good review, I think very good, file it away and forget about it. When I get a bad one it really sticks in my mind. There's the usual ones who wouldn't like me no matter what I did. Adam Sweeting in the Guardian suggested I should jump in the bath with my guitar still plugged in. But its okay you're never gonna like anything I do anyway no matter what". What can we expect from the live show you're doing now? "People say to me (imitates voice of whining music fan) "Oh I'll come and see you but are you only gonna play new stuff?" and I'm like fuck off. I only play stuff I wanna play. I don't understand why Weller doesn't play old stuff. What's his problem with that material, I mean Neil Young opens up with "Mr. Saul" if its a good song, its a good song, that's it!" Talking to you now you're obviously still very passionate about music and what you do. "Well I have to be, if I wasn't this passionate about it I very much doubt I would still be in the business. People have tried to kick me in the nuts from day one. Its like "...go away we don't like you", my attitude is fuck off". Just because someone doesn't like me I'm supposed to not be here, well, I don't like you, you shouldn't be here so fuck you:' After the dissolution of the Icicle Works was that a time for contemplating your next move, were you left wondering what you were gonna do next?. "You bet, oh yeah!, but I was determined. I think I'm good you know and as long as I think I'm good then I can do it. You've just got to believe in yourself, that is what this life is all about. Well it would be difficult to disagree with such sentiments as those. We continue to talk way over our allotted interview time to the point where its obvious that as far as music is concerned we're a couple of trainspotting anoraks. In conversation with Ian McNabb its easy to see why his music has an open hearted passion and warmth to it. He's a fan just like the rest of us. GRAHAM TILER