Graham Massey

Graham Massey was a real catalyst for me in the fact that I went out and did my own stuff. After being in a band with the same people for ten years, and part of me thinking and quite liking the fact that I would always be in Iceland and with my cuddly family and friends, and going on tour with the Sugarcubes, that was enough. Then, musically, I was craving something that didn’t fit into all that, and I felt slightly criminal by wanting something even more than that. So the person I contacted in ’89 or ’90 was Graham Massey, when I called I shyly asked if he wanted to hear my demos and whenever I went over and visited he was always completely enthusiastic and paternal. He would show me his record collection and funnily enough we both had the same collections, one of Reykjavik and one of Manchester music - it was quite similar in certain ways. Whilst I was still touring with The Sugarcubes he would make me compilation cassettes of stuff and I would make him some too, but I have a feeling that his tapes, at that pint in my life, had more of an effect on me that mine had on his. We would do demos, and that was very important to me. I would write songs and then do stuff with Nellee Hooper later on and I would play this to Graham, and get his advice, and just know that he believed in me which was quite important to me.

David Toop Interview, 2002