Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh, the Leith born contemporary Scottish novelist rose to international prominence and acclaim in the early 90’s with his seminal book “Trainspotting” yet, it is perhaps less known that he moved from Edinburgh to London in 1978 and like many Factory friends became immersed in the punk scene there, playing guitar in both The Public Lice and Stairway 13.

Having written 8 books since he first broke onto the literary scene, his novels have seen him craft his unique, underground and abrasive style as he’s known for writing in his native Edinburgh dialect and concentrating on issues of Scottish and working class identity,

I’ve just got enough to do what I want to do

Currently residing in Dublin, Irvine describes himself nowadays as "not so much middle-class as upper-class” and “very much a gentleman of leisure”. Here he talks to Clash exclusively on his lifestyle, his relationship to Factory and The Hacienda and the much anticipated upcoming Trainspotting prequel?

“So what’s all this about being a gentleman of leisure? What sort of difference is there from your background in Scotland to how you live now?”

“It’s kind of like being on the dole but with money. It’s good. I’m in Dublin, mostly Dublin and Miami, kind of mixing it up. It’s better with the money, I’ve just got enough to do what I want to do and live the kind of life I always wanted to. Instead of getting up and worry about paying the bills and getting a better job, I don’t regard it as a job.”

“What sort of influence did Factory and The Hacienda have on you?”

“A very big one. I mean places like the Hacienda, Back to Basics and places like Pure in Edinburgh. Started off at Pure and expanded out to going round the country. Eventually we started coming to Hacienda a lot, every week because we liked it, liked Factory and the history of it. I was a big Factory head from the start. I remember the first two weeks when A Certain Ratio’s Factory album was brought out, that was the sort of process for me. We met a lot of people that were making great stuff and it kind of inspired me to do something, to do stuff as well. Pal of mine who was in Edinburgh, Kevin Williamson started a club, would do readings and poetry readings, kind of an open mic thing. So we’re all creative. People went raving but also got people thinking about do I really want to go back to that shitty job.

“What made you get involved in the event today?"

“Well I think because of the story basically had to. I came across from the Edinburgh Film Festival, I’ve got a documentary in the film festival and I realised I said I would do this but I then realised I got the wrong day. The film was screening, actually screening now. It’s great. It’s nice to get away from that but hopefully get to see the film next week.”

“How did you get to know Tony Wilson?”

I kind of warmed of him because of that

“The first time I met him was at the Hacienda, it was like the whole stuff was kicking off. Before I knew who he was, I remember when he was talking about proper situations to a couple of wee guys, the thing that was interesting was this connection, he never talked down to them, he didn’t sugar coat, just gave the whole spiel. I kind of warmed of him because of that, he stood out like a sore thumb but he was very incredibly comfortable in his own skin even if it made other people uncomfortable.

“When I started writing and Trainspotting came out, he was one of the first people that was really into it and very encouraging. When I released Marabou Stork Nightmares, he put on a party for me in Newcastle and I remember this moment I got this big crowd in the Hacienda and I said put your hands together for Tony Wilson, Mr Manchester, organiser, the whole place went deathly quiet. That sums him up.

Eventually he became loved by Manchester, he loved the city so much. We kept in touch always sent me demos of new good bands, even if I didn’t like it, his enthusiasm meant had to give it a second or third listen. He had me on a show, he was the man on the telly, he’s so famous for that here about being the telly, yet in other parts of Britain cos he was on Granada in the North West it’s strange cos they don’t really know him as this TV guy?"

“I’ve heard that you’re writing a prequel to Trainspotting to com out next year, how did that come about?”

“I found some stuff that was Trainspotting material and it was fully realised so I realised that a lot of the earlier part to it was quite interesting. Trainspotting the book was really the middle chunk of the story with an ending tagged to finish it. The problem is started on the ending the final third is now rendered obsolete basically it doesn’t finish, the middle third goes on and on. There’s a lot of good stuff in it but its obsolete now. The first part it shows when they became and what was going on, all the different circumstances, backgrounds, dispositions and all that. It’s kind of just trying to get that together which I find interesting."

By Domino Marte