Describe your time with The Wedding Present in five words:

Better than a proper job.

Tell us exactly why you left The Wedding Present?

I did not ever leave the band. We stopped touring in 1996 (or was it 1997?) as David wanted to do Cinerama for a while. I was pretty surprised to get an email from him last year saying that he had finished a Cinerama record, but wanted to release it using The Wedding Present name. I told him that as I was still a member of The Wedding Present and had had nothing to do with the making of this record , that he should not use the name. Similarly, if a band comprises entirely Cinerama people , it should not be called The Wedding Present. I guess he had decided that The Wedding Present was a far more saleable name than Cinerama so he went ahead anyway.

In the first few months after leaving The Wedding Present, what aspects of being in the group, if any, did you miss the most?

The free toast at Riverside Rehearsal Studios.

Any regrets? Do you sometimes wish that you were still involved?

Yes, most definitely. As I told David last year, I was looking forward to being involved in a proper re-union tour at some point, but that won’t be happening now. It’s a shame, because having spoken to a few former members (in the light of David’s solo ‘re-union’) we could have got a few familiar faces together.

Do you have any song, or performance that you consider to be your defining moment with The Wedding Present?

Recording Seamonsters.

Do you have a favourite Wedding Present record that (a) you played on, and (b) you didn’t play on?

(a) Seamonsters, (b) Once More

The thought of which venue/festival performance sends a shiver down your spine?

Every festival that we ever did. They were all terrifying ’cos we never took a monitor engineer with us, so the sound onstage was always dreadful. I’d always spend the first song trying hard to concentrate on playing whilst trying hard to ignore the imaginatively mixed and blisteringly loud racket coming out of the speaker just two feet from my head.

Tell us something that not many people know about David Gedge?

You’re just trying to cause trouble, aren’t you?

Have you seen The Wedding Present or Cinerama since leaving the band?

Yes, I saw Cinerama in Newcastle a few years ago.

What is your relationship with David Gedge like now, and would you consider re-joining The Wedding Present?

I think I have covered that.

What are you doing now?

I’m currently tour managing Slint, we were in Washington D.C. last night, and tomorrow is the first of three nights in Chicago. We’re driving past Cleveland now, and it’s raining. I’ve been tour managing since 1998, which is a lot of fun. Musically Keith Gregory and I recorded two Cha Cha Cohen albums, I’ve played on a Beachbuggy album, and did some solo sample-based nonsense under the name Blokker, and plan to record some songs with some very old friends in a band called The Sinister Cleaners.

Have you got a box of ‘TWP Stuff’ in the loft? Tell us what’s in it?

Yes I do. Some of the hit parade 7”s – unfortunately slightly damp – much to the disgust of my girlfriend Debby, who (a) used to work in a record shop, and (b) used to be a fan of the band – she also played second drum kit in The Wedding Present on a U.S. tour in 1997.

Simon Smith Specific Questions:

What bands are you involved with now in a management capacity?

It’s tour managing – a big difference – no cigars, fur coats or expensive watches! – but, Mogwai, Burning Brides, Groop Dogdrill, Cornelius, Fugazi, Emiliana Torrini, Super Furry Animals, and now Slint.

What does Tour Management involve?

In the words of Stuart Braithwaite, I’m ‘an overpaid bloke with a torch’ (which highlights his sense of humour), or in the words of David Gedge ‘a bloke who gets paid a hundred and fifty quid to book hotel rooms’.

Which drummers were your idols, and which do you currently rate?

No idols, but Britt Walford is my current favourite. I have ripped off Sonic Youth, The Pixies, and The Fall on numerous occasions, so they would have to count as influential.