Living in the sun.
During my first few months of living Spain, one of the main things I remember was the inability to separate my daily working life from the typical holiday lifestyle which one would usually associate with the Spanish Costas. This involves heavy drinking and smoking, over eating and talking to absolute strangers for hours on end. For the first couple of days, this was great fun but two months later, when I really should have settled down, I was still out til 4am every night and then getting up for work at 8am with a banging headache. Not ideal really. However, the fact that I lived with the most insane girl I’ve ever met did not help matters. She would pester me to go out to the bar near our apartment every single night and when I said no, she’d always persuade me somehow. Either that, or go in a bad mood. She was devious and latched onto men like a slimy little (acne-covered) leech. She made me cringe and I soon discovered I could no longer stand to be in her presence, let alone her apartment. So I packed my bags and moved in with Martin. A guy I’d only known for about a week. He was in a band – the same band I later joined and fronted (Sammy’s Escape) – and supported Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel.
It was around this time that I wrote the song Factor 30.
The lyrics were almost a cry for help. I felt as if I was living on another planet. Nothing seemed real or structured and to be honest, I was having far too much fun, it didn’t feel right. Isn’t life supposed to be dull?
Anyway, now that I’m back in the UK, where life really IS dull, I can safely say that I would give anything to be back in Espana, maybe not living the crazy life, but living. Which is more than I do here.
Factor 30
Came out here for the easy life
But that was just a dream
The days are long and the nights are crazy
And I’m caught in between
Never thought I’d end up here
With just a suitcase for my vanity
No one told me the sun and the sea
Would lead to such insanity
Coz no one understands the way it is
The way you have to be
It’s not all factor 30, baby
And 24 degrees
So please, won’t you rescue me?
I don’t quite understand just why I’m here
Or what brought me to this land
But I’m grateful for the mountain views,
The rolling waves and the sand
One day it’ll all make some sense
At least that’s what I’m hoping
This place has really f*@ked me up
And baby I’m not joking
Coz no one understands the way it is
The way you have to be
It’s not all factor 30, baby
And 24 degrees
So please, won’t you rescue me?
Tracks which remind me of my year in Spain:
‘Young Folks’ by Peter, Bjorn & John
‘Get Dancy’ by New Young Pony Club
‘Dead Disco’ by Metric
‘Sam’s Town’ by The Killers
‘Killing The Light’ by BRMC
‘Love in a Trashcan’ by The Raveonettes
• When I was a child, one of my favourite ways to kill time was to play on my Sega Master System 2. At the time, it was probably one of the most advanced games consoles around, but even though technology has evolved so much since then, I still have maximum respect for the Master System and especially its built-in gem of a game, Alex Kidd. What a theme tune! What a great adventure! I don’t think I ever managed to complete the game but I remember how my heart used to pound rapidly when I reached the level of ‘Radaxian Castle’, a place where monkeys hid in trees, throwing nuts at you and spikes rose out of the ground in a bid to turn poor Alex Kidd into angel wings. It was definitely something I took very seriously. 
