I guess I to as almost prepared. The stories in the English papers portraying him as a garrulous kinda guy, the bashful puppydog picture sleeves on the Stiff 45's, the extroverted onstage frolicking with Rockpile; this guy Nicholas Lowe, was not going to be a tough guy to draw an interview out of.

I still wasn't quite ready for the Nick Lowe wall of sound. Despite the fact that both of our gab sessions happened abruptly and almost on the run, Nick started talking almost immediately and rarely stopped for breath or cigarette, expounding-eloquently and in great detail on any subject of my (or his) choosing. The first part took place in a hotel bar, the second in a locker room immediately after he and Dave Edmunds had joined Elvis Costello onstage for a boozy (on their part) "Heart of the City" encore at Elvis's last American concert in Providence^ Rhode Island.