Uncut

Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has revealed that rockabilly artist Carl Perkins was the artist who made him first want to pick up a guitar. Homme explained that he decided he wanted to be a musician after he saw Perkins play and found out that he had written the song "Blue Suede Shoes" for his idol Elvis Presley. Perkins - who died in 1998 - took part in the 'Million Dollar Quartet' recordings at Sun Studio in Memphis alongside Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash.

Did you see that terrific BBC4 Squeeze documentary, Take Me I’m Yours, on Friday night? I was more than a little taken aback by the currently be-whiskered Glenn Tilbrook, but I’m sure there’s a plausible explanation for wanting to look like that and otherwise the programme was a timely reminder of the many great songs he and Chris Difford have written over the years. It also put me in mind of an eventful few days I spent with the band in 1980, when they were rather unhappily touring Australia, where I caught up with them in inhospitable Brisbane before we headed for the sunny beaches of Surfer’s Paradise. Here’s a piece I wrote for my old Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before column in Uncut.