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Peter Perrett: “It wasn’t about drugs… at that time, I was more addicted to sex”

Perrett and the Only Ones recall the making of "Another Girl, Another Planet"

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PERRY: Later on I double-tracked that guitar intro, downstairs at Basing Street. You can hear there are two guitars, mostly playing in unison but occasionally breaking into harmony. I used a Telecaster and my old ’55 Les Paul Special.

PERRETT: I like the Hammond on this. I played it, you can only hear it in certain places ’cos when I played out of tune we faded it down and faded it up in the good bits!

MAIR: Peter’s said “Another Girl…” is not about drugs, but you know, it was perceived as being about that, which is really why it didn’t get the airplay it should have got. Capital FM wouldn’t play it because of ‘drug content’. We never really sat down and said, “This is really a bummer that it didn’t break into the Top 10 or Top 20,” but personally I remember thinking it was bizarre. Deep down, there was definitely some disappointment. Though, to be honest, I kind of think the song has got the success it deserves now. In some ways, this is better than it being a hit back then and then disappearing, because it’s now part of rock history – it’s a track that’s stood the test of time.

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PERRETT: I prefer the Peel Sessions versions. I think the way the band sounded live was more exciting and true to what we represented. Because we didn’t have a producer, most of the decisions about instrumentation were taken by me and I’m a perfectionist – so I’m usually not happy at all.

MAIR: We haven’t actually broken up since we reformed in 2007, we’ve just somehow all gone off and done our own thing for a while. Of course, Peter’s got some new songs.

PERRETT: After 2007, we started playing some new songs live and lots of fans would say, “When are you going to release them?” But half of those fans have died in the interim while they’re waiting for me to release them. Now I’ve got two songs ready to release, and there’s part of me that wants to just get them out there before any more fans die.

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KELLIE: As long as all four of us are alive, there’s always a possibility we could play together again. The key to The Only Ones is that the three of us, whether anybody likes to admit it or not, were chasing Peter the whole time. Peter was the singer, songwriter, the driving force, and that’s the key to The Only Ones. When we reformed, we were carrying him. He was not in good health at the time, and that changed the whole chemistry of the band. That changed everything and made that comeback very, very difficult. We accepted plaudits to begin with, it was all wonderful. But when it came to the rubber meeting the road and things happening to produce something new, it wasn’t the same demographic and it showed. It caused frustrations all over in different areas. Now Peter’s 100 per cent fit and driven again. Whether or not he works with us or does something solo, it’s so good for him and so good for his audience. So there is hope.

PERRETT: At one time I resented having to do “Another Girl…” at every gig – there was one gig where I didn’t do it and people complained. At some gigs in the ’90s, I used to start with it to get it out of the way! But as I got older, I appreciated that it’s better to have one song like that than not have any songs that get across to a large audience. If people discover the best of my work through that one song, then great.

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