The Mad Professor

One couldn't blame pop eccentric Robyn Hitchcock for feeling nostalgic lately. On November 13, Yep Roc records will release a five-CD boxed set, I Wanna Go Backwards, containing three of his early solo albums and a whopping 57 bonus tracks. In a nod to that time, the 54-year-old has embarked on a rare solo U.S. tour with Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson. And when Hitchock was reached at his UK home a few weeks ago, he was hard at work preparing more reissues of his back catalog — a wholly influential canon full of psychedelic garage-rock and quirky power-pop, all envisioned through his highly fantastical, creative lyrical eye.

B-Sides: What are you up to?

Robyn Hitchcock: I'm in my office, and I am just repackaging things. There's the Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians set, which is supposed to come out in May or June 'cause it's taking time to find the right art person and everything for it. And then supposedly the Soft Boys stuff from, like, 1977 to 1980 is meant to come out next fall.

Is this the Egyptians stuff that was really out of print?

Basically everything that we have the rights to is coming out. So the stuff that was on A&M, the radio hits the "Balloon Man" and the "Madonna of the Wasps" and stuff, that's not in my control. [The music has] wound up [as] just some kind of little facet on the multicolored coat of a huge corporate beast. It's a sequin on the jacket of a cosmic goat. And suffice to say, we're not able to access that particular sequin so we can't get those records out. Anyway, even without the major label stuff, there's piles of this keeping me busy for quite a while.

Where is it stored?

It's stored in a giant warehouse in southeast London where I have 27 boxes. But my 27 boxes are amongst 3 or 4 million other boxes and you have to give them about two weeks' notice to go find your boxes. It's a bit like the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, if you remember that film. But unlike the Holy Grail, I know exactly where my tapes are. And unlike the Holy Grail as well, they have to be baked in a sort of big pizza oven. Peter Gabriel owns a studio, Real World, and I think they have a tape-baking oven there. So these sort of pizza-chef people put the tapes into the ovens. It's called "al forno," the Italian term for when things are baked rather than steamed or fried or grilled. So these tapes are cooked al forno, and they then are playable and the acetate doesn't rub off on the machine.

You've been playing with the Venus Three [his backing band] so much, is it an adjustment to play solo?

It will be a slight adjustment, but it won't take very long. I am probably ready to play some solo shows now, because I've played very few for the last two years. And I'm looking forward to it. When I'm playing solo, the thing I miss the most is a harmony singer — and the fact that Sean is there is great, because apart from opening, I'm sure he'll join me on harmonies for a bunch of songs. I'm happy usually with the tunes of my songs. A weak tune is no excuse. It's got to work by itself, but I just think a harmony really puts the salt on it or the relish or however you want to think of it. So it's going to be Robyn and Garfunkel.

So you said Nick Lowe is your neighbor?

Yes, he lives nearby. He came along and sang when we were recording at home. It's in that documentary, the John Edginton one. Sex, Food, Death...and Insects? That's the one.

Things take a while to get to St. Louis.

Well, I certainly have. I haven't been there since 1999. Is Beatle Bob still there?

Of course. He's kind of like the cockroach of the music scene. He will probably be at your show.

Well I hope so. What's the place I'm playing?

You're playing Blueberry Hill's Duck Room. Did you play there last time?

I don't know, because it was with the Flaming Lips somewhere upstairs.

The Duck Room is named after Chuck Berry's duck walk.