ON TRACK: NIK KERSHAW ANSWERS OUR QUESTIONS

Nik Kershaw is currently celebrating 30 years since his first chart success. To mark the milestone Nik will be visiting The Stables in Wavendon this Sunday ( September 14) for an intimate evening performing songs, sharing anecdotes and taking questions from fans. Speaking of questions, Nik took our On Track challenge... The song that first awakened your musical senses The Battle of New orleans by Lonnie Donegan.  It was one of my parents' tiny record collection.  I used to play it on their Radiogram whilst singing along and playing drums (cushions) with mum's knitting needles Physical or digital - how do you take your music? Digital mainly.  I can't remember the last time I bought a CD. The problem is, I'll download something, forget I've got it, and never play it The first time you thought - 'Music - this is the job for me.' Whilst watching a BBC early evening magazine program called Nationwide (not unlike the One Show) in the early seventies.  It had a 20 minute documentary on David Bowie.  It's all his fault Your best on stage memory Loads to choose from.  Playing in front of 40,000 flag waving Brits in Hyde Park during the 2012 Olympics wasn't too shabby. And the worst gig you've ever done Again, loads to choose from.  Festivals can be tricky.  People haven't necessarily bought a ticket to see you and it can go either way, once the local fire water has kicked in. There was one in a concrete amphitheatre in East Berlin back in 2001. I say 'East' berlin, even though the wall had been down 15 years.  This was definitely an East German crowd.  They were totally up for the four on the floor contributions from Sam Fox and Jimmy Somerville, but where somewhat less enthusiastic about my set (probably the longest hour of my life). Nothing was actually thrown (other than a lot of disapproving glances) but we left the stage to a mixture of boos and the sound of our own footsteps. I nearly came home and got a proper job Which one song by another artist do you wish you had written Impossible to choose one, there are so many.  But I  will give you a random example.  I was listening to the radio this morning and Wichita Line Man came on.  Wish I'd written that And one- by yourself - which holds special significance Billy is a song from my 15 Minutes album.  Am very proud of that lyric, even though its references have dated a bit over the years. It resonates with most men and I've had so many women come up to me and say ' that song is about my husband - how did you know?' If you could step into the shoes of another musician, living or dead, who would it be and what would you do Peter Gabriel - I'd get my arse into gear and bring out a new album (last one was Up in 2002, for Christ's sake) Are there any current musical influences you might look to That would imply that 'being influenced' is a conscious thing.  I don't believe it necessarily is.  If it's conscious, then  surely it's just copying? Any music that moves me (positively or negatively) will get stored on the mental hard drive whether I like it or not and will stand a chance of getting accessed the next time I write a song.  Having said that, I think the music that influences you the most will always be whatever you were listening to when you were growing up and discovering girls And any genre of music that you simply can't stand Nope, I try and listen to everything with an open mind.  Prejudice towards a particular 'genre' can close a lot of doors.  Besides, who decides what genre a piece of music is?  I'm willing to bet it wont have been the artist Finally, tell us what we can expect from The Stables show The bones of the show will be the songs, obviously.  But I'll be trying to make it a little more interesting than me turning up with an acoustic guitar and bashing out a few old favourites. There will be inane (but hopefully engaging) ramblings and screens showing media behind me. I'm hoping that things will be more informal and interactive than a usual gig, with a few questions from the floor   To book your seat, visit www.stables.org