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Nick Lowe was a bit short of cash when his group, Brinsley Schwarz, split up at the end of 1975.
He reckoned his best bet was to get free of his recording contract and demand a healthy advance from a new company.
"But it didn't quite work out like that," says Nick whose single "I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass" is at number 21 in the charts.
"I ended up with a number one single in Japan and writing an album for the old company!"
"I had nothing against the outfit but I wanted out. I thought up the worst song possible. It was called 'Bay City Rollers We Love You.'
"It had the reverse effect on the company. They loved it.
"It only sold about 40 copies here, but it went down very well in Japan.
"So much so that I was asked to do an album for that market. I'm still doing it.
"Actually, I'm having quite a lot of fun. It is so rubbishy. It's almost a work of art.
"Anyway, the next single I did for the company did the trick. It was called 'Let's Go To The Disco' by the Disco Brothers — who were me. It was dreadful. They fired me after that."
Nick, who was on the famous Stiff Records tour last year with Ian Dury and Elvis Costello, is off to the States with Elvis next month for a seven-week tour.
"I shall be going to the States with Dave Edmunds' group, Rockpile. We only did two days of rehearsals before the Stiff tour. This time I think I'd better put a bit more into it.
"I don't have a permanent band. I don't really like doing things on a regular basis.
"There was the possibility of a very well-known British band coming with me to the States, but they are too tied up with other things."
Nick is usually too busy in the studio producing other people albums to go out on the road regularly. Now 28, he has produced seven hit albums in the last couple of years, including his own LP, Jesus Of Cool.
A couple of weeks ago he went to Finland to record some tracks for his next album. "Why Finland? Well, why not? I thought it would be a bit different.
"But what with all the vodka I consumed and the fact that none of the four tracks sound particularly good. It wasn't much of a success.
"I've stopped drinking as heavily as I used to. I could quite easily get through a couple of bottles of vodka in a studio session.
"I was developing the image of a horrible drunk. People were treating me as a sort of joke. They'd say; 'Oh, here comes old Nick Lowe, boozed up again.
"I haven't actually had to dry out, but I have decided to take life a bit steadier in my old age."
One of Nick's plans is to produce Peters and Lee. "Yes, I know what you're thinking. They are very middle of the road, and not really like the type of people I've been producing.
"But I think they have great voices — it's just that they use rubbishy material.
"You've got to remember that the music business is just a joke. Like a game of Monopoly you've got to be able to move around the board."
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