LOUISE WENER

After serving her pop apprenticeship singing into hairbrushes, Louise Wener hit the music big time with the band Sleeper. She's now turned to writing. Judging by her very entertaining, very cool debut - viewed entirely from the male perspective - she's pretty good at that too.

Is there any specific relevance to naming the main character Steve McQueen ?
I think of Steve McQueen as being a quintessentially macho film star. I wanted to choose an idol who was impossibly hard for my main character to live up to. The fact that his mother has given him a hero's name, puts him under enormous pressure to live up to it.

Why the decision to write the book from the male point of view? Did you find it difficult to create a believable male protagonist?
I began writing as a man after reading a book by Anne Tyler called The Patchwork Planet in which she does the same. I'd never read a book where a woman had written a first person narrative as a man before, and I thought it might be an interesting thing to try myself. It turned to be incredibly liberating and I found it relatively easy to tap into a male voice. I hope that years of touring in a confined space with a gang of male friends has meant that I've done it justice.

You have a reputation as being quite an outspoken/vocal person. Was the book a cathartic experience for you?
Yes. Completely. It's not that I necessarily got anything off my chest, it's just that writing the book was such an enjoyable experience that I felt invigorated by the end of it. It was wonderful to finally do something by myself as opposed to always working creatively with a group of other people, and I feel incredibly lucky to have found something other than music that I enjoy.

When the band ended, you said now I want to write... Why did you go for a novel, as opposed to, say, an autobiography?
I really wasn't interested in writing about myself. I think too many pop stars jump on the biography bandwagon when they haven't got much of great interest to say. The idea of writing a biography in your twenties or early thirties seems a little absurd. Far better, I thought, to create something new that doesn't rely on your own ego as it's only fuel.

Did you find it easy to move from writing songs to a novel?
I'd always loved writing lyrics and short stories, so the idea of writing a novel seemed like a natural progression. In many ways I'd wanted to be a novelist before I'd thought of being in band, so for me to have a book published is the fulfilment of a long held dream.

Are the experiences of the band trying to start out in the book similar to Sleeper's?
Very similar, yes. It didn't take as long for us as it does for my fictional band, but we certainly spent a long time touring the country in rusty vans, staying in scary bed and breakfasts and playing in sweaty clubs to one man and a dog in an attempt to become successful..

Was there any point at which you gave yourself an ultimatum for success like the one Danny faces in the book?
When I got to the age of 25 I gave myself an ultimatum similar to the one Danny is given by his girlfriend. I felt that if we didn't get a record deal in the next year then we would have to give up. We'd been trying for four years by then and we were struggling to pay for rent and rehearsals. We were lucky and ended up signing a record deal shortly afterwards. I can't be sure, but I've a feeling that I would probably have carried on for as long as it took.

Your next book is rumoured to be on chart rigging? Is it to be based on personal experiences?
No. The next book I'm writing isn't based in the music industry at all. I didn't want to write another book about bands, but I must say that, yes, there were rumours of chart rigging that everyone was aware of during the Brit Pop era. Not with my band I hasten to add!

Do you miss touring with the band? Do you have any plans to return to music? If you were to form a new band, who would your ideal co-members be?
When I go to see friend's gigs I miss performing and touring very much. Thankfully the desire to get back on stage only lasts for about an hour and a half and then sanity kicks in. I spent five years touring round the world and whilst it was an exhilarating time, I wouldn't want to live on a bus with fifteen people for months on end, ever again. Not unless someone invents stay clean socks!

Previously you have spoken out on the media created Female Pop Star Bimbo. Do you think that your book has struck a blow to this image?
I think the media and the music industry has as a low expectations of intelligence when it comes to musicians in general and this is especially true of female pop stars. It's generally assumed that they are inarticulate and dim until proven otherwise. It's still common for women in the music industry to be patronized, stereotyped, and reduced to the level of sex objects. I suspect that male musicians are treated rather differently, in that they are often credited with a level of perception, intelligence and sensitivity that they don't actually possess, simply because they can name 307 B-sides by the Beatles.