Howie Payne has selected The Brightest Star as the first single from his new solo album, which is due in the autumn.
“The Brightest Star was inspired by both a train journey, and a film I saw about Andy Warhol’s Factory,” Howie’s said. “Someone said about Edie Sedgwick ‘Edie was Andy’s brightest star’, or something like that. It’s not about her directly or anything but I liked the phrase and it stuck in my mind.”
“The next day or so I was on the train between Liverpool where I’m from, and London where I live. I was leaning against the window, and the shuffle of the wheels on the tracks was making up this brilliant hypnotic rhythm.”
“I was zoning out to it and this tune started going through my head with the phrase ‘You’re the brightest star, you’re the truth, no one gets around loving you’. Once I had that the rest of it just kind of wrote itself.”
The ex-Stands man has also been busy recently compiling his former band’s career retrospective The Stands Recordings 2003–2005. It’ll all be brought together when he tours the UK – now moved from this month to October.
Tour dates:
October
12 – Liverpool, Buyers Club
13 – Leeds, Belgrave Music Hall
14 – Glasgow, Hug & Pint
16 – Newcastle, Think Tank
17 – York, Fulford Arms
18 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
20 – Birmingham, Actress & Bishop
21 – Nottingham, Bodega
22 – Leicester, The Cookie
23 – Oxford, The Bullingdon
25 – Southampton, The Joiners
28 – London, The Borderline