When we heard that the legend that is Jim-Bob (from Carter USM) was supporting The Wonder Stuff on their UK winter tour, we thought it was high time we had a chat and found out a little bit more about the great man.

We first saw them in 1990 when they played in Plymouth (must have been on the 101 Damnations tour) and from that night, we were hooked! We caught them again on the ‘30 Something’ tour in 1991 when they took over The Great Hall at Exeter University (not The Lemongrove as some sites say).

We had a great chat about childhood holidays, annoying Miles Hunt at a gig in Germany, stag doo’s in Bournemouth and his ideal Christmas present, read on for all this and way more…..

I see you’re on the bill for ‘Shiiine On’ which takes place at Butlins Minehead from 15th – 18th November, you’re going to be playing 30 Something in its entirety, will you be slipping in a few Jim Bob classics too?

I’m going to stick to a full on Carter set. After playing 30 Something I can only really follow it up with some more Carter bangers. I’ll have to make sure I don’t play a song again that I’ve already played as part of 30 Something.

Did you ever used to holiday at Butlin’s as a kid?

Pretty much all of my childhood holidays were in West Sussex because my mum's parents lived there and their house was by the seaside. And I do like to be beside the seaside. Mrs Jim Bob used to go to the Sunshine Holiday camp as a child. I think it was a smaller scale Butlin’s. I’ve heard all the stories. The contests and discos and so on. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it.

There are loads of bands playing at the Shiiine On Weekender, which ones are you particularly excited about seeing?

I’ll definitely see the Sultans of Ping. If we don’t clash, I’ll try and catch Idlewild and Babybird & Jah Wobble. Sadly I won’t be there on Sunday night for the Stourbridge onslaught. I’m also looking forward to the amusement arcade.

You’re going to be hitting the road with The Wonder Stuff on their national tour throughout November and December, I dare say that this isn’t the first time you’ve shared a stage with them? If so, what memories do you have of playing with them ‘back in the day’?

We didn’t actually do many gigs together in the old days but we always used to go and see them if we had days off when we were both playing in Europe. I remember one night in Germany when us and our Crazy Carter Crew went to see the Wonder Stuff play and we got pretty drunk and crowd surfed a bit too much. Miles had to tell us to fuck off because we were ruining the gig.

You’re playing all over the place on The Stuffies tour, are there any towns/cities/venues that you’re really excited about playing/not played in a while?

There are places I haven’t played that much as a solo dude. Liverpool, Hull and Newcastle for example. So it will be good to go there. I haven’t been to Bournemouth since my manager Marc’s stag do. Hopefully the people of Bournemouth won’t remember us. After that thing that happened.

Are you going to be crammed into a tour bus with Mr Spoons and Marc or will you be treating yourself to a proper bed in a hotel on the tour?

The three of us will be in a comfortable car and budget hotels. Probably in motorway service stations. There are fewer stag parties at those hotels. Fewer idiots like me and Marc. I need my beauty sleep these days.

As well as being a superb musician, you’re also a hugely talented author, when did you start thinking about writing books and who would you say influenced you to start putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)?

Why thank you. I hadn’t really considered writing books properly until I had the first Jim Bob book published. That made we want to write more. Then I wrote a novel and it sort of snowballed (slowly) from there. It sort of became what I did. I find writing quite difficult but it’s still thrilling seeing your work as an actual book.

You’ve written about some interesting characters in your books, are they based on people that you know or have met?

Not exactly. But my friends and in particular, my mum have been big influences on my novels.

You’ve played all over the world to all sorts of people, what’s been the oddest/strangest thing that’s ever happened to you on tour or on stage?

There were a lot of crazy gigs in the Carter glory days. Playing an indoor festival in Holland where everyone was dressed as doctors and there were pigs strolling around the venue. We played in Zagreb with an armed guard on the side of the stage. At one of the later gigs, when we were on the way down we were asked to play inside a cage onstage, like in the Blues Brothers apparently. (I’ve never seen it). We refused. I think the venue is a Tesco now.

Let’s pretend that Jim Bob has been chosen to leave Earth and head to a new planet to settle and start over again, which three records/CDs/MP3 files would you take with you?

This Year’s Model by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Diamond Dogs by David Bowie, and the West Side Story film soundtrack album.

It’ll soon be that time of year when you hear Noddy Holder on the radio every 5 minutes and half priced Lynx Gift Sets (mainly ‘Africa’ ones) sit idle on Tesco’s shelves waiting for the dreaded Boxing Day Bonanza sales….What’s on Jim Bob’s Christmas list this year?

I’ve reached that age when there’s not much I really want. Vegetarian jelly sweets and socks. Maybe a nice jumper. World peace obviously.

There are trillions of bands and musical artists out there right now, tell me about a few that are lighting up your world at the moment

Amyl and the Sniffers, The Murder Capital, Phoebe Bridgers, Shame, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Better Oblivion Community Center, Fontaines D.C., the theme tune to Succession, Hurtling (Brilliant band featuring Jen and Jon who played in my band on tour in October).

Lastly, you’ve created some incredible music over the years, which track are YOU most proud of and why

Tricky to answer. Today I’m going to say Victim, because it describes something that happened exactly as it happened and yet is still a bit poetic.

We’d like to thank Jim-Bob for chatting to us and we look forward to catching his set when he opens for The Wonder Stuff on December 19th at The Lemongrove in Exeter. Tickets for the tour are available NOW and can be purchased from any of the outlets below;

The Wonder Stuff website

Ticket Master

See Tickets

Gigantic

You can pick up Carter USM, Jim-Bob and Les Carter merchandise ranging from T-Shirts, mugs, socks, CD’s and *Carter USM branded rubber johnnies from this amazing ONLINE STORE

* I was lying about the rubber johnnies!