Dave Simpson

Fiercely original and stunning live, they should have been massive – but they imploded. As the Scots return, they relive disowning their debut album, blowing Top of the Pops – and getting shocks off their battery-powered illuminated suits

From ghost trains to backstreet weddings, from demolition sites to ‘alien’s eye views’ of Leeds, groundbreaking photographer Peter Mitchell captures our changing world with his trusty ‘Blad’ – and once even tried to leave it

He skied with Bowie, boozed with Madness and recorded the Teardrop Explodes on acid. But does he regret blowing it with Dave Grohl? The great producer relives his smashes, parties and 11am vodkas

The drinks are thrown, the crowds are feral – and the bands are right in your face. On independent venue week, musicians talk about their most cherished concert sweatboxes

Their new album Constellations for the Lonely ranks among their best work. But as they prepare to go on the road, the Williams brothers talk about their momentous decision to play without Goodwin

Brian Harvey said, ‘I’m not singing this shit!’ – and threw his headphones on the floor. It took two days to get the performance out of him

Stretching an almost three-hour set from the Quarrymen through to the ‘final Beatles single’ this is like an arena-sized Last Night at the Proms, with Beatlemania

The singer-songwriter answers your questions on the bank robber that inspired her, playing with Bob Dylan and Clarke Peters, and her love of classic comics

‘The first time we opened for James Brown, we got 20 minutes on stage. Then when he heard the crowd response, he cut it to 15. By the end of the tour, he’d cut us back to five’

As Patti Smith’s debut single turns 50, punk musicians and music writers pick the songs that define the genre’s resistance, rebellion and refusal