Pub-rock punker's memoir

Extracts from the Stranglers frontman [between 1974 and 1990] Hugh Cornwell’s punk memoir: ‘A Multitude of Sins’ (Harpers Collins, £18.99)

“One of our regular gigs was a Working Men’s Club in Kent. We would do two sets, which were punctuated by a Tombola draw. One evening after our first set, the promoter told us the crowd weren’t interested in the Tombola. I knew we were getting somewhere, at last.”

“We hired a group of strippers for our open-air concert in Battersea Park. At the end of the gig, we played ‘Tank’. We’d hired a Sherman tank to fire off a couple of rounds just to prove the point.”

“I’d always been fascinated by heroin, ever since I’d heard the song by the Velvet Underground. It’s the msot dangerous and wonderful drug - I wrote the lyrics to ‘Golden Brown’ about it - but I wouldn’t recommend taking to anyone.”

“When I was sentenced on drug charges, the whole court caught their breath. It was like something out of Perry Mason. I was put in a cell with a Glaswegian alkie. He was frightening to look at.”

“The record label suggested releasing a selection of songs from our first two albums in the US as one sampler, which seemed abhorrent to me. I sent a telegram saying “Dear A&M Records, get f**ked, love from The Stranglers.”

“I got a chance to do a bit of film acting in the 1980s, but apart from a couple of cameos in Comic Strip movies, the best I did was a short French film.”

“The world of human experience can be represented by a wheel. I’m not sure if I’ve been around the circle once or many times, but I do know I’m still on the wheel.”