![]() He recruited Colin Moulding on bass and Terry Chambers on drums to his band Star Park with Barry Andrews on keyboards, in 1975 they became XTC. Regularly found sporting green eyeshadow, his mother’s blouses and a 3ft tiger’s tail, Partridge established himself as a small-town maverick. ‘Being in a drinking gang that saw the world was thrilling’ … XTC in 1980, (l to r) Terry Chambers, Dave Gregory, Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding. “I went to see A Hard Day’s Night in my duffle coat and shorts,” he recalls, after which he began learning Beatles’ songs on guitar. “Let me just say, I wasn’t wanted.” He remembers going round to a friend’s house and staring transfixed at the Beatles-themed wallpaper. “She treated me like a bit of a dog,” he says, audibly choked up. An only child, and with his father absent on navy work for long stretches, he was left alone with the “obsessive OCD” of his mother. P artridge was born in Malta in 1953 to a naval family, who settled in a council house in Swindon when he was two. ![]() “I ended up in a kids’ playground, the earth was wet, and I was just laid on the mud having a kind of primal scream moment.” Local police returned the muddy, tearful Santa to his relieved family. Bottle in hand, he headed out into the night. He overindulged on champagne, and ended up unleashing “many, many years of bottled-up anger” on his mother. “I thought, I’ll put on a bit of a show for the kids,” says Partridge, who dressed up as Father Christmas to cook for his children and parents. He recounts the tale of one “nuclear Christmas Day” 20 years ago. Does he enjoy Christmas? “Oh, it’s fabulous,” he says in his lusty West Country burr. Other than two songs recorded by the Monkees, the rest never found buyers. The occasion for the interview is My Failed Christmas Career: the latest in a series of archival releases, it documents festive songs that Partridge wrote with the intention of selling to other artists. There is also the OCD that has persisted since childhood. “It’s just ‘getting old’ shit.” He will be 70 next year and has been suffering from a heart condition, as well as the tinnitus that has in the past made him contemplate suicide. What does he mean by that? “It’s difficult because it’s just a feeling,” explains Partridge on FaceTime from his home in Swindon, his face augmented by round spectacles. My mother treated me like a bit of a dog. ![]() When I contacted him to arrange this interview, he was initially reluctant, telling me he has entered his “withdrawal years”. But today he has stopped writing songs, saying that he has lost “the anger and the fight” with age. “My love of making records came to the fore once I knew they didn’t have to be built for reproduction.” He developed a reputation as a studio wizard, XTC releasing another seven albums before they split in 2006. ![]() Partridge says his retreat from the road became a kind of blessing. The cancelled dates would accrue the band eye-watering debt. Instead, Partridge was rushed to hospital. The band should have played a sold-out Hollywood Palladium. Days later, Partridge boarded a plane to start a US tour. After all, his Minecraft career even survived the story of a Harvard astrophysicist.During a live televised show in Paris, he had a panic attack and afterwards was found backstage in the foetal position. Whatever is the real truth, we are almost sure that Dream will most certainly not be "cancelled", as his fan base fully supports him.
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