I FIRST SAW THE NAME ‘Tim Peacock’ at the end of a review he had written in Sounds. It was a live review in which he had given my band The Onset a very favourable and considered write-up. I photocopied that cut-out many times and sent it off to get gigs and to accompany demo tapes in the years before the internet.

Later on, Tim would review the albums released on the label I started with Paul Hemmings, the Viper Label. He always seemed to ‘get’ them that little bit more than others – maybe because of the time he lived in Liverpool during the 1980s he had a deeper understanding of our ingredients and passion.

About 2009, Tim asked if I would like to do an interview for his online magazine, Whisperin’ & Hollerin’, and that – I suppose – is where this all started. It ran into three long sections and I started to realize that we had opened something that was unfolding and expanding at an ever increasing rate.

I then asked Tim if he would like to work with me on a book that tried to make some sense of my life working as a creative in music and art in Liverpool. Thankfully he was up for it and now some five years down the line – with trips between Liverpool and County Cork, Ireland, where Tim lives – we have ink on paper.

It's a daunting prospect looking back on your own life. Not just because of all the deeply personal trials and tribulations, proud achievements, mountains climbed, dark nights of the soul and glorious moments in the sun. BUT where the hell do you start?

With Tim there to transcribe interviews and probe further, we endeavoured to explain what has been an incredible journey. I wanted an unbiased piece of work that told the truth as I see it, hopefully uncoloured by any partiality that lurks inside (I've done my best!).

Over the years I have done many interviews about my life in music and art, many associated with the band I started with Lee Mavers in 1984, The La's.