Interview with Mike Skinner (The Streets) discussing musical taste, influences and perspectives on culture.

My personal style signifier is black. It started because I like to travel light – I once did an American tour with just a rucksack, and that was the beginning. You can do it all in black. And also I’m a perfectionist, in the worst way, really, and if something doesn’t match, it distracts me. I don’t even do a pop of colour. Although I do quite like the odd pop of weathered black. A place that means a lot to me is the Amalfi Coast. A couple of years ago we got a boat and the four of us (my wife and two children) spent a week moving along that coastline. It was the best week of my life. Some of my earliest memories are of going on holiday in a campervan. It’s the same reason I think I absolutely love tour buses. I think that’s the thing that connects me to my childhood. You have a very small space, you know, with a curtain. And you sleep while someone else is driving. Boats are a bit like that as well. The best gift I’ve given recently was a Lego Game Boy that you build yourself. Me and my daughter got that on a trip to Florence, for my son. We didn’t actually get my wife a present because we ended up running out of time. But we got my son the greatest present I’ve ever given anyone. And the best gift I’ve received was a Casio G-Shock from my brother. It tells the time and it’s got a light on it. And it makes me think of my brother. Which is nice. My favourite podcast is Jesse Michels’ American Alchemy. It’s about UFOs, and it’s Nasa scientists, nuclear scientists, navy pilots talking about the possibility of alien life. I don’t think any sane person right now believes that there isn’t something to UFOs. And then as soon as you believe in a bit of it, you have to kind of believe it all. Claire [my wife] says that I sound mad. But it’s not as insane a position to take nowadays. Then again, Jesse Michels is bonkers. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. My style icon is Ping Pong, my MC. He’s just incredible. You might call his look ghetto fabulous, if you were slightly racist