HOWZAT

Was he drinking? “Not like a drunk. I wasn’t a drunk where you cause problems. But I just couldn’t sit still. All those important years when you’re developing, I was travelling, moving. So, now, I never can stay. It’s like a disease, heh heh.”

In 1981 he married Elizabeth, and they moved to Olympia, Washington. The college town had a thriving music scene. Along with Seattle and Portland, it became a crucible of the punk and grunge scenes that spawned Nirvana. By now, Steve had taught himself how to operate recording studios, and he became an in-demand producer. Cult college rock band Modest Mouse, whose ranks now include ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, were one of his earliest clients.

He also became friends with Kurt Cobain, in part because Steve recognised the ill-fated Nirvana front man as one of the few musicians on the “really narrow” hipster scene who understood the blues. “Kurt played Leadbelly songs – there was a serious deal going on there. He was a nice fella.” Steve also knew Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love. What did he make of her?

“I don’t make nothing of her,” he growls. “It was all calculated with her – her going for Kurt in my opinion was just like a torpedo… I was there when it happened. Last time I saw him alive was at the airport in Seattle. I was talking to him, and she just come and took him away. She was like to Kurt, ‘You don’t wanna talk to that guy.’” Steve rattles out his laugh. “But, whatever.”

Fed up with the cooler-than-thou American indie-rock scene, Steve and Elizabeth and their three kids moved to Norway in 2001. He set up a studio but cheerfully admits it was a disaster. Finally, in 2003, Seasick Steve recorded his first album. This brand-new artist was 52. Or 62. Three years later, Dog House Music became a word-of-mouth phenomenon in the UK; to date, it has sold more than 100,000 copies. Now, he’s about to play his biggest UK tour yet.

Ask him to account for his success in the autumn of his years, and all Seasick Steve can come up with is: “It really is a pinch-yourself thing. Almost every gig, I cannot believe it. Am I actually here? Is this some weird dream I’m gonna wake up from?”

The irony is that, after a lifetime travelling, he is now on the road more than ever. Last year, he was away from Elizabeth for 149 nights, touring the world. He didn’t like it. This, in part, accounts for the couple’s decision to up sticks once more: since his late-blooming career took off in the UK, he’s been spending more and more time here. Last year, he signed to Warner Bros, and the major label’s coffers allowed him the opportunity to record in a nice studio – he picked Leeders Farm in Norfolk, co-owned by a former member of pomp rockers the Darkness. And he persuaded Elizabeth to join him.

“I said, ‘Woman, I’m making all kinds of money now – and also, if we don’t spend time together now, when’s it gonna be?’ I had a heart attack four years ago, you never know how long you gonna be alive for. I can’t do it no more, sitting in hotel rooms by myself wondering if I was gonna be all right. So we gonna be together now.”

Seasick Steve may still be living the hobo lifestyle. But now he has his wife and a few hundred thousand fans for company.

Seasick Steve’s new album I Started Out with Nothin’ and I Still Got Most of It Left is released by Warner Bros on September 29. His UK tour starts at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on October 1

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