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What's it like to be back on TOTP
Mick Hucknall: It's great. I hope I'm on in another ten years.

Do you remember the first time that you were on TOTP?
Mick Hucknall: It was 1985 and the song was 'Money's Too Tight To Mention'.

Were you nervous?
Mick Hucknall: Probably. I've always sung it live and I find that easier. I'm not very good at lip-synching.

Are there any particular memories you have of the show?
Mick Hucknall: I think the overall memory would be the variation of hairstyles from 1985 to now. When I got an Ivor Novello last year they put up pictures from when I first started and the bit that freaked me out was the hairstyles. I was in complete shock. Some of them were quite ridiculous.

This is your first album of the Millenium. What have you been up to since the last one in 1999?
Mick Hucknall: This album has taken me two years to make. It took me eight months to write the songs and the rest of the time to record and mix the album. I spent a year in Southern Italy, working out and making wine. The first batch comes out in November. I'm quite excited about that.

What's it going to be called?
Mick Hucknall: 'Il Cantante' which is Italian for 'The Singer'.

Not 'Simply Red'?
Mick Hucknall: That's a bit supermarket, isn't it. I'm not making that many bottles.

Tell us more about your record label.
Mick Hucknall: When we did the album 'Blue' I started to talking to my manager about where I was going to go when I got out of contract. Over the years I became more disillusioned over the money I was paying for the recordings and then I didn't own them. That really bothers me. I wanted to devise a way that whatever I paid for I owned, which I think is fair enough. I wanted to start up a little cottage industry. If you start small then it can only get bigger. We're a little indie label and it's going pretty well.