Tim Booth from James – “Sit Down? I’d rather keep dancing.”

Diving deep into all things ’90s… It was impossible to miss anthemic Manchester groundbreakers James’ monster hits (open.spotify.com/album/379HctFmaWUiHTlfUjF5qN?…) in the ’90s, like Sit Down, Laid and She’s A Star. Huge communal singalongs with a melancholic beauty that struck a chord on both sides of the pond, they put James right into the mainstream (and on thousands of t-shirts too). Away from the charts it was even more of a rollercoaster story. After blagging his way into a Manchester acting school, Tim Booth went out one night, narrowly avoided a fight with some blokes who were trying to steal his drink, and found himself the lead singer of their band – the group he’s now been fronted for nearly 45 years.

From ending up in a cult to near death experiences, band addictions, breakups and makeups, collaborations with Brian Eno (open.spotify.com/album/7rRrNT2KbkVEvC3XJAYwCy?…) and Angelo Badalamenti (open.spotify.com/album/4EsvOzAPPpwvHaS9tVIu28?…), and an appearance in Batman Begins, Tim’s story is astonishing. He joins Miranda to discuss how Eastern philosophy saved his life… how an incident with a maraca nearly sank the band… and why despite never quite cracking America, he has no regrets.

• Live photo by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images

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