Badly Drawn Boy

IN AN ANNOYINGINGLY loud Oxford Street pub, Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, is struggling to make his voice heard above the raucously assertive blare of a series of triumphalist indie-pop jukebox anthems – Republica's 'Ready To Go', Blur's 'Parklife', and so on. The significance of his struggle hardly needs explaining. Finally, the tape dies away, the corporate Brit-guitar energy spent. Silence. Now, it's Gough's turn.