Badly Drawn Boy

THERE WAS ONE gig that really caught the attention of the swarming hordes of A&R men at 1998's In The City convention in Manchester. The man behind it - mild-mannered 29 year old Lancastrian Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy - had already signed a substantial record deal, and was acclimatising to his newfound status as one of the brightest hopes of a recession-hit British music industry. And yet this hometown showcase was, its perpetrator ruefully admits, "probably the worst gig anyone in the audience had ever seen".