Trust me to leave it to the last fucking minute! I haven’t plunged into despair, although this morning I’ve had this bloody cold… Cancer’s nothing, but a cold really fucks me up! Oh, and that was the other thing: after getting this diagnosis I immediately started writing songs. Suddenly you just exist, and everything is very, very vivid. Suddenly, all the stupid things that hang you up normally don’t matter. Everybody thinks: what would I feel like if I got told that? But with me it’s nothing like I’d have imagined. Yeah, although I’m not trying to be inspiring or brave. People have said your attitude is inspiring. Normally I’m a miserable so-and-so, but God, it don’t half make you feel alive. I was in this euphoria, which still persists. I felt absolutely calm, and then walking out the hospital, I started feeling very high. It was a surprise to me but it didn’t freak me, man. Well, yeah… It’s funny, although I’d been having tests, I didn’t think I’d got cancer. He tells us to feel at home and Rob, his manager, makes us a cup of tea. Louche? Is that the word? A black and red Telecaster is propped against a wall. The other is tucked under a black trousered leg. Ī zippered black leather boot rests on the edge of the sofa. You can even link your subscription to your local vendor with our new online map. Please buy this week’s magazine from the online shop or take out a subscription to make sure we can continue to support our vendors over this difficult period. The Big Issue is helping our vendors with supermarket vouchers and gift payments but we need your help to do that. They can’t sell the magazine and they can’t rely on the income they need.

More than 1,000 vendors are out of work because of the second lockdown in England. But Big Issue vendors need your help now more than ever. What do you say to Wilko? Can you show me the riff from Roxette? I can’t quite work out that thing on the back-stroke… Or do you ask how he feels? Meeting someone who has been an inspiration is intimidating, but to meet them in such circumstances? Well, it makes you a little apprehensive. Our mortality is something we rarely address. The 65-year-old has spoken about his illness with a frankness that is typically in character, but shocking because it is so rare. Recently diagnosed with cancer, he decided to forgo chemotherapy so he can perform: a farewell tour in the most genuine and unquestionable sense. I’m sure I can hear him in the way Alex Turner or Kele Okereke play, and if you look at how I hold a guitar… aye, it all adds up. His influence stretches further than the ’70s. Joe Strummer got himself a guitar like Wilko’s after seeing him. If you do know who he is, you won’t need me to tell you that he inspired a generation to do something different with their guitars, to swap the excess of rock for the violent energy of punk. It captures the mythology of the band, their Canvey Island roots, success, excess and self-destruction. If you’re still curious, watch the 2009 Julien Temple film Oil City Confidential.

He’s the guy in the buttoned-up shirt and suit with the malevolent glare, jerking terse riffs out of a black Telecaster as he speeds across the stage. If you don’t know who he is, try typing ‘Dr Feelgood Old Grey Whistle Test’ into YouTube. I am taking the train to meet Wilko Johnson. Tell me about this new film you’re promoting… What? “Are you implying my music is simplistic, you moron?” No, I like it, I think it’s cool that you can… Never mind. I told Ray Manzarek I loved how you could play the organ line from Light My Fire almost entirely on the white keys. I’m not on the other side of a Dictaphone very often and last time I interviewed another musician I pissed him off within seconds of opening my gob. I feel apprehensive as I take the train to Southend.

Wilko johnson t shirt