Sit Down: Tim Booth of James on their classic hit, and touring Ireland with The Smiths

UK band James have upcoming gigs in Killarney, Galway and Laois 

Tim Booth, centre, with other members of the band James. Picture: Ehud Lazin 

James broke through towards the end of the 1980s in indie and alternative circles and were often associated with the Manchester scene of the era, but as frontman Tim Booth points out, the band predated it. Initially signing to Factory Records and later Rough Trade, James played their first historic gig at the Haçienda in 1982. 

“James came first,” Booth remembers. A cult fan base had been steadily built, with James T-shirts spotted around cities such as Manchester and Glasgow, as the scene coalesced around the likes of The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Inspiral Carpets, spearheading a pop-culture revolution.