Big Big Train cofounder Gregory Spawton on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.

Oh boy, at age 16 I can almost divvy my interests up as a 70/30 focus on the world. Seventy per cent was music. I was playing in a punk rock band, while also playing in a Joy Division-inspired new wav

In the wake of Peter Gabriel’s departure, GENESIS faced an existential question: carry on, or call it a day? Looking back 50 years, band members revisit the fraught months after their first frontman’s exit – and the creative surge that set the scene for one of rock’s most improbable second acts. “The band was meant to be dead and buried,” learns Peter Watts. “But we refused to lay down and die.”

Following Richey Edwards’ disappearance and the “commercial disaster” of The Holy Bible , the MANIC STREET PREACHERS were told that this is the end. Instead, they roared back with an unassailable anthem heralding one of the biggest British albums of the ’90s. Sam Richards celebrates 30 years of Everything Must Go : “It was the most spectacular feeling,” says Nicky Wire. “That period when you go over the top...”

The magic of Ritchie and Ronnie, spread across nine CDs.

Marcus Mumford hasn’t had running water at his West Country home for a couple of days when we meet. He’s considering checking into a budget hotel just to get a proper wash. “We’ve had storms. There’s