Every month we get inside the mind of ...

40 years on from his passing, Scott Gorham, Eric Bell, Mark Stanway, Laurence Archer and more talk about the bandmate and friend – the real Phil – that they knew.

A key figure in 70s pub rock is back with more songs “about politics or idiots with fingers on buttons”.

Don’t have a plan. Don’t be cocky. Doing drugs is dumb. He knows what it’s like to be poor. He’ll know when it’s time to quit – and will. These things and more shape his world view.

SINCE FOUNDING BIG Wreck in the early Nineties, Ian Thornley has filled his band’s songbook with arena-conquering melodies, Led Zeppelin-hailing heft and some of the most super-heroically knuckle-bust

With Status Quo now history and Francis Rossi enjoying his An Audience With tours, a new album was far from his mind. But one thing led to another, and…