Still Rolling

Through a tough chapter of his life, the Del Amitri frontman has found new reasons to keep writing

- 

JUSTIN CURRIE never sets an alarm.

"I don’t understand why people who have days off work set an alarm clock," the Del Amitri frontman, who hasn’t had to get up for a job since he was 22, said. "Why not wake up when you want to wake up?"

It’s not that Justin doesn’t know hard work. As the songwriter in one of the UK’s most successful and enduring bands of the last 30 years, with seven studio albums, six million sales, 15 hit singles and countless world tours, he is time-served in the rock 'n' roll trade.

Indeed, the seeds of his early labours have given fruit to the one thing he prizes now more than anything: time.

In 2022, the then 58-year-old was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which was something that both he and fans, who'd noticed his right hand shaking on stage, had suspected for several months.

"Neither me nor my GP were remotely surprised," Justin explained. "Most people who get this diagnosis have suspected it."

Rather than bowing out, the blow seems to have given Currie and his bandmates fresh impetus.

Since their founder's life changed, Del Amitri have toured America and the UK (twice), supported Simple Minds, and they hope to record a new album this year.

Currie has collaborated on live Celtic Connections shows with both KT Tunstall and Roddy Hart, and he has also written a book, The Tremolo Diaries, about “life on the road and other diseases”.

There are still stories to be told, new songs to be sung.

"Ideas do crop up when you wander about aimlessly, but it is a structureless way of life," said the singer, speaking to The Scots Magazine in a coffee shop near his home in the west end of Glasgow. "In one way that’s brilliant, but it can also get boring.

"My heart goes out to songwriters who do it around a nine-to-five job, because it's about finding that headspace to think about writing, especially if you have a family. It must be really hard.