“Damon has a dual nature. He’s the musician collaborating globally, yet he also possesses a tough edge...”: Phil Daniels on Blur, Quadrophenia, and his new solo album.] - Guitar | Technique

Phil Daniels has been a jobbing character actor for well over 40 years, but he’s still best known for two excursions into the world of music – playing Jimmy in Quadrophenia and appearing on Blur’s Parklife.

He’s been performing the latter with Damon Albarn and co on and off for more than three decades. In a new interview with the Times he’s revealed that he gets a performance royalty for the track rather than a one-off fee, meaning it still provides him with “drinking money.”

“I love Blur, I’ve had a great time with them,” he continued. “But what I love about Damon is he’s got two sides to him. He’s that guy who plays with musicians all around the world, does lots of good work.

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“But he’s also got a really hard side and that’s what’s made him in control of his own career. He’ll tell people to f*** off if he has to. He can be ruthless. And I think that’s good to have that about you.”

Daniels also performed the role of narrator when The Who toured Quadrophenia in 1996/97. “You’d be in Madison Square Garden, they’d finish a song, I’d go, ‘That was us in 1964…’ and people would be shouting, ‘Shut up, you f***ing fag, get off!’ So it wasn’t the best job but it was all right. Pete (Townshend) loves all that. Roger (Daltrey) just wants to rock’n’roll.”

Quadrophenia was his breakthrough role, but as he explains, real fame was long in coming. “I don’t think it was till Trainspotting that people really appreciated British dramas about inner cities and urban people. I could certainly get on the bus. Nobody would recognise me for years and years until (Quadrophenia) came out on DVD and I started getting letters from people saying it changed their life.”

At the moment, he’s currently in another music-related role, playing an old skool manager of a rock singer in David Hare’s revived 1975 play, Teeth N’ Smiles. The singer is being played by Rebecca Lucy Taylor, aka Self Esteem, and Daniels has apparently based his character on the likes of Bill Curbishley and Don Arden.

Prior to Quadrophenia, Daniels was in various bands and released a solo album, of sorts, in 1979, credited to Phil Daniels and The Cross. However, he’s apparently recording another at the moment. “I thought, well, I’m 67 – now or never,” he says, describing it as: “a cross between Ian Dury and a sort of theatrical night out. It’s a few laments and a few more happy-go-lucky songs.”