On 20th March 10cc's Graham Gouldman will release Modesty Forbids, his first solo album in 8 years. Featuring 11 tracks the album's release will coincide with Graham's 14 date tour with his semi acoustic band, Heart Full of Songs. He returns to his northern roots with a date at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music on 2 April.

I asked Graham about the new album and forthcoming tour.

You seem to be very busy with 10cc touring and now the solo album and tour.

I do like to keep busy, I like touring and playing on stage, I don't have to do it but I like doing it, I wouldn't do it otherwise.

What can we expect from the new album?

Three songs I wrote myself, the rest are co-writes, most of the songs though I pretty much started by myself. I can't say that there is any particular theme running through the songs but there is a real variety of styles on the album such as a swing style song which I didn't do consciously, to honour the song we got some jazz musicians to play on the track.

You return to Manchester on the tour, are you looking forward to returning?

Yes, I'm looking foreword to coming back to the north, I don't get back up there as much as I would like.

Do you think the art of songwriting is dead these days?

It seems to be a weird way of writing songs, it is almost like it is done by committee with so many people involved with writing songs now, it is a case sometimes of "too many cooks" so to speak. People are not writing songs any more that will stand the test of time.
There does not seem to be an ownership of music any more when it is streamed on platforms such as Spotify, if you look back to the 10cc albums even the art work on the album cover was part of the package, the cover of the album gave you an idea of the music, mind you on my new solo album the cover has nothing to do with the music!

Do you have a favourite song from all the ones that you have written?

I am proud of all of them but if I had to pick one it would be Bus Stop which The Hollies sung.

What was it like playing in Ringo Starr's All Starr Band?

I did tours of Europe and America in 2018 and it was fantastic. The first track on the new album, Standing Next To Me is all about that, Ringo also plays drums on some tracks on the new album. It is put on CD, vinyl, download and streaming too.

Graham Gouldman plays Manchester Royal Northern College of Music on Thursday 24 September 2020 which is a rescheduled date from 2 April 2020, tickets in advance are £26.50 and are available from:
https://www.rncm.ac.uk/production/graham-gouldman/
Telephone: 0161 907 5555