Cult rocker Julian Cope announces North East date

The singer, poet and occultist will be playing tracks from his new album Drunken Songs.

And Hartlepool has been namechecked in the title of one of the tunes on his new album of drinking songs.

The town is in the title of Liver Big As Hartlepool on the forthcoming record.

Cope shot to fame in the early 80s as lead singer of Teardrop Explodes, and has since gone on the enjoy a career as one of British music’s most loveable eccentrics.

He was in a Merseyside band with Echo & The Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch and Wah! frontman Pete Wylie, who wrote a song called Heart As Big As Liverpool.

Liver Big As Hartlepool is Cope’s answer song to Wylie’s effort and is included on the new album inspired by drinking - after Cope had fell off the wagon after being teetotal for 20 years!

Cope has said of the ode to Hartlepool: “My old mate Pete Wylie wrote a song called ‘Heart As Big As Liverpool,’ [so] I’ve written an answer song called ‘Liver Big As Hartlepool,’ and it’s a namecheck of Northern towns.”

“I was teetotal for 21 years, but I did research in Armenia and the villagers put on this big spread for me.

“They insisted that I drink mulberry vodka [oghi], because it was their way of saying ‘thank you’, so I got absolutely sloshed, and since then I’ve become a drinker again.”

The album Drunken Songs is released on February 2 on Resident Music.

Julian Cope plays live at Newcastle Riverside on Friday, February 17.

For ticket information visit www.riversidenewcastle.co.uk.