“THIS is my man cave,” says Mike Campbell, showing Uncut around his home studio. He’s being a little modest – not many man caves have hosted the likes of Tom Petty, Del Shannon and Roy Orbison, although the place he calls Hocus Pocus Recorders retains Campbell’s very personal sense of charming chaos. “Here’s my piano, signed by Little Richard,” he says, swinging the camera around. “This is the drum room, all set up and ready to go. Rickenbacker bass there in the background. Guitars everywhere, of course. It’s great for somebody like me who’s always writing. If I want to record, I don’t have to worry about setting up the mics – I just turn ’em on and go. It’s a perfect artist’s world.”
The latest album to emerge from Hocus Pocus is , Campbell’s third as late-blossoming frontman of The Dirty Knobs. “I’m really proud of it,” he says. “The lyrics are getting better –
