The Modernist movement of the early-mid 1960s was unquestionably the most stylish era of 20th Century music and fashion. The only era that could come a close second to the original movement was the mod revival era of the late 1970s/early 1980s. One of the primary exponents of the mod revival was Long Tall Shorty.

Founded in 1978 by Tony Perfect and Keith Mono, Long Tall Shorty (or LTS as they’re known to their fans and acronym-lovers) quickly ensconced themselves in the hearts of the new generation of Mods as one of the most popular bands of the revival era. Thanks largely to their loyal and devoted fans, after a break from music during the 80s and 90s, they reformed in the year 2000 to the delight of mods everywhere.

In 2008, Long Tall Shorty are still wowing crowds all over the place with their R’n’B and power pop infused gigs. Heather Wainwright managed to grab a quick chat with Tony Perfect to find out exactly what they’re up to these days.

Long Tall Shorty took quite an extended hiatus from the mid-80s to 2000. Why did you decide to come back, and was it difficult trying to win the fans over again?
I always had this thought that people over 25 shouldn’t be in bands, so after LTS originally split, I got a job, got married etc and the bug kind of left me as I now had other things to concentrate on. My mate Ian used to play bass with Ian Page of Secret Affair – and he kept phoning me from various gigs telling me that people were asking about LTS, or that they just played one of our songs over the PA. It’s all his fault! He kept on and on and eventually I thought, “let’s do one gig and see how it goes”. I got to about the fourth song during the first gig and suddenly realised I was enjoying myself and it went on from there. We were also lucky to get a 45 and an LP released on the Acid Jazz label, which gave everything a new focus.

The band obviously have a quite extensive repertoire, but are there any songs that you particularly enjoy playing live, or any that you really worry about getting right onstage?
My favourite LTS songs are ‘Shine on Me’ and ‘1970’s Boy’. I don’t worry about making mistakes, we’re all human and sometimes you feel more at one with what you are doing but I just try and project the songs, if there are a few bum notes here and there, at least you’re trying!

The majority of our readers will never have seen one of your live shows - what can they expect from attending one of your gigs?
Gosh… What I would hope is that anyone who came to see us who didn’t know us would watch us get up onto the stage and think we just like a kindly bunch of middle aged blokes – and then when we start playing it comes out as a cross between Muddy Waters and the Ramones! That’d be cool!

You undertook a mini-European tour earlier this year. How do the European crowds differ to the British crowds?
Madrid, which was the last date of the tour, was amazing and just like 20 odd years ago in the UK. We walked onto the stage and I saw people with Sham 69 and Sex Pistols T-shirts on and thought, “great, they’re gonna hate us!” but the minute we started playing, they were all jumping around and singing along with the words which was a total shock. We had such a great time, it’s funny to think that someone as old as me could still get the opportunity to go and do something like that!

I’ve heard rumours about a new single being released early in 2009 - can you tell us more about that?
Yes, I heard those rumours too! Andy Lewis, who is currently playing in Paul Weller’s band, said he would produce a 45 for us, so that would be fun to do. I would be in two minds as to what we should release – one of the songs that are on MySpace, or a completely new song to let Andy do what he wants with it. I love that song, ‘Brimful Of Asha’ by Cornershop – or rather, I thought I did, and then I heard the original which was really low-key, and I thought Norman Cook did the most amazing job of producing it. I’d love to come out with something like that, not because of any great ambition to be famous, but just to push the boundaries of what a band like ours is “supposed” to sound like.