US funny man DOUG STANHOPE has hit UK shores this week with the first date in his UK tour kicking off yesterday. Upon landing on UK soil, Doug spared some time to catch up with both The Guardian and Q Magazine. Doug gave his brutally brillaint opinion on music for lucky Q readers – check out an extract below:

We can talk about music, but you’re going to be sadly disappointed because I don’t like music. I don’t listen to it much. I did just load-up an iPod with Count Basie and Duke Ellington because I feel music should always be background. I don’t want to listen to music as a thing to do. I like it as a soundtrack to whatever you’re doing, non intrusive, so the stuff I listen to is so random and weird.

People who are grandstanding in music and saying, What we’re trying to do in this album… Well make your lyrics decipherable, you fucking assholes! I feel if you want to make a statement, make a statement. Don’t hide it in art. People are too dumb to get it. People aren’t reading the liner notes. If you have something to say, say it. That’s what I love about comedy, if I have a statement I’ll say it and then throw a fist-fuck joke in at the end so it fits under the umbrella of comedy. I don’t just hope people find the message in my art.

There’s more….oh yes! Click here to read the full Q article. And in case you missed it, Doug was also interviewed by The Guardian and you can see a few of those questions below:

What got you started?

I couldn’t do anything else for attention. I couldn’t sing, I wasn’t athletic or physically attractive. But I was funny, so I could go up on an open mic night and tell five minutes of masturbation jokes the same way a fat girl goes up and does karaoke.

What was your big breakthrough?

Not having to work for a living. Back when I was young, with a mullet and a piece-of-shit car, going on stage for 30 minutes and 100 bucks: that was success.

You’ve often been accused of being controversial in your choice of material. Do you set out to shock?

You say it like being controversial is a crime. Honestly, the controversy is you [the media]. People go, “Oh, you got into trouble for some things you said.” No – you wrote that I got into trouble; maybe one guy got mad at a joke, but that happens at every show. At my last show in Cincinnati, I had someone walk out because I made a passing, flippant reference to Syria. I was like, you’ve sat through [jokes about] rape and paedophilia, and that made you walk out?

Do you suffer for your art?

I hate doing it a lot, but even poor, suffering people in our western culture aren’t really suffering. And look at people like Charles Bukowski and Hunter S Thompson: I’d rather sell shoes than live that kind of lifestyle. When it comes to properly hard living, I’m a pedestrian.

Be sure to read the whole interview by poitning your mouse in this direction.

The digital version of Doug’s latest offering ‘Before Turning The Gun On Himself…’ is out now and the physical DVD and CD release is happening on the 12th of March – click here to pick up the digital version if you just can’t wait! You can also catch Doug at one of his UK shows by clicking here and heading over to our Tour Page.