The Zutons: ‘Loads of people texted me money emojis when Amy Winehouse died’
Dave McCabe of The Zutons remembers the details – just about – of his first encounter with the singer who would go on to provide an invaluable income stream for the band when they found themselves unavoidably detained by, well, a decades-spanning hiatus.
At a drunken house party in Camden, the singer and songwriter of the Liverpool indie outfit was being bothered by a hanger-on. When the scouser told him to hop it, another sozzled guest – a local – jumped in to defend the hanger-on. “No, you f*** off!” shouted Amy Winehouse. “And I went: ‘No, you f*** off!’” recalls McCabe, slapping his thighs at the memory.
In an alco-huff, he stormed out of the party, only to remember that he was in an unfamiliar part of north London, unable to get a taxi, “out my head, fuming… And then Amy comes out with her fella at the time – not Blake [Fielder-Civil], some other guy – he was quite normal compared to Blake...
“They run down the road after me and she goes: ‘Come back! I love that song “Valerie”! I didn’t realise it was you who wrote that!’ So then we go
