Interview: Peter Tork

He's tired, but in good spirits.

"This is pretty early for me, seeing as I live the rock n roll lifestyle," he yawned.

Peter is excited about coming to Darwen to headline at this weekend's Darwen Live music festival. His reasons are two-fold, and he spells them out to me (he has a habit of doing this).

"Of course I'm looking forward to it, because: a) It's always a joy to play live; and b) it's always a joy to come to the UK. I love it over there, not only because I get a great response, but there's just something about it, I don't even know what. Maybe it's because I'm pretty English and Irish by descent. There's so much heritage over there."

Peter is, of course, best-known for his time in the '60s pop phenomenon The Monkees, a band created for the NBC American TV series of the same name.

The show, which ran from 1966 to 1968, helped turn the boys into a real band and one of the most popular music acts of the decade.

Alongside Peter were Davy Jones, who was born in Manchester, Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz and they had hits including Daydream Believer, I'm a Believer and Last Train to Clarksville.

"At the time we didn't realise what a big deal it was," said Tork.

"One thing led to another and it was just good to be in the studio making records. I was just thrilled to be playing in a band, because that's my favourite thing to do ever.

"But looking back it was unique. You've got to remember we weren't cast on musical ability - we were actors. What happened to us was like all the cast of ER becoming real doctors together once the show finished, or like Leonard Nimoy becoming a Vulcan."

The first time he realised the show was going to make him a star was even before it had been screened.

"There was this time when we were doing a publicity tour before the show had aired and we were looking over this balcony at a few girls waiting outside. What we didn't see was a huge group of girls standing under the balcony.

"I went downstairs to get something and was almost crushed to death by these girls. I had to be rescued by the security guards. Right then and there I realised we had been accepted as pop stars. That's when I first had an idea of how big this was going to be. They were really good times."

Peter was widely regarded the best musician of the band,having worked as a musician before the TV show, but he modestly refutes claims that he had the most talent.

"I have to stop you right there. I absolutely was not the most talented one," he said seriously.

"I was the best trained one, but there's a very big difference there. When we started out I knew what the chords were, how they were spelt, but that's all training - not raw talent.

"As far as proper musical talent goes, I don't know which one of us was the most talented. You could give Davy Jones a guitar and say "do this" and he'd be able to play it that night, and did so on a number of occasions. Micky taught himself to play a few small bits on drums and next thing he was playing them and singing at the drums like he'd been doing it for years.

"I had been trained on piano since the age of nine and can pick up most instruments pretty readily."

Although The Monkees officially disbanded in 1970 the guys still keep in contact and several reunions have taken place, beginning in 1986 and the most latest being 2001. But although another reunion is a possibility, the chances are pretty slim, said Peter.

Besides, he's busy with his own band, Shoe Suede Blues, having developed an interest in blues music more recently.

He has also taken up the more unusual pastime of being an online agony uncle.

"I write an advice column on thedailypanic.com," said Peter.

"I enjoy passing on wisdom - it's a big part of my life. Everybody has different character traits and it's how you use them that counts. I used to be a busybody but now I help people by listening to them and helping them work things out and it's a virtue."

• See Peter Tork play Darwen Live 2008 on Sunday, May 24, on the main stage at 8.30pm.