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‘Fame is like inhaling a toxic substance’: the The’s Matt Johnson on pop, politics and his death-defying return

After some big 80s hits, success went to his head – and his life fell apart. Johnson explains how he came back after grief, illness and 24 long years

Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic IncLike its owner, it has had its ups and downs – Johnson closed it as a commercial studio in 2012 – but recently he has been here recording Ensoulment, the first album of new the The songs in 24 years, as well as running a label and publisher called Cinéola. Ensoulment mixes favourite the The themes such as love and death with newer ones such as the education system, AI and, in the comical Zen & the Art of Dating, even online romance (a hapless man is “bullied by his bodily urges”). Johnson grew up in the Two Puddings pub in Stratford, east London, a Kray twins haunt before his father, Eddie – the landlord from 1962 to 2000 – turned it into a live venue that hosted the Kinks, the Who, Rod Stewart and many others.

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