The rogue from The Pogues

As we arrived at the club, Phil called my mobile to say: "Whatever you do, don’t give Shane any money - we need him back early so he can record tomorrow." This vital information arrived as MacGowan, looking like a cross between a wild Irish Teddy boy and Brendan Behan, hopped from the taxi to have a word with the club bouncers. Soon he was sitting at a VIP table in rock star sunglasses, signing autographs for fans, drinking cocktails and smoking endlessly.

I fell asleep almost as soon as I sat down in the club, the travelling having caught up with me. When I woke, Shane was explaining to a bouncer that I was with him. He then suddenly got up, hobbled to the exit and disappeared into the cold Dublin morning.

About a week later, Phil calls, saying Shane wants to talk; I seem to have passed the initiation ceremony. Eventually I get through to him, in the middle of a European tour, at about half past 12 on a Friday night. He’s in a far better mood than at our first encounter: lucid, at ease and enthusiastic about his new album.

There is also the release of a feature-length DVD of his life story. If I Should Fall From Grace gives a rare insight into the workings of MacGowan, from his childhood through to present day. Often uncompromising, the film captures the fundamental nature of this complex personality. His idyllic childhood in Ireland obviously jarred with teenage life in London, but both places are essential to his writing and his nature.

MacGowan is content with the film’s representation.

"It’s probably the best documentary about The Pogues, the music and the way things came about. It was done casually, nothing was set up. It was just Sarah Share, who directed it, a cameraman and a sound man. We all forgot they were there very quickly. The interviews are very frank - no one is being stitched up or anything."

What is obvious from the film is that the Irishness of Johnny Rotten (Rotten came from an Irish family) was as much of an influence to MacGowan as traditional Irish music. There is some fantastic raw footage of him as a teenager attending a Sex Pistols gig and performing with The Nips, who in many ways were a forerunner for The Pogues.

"I was playing with The Pogues before The Nips broke up officially. We [The Pogues] started out doing what is on the first album [Red Roses For Me]. We spent two or three years playing that first album round rock gigs, Irish centres and Irish bars until we built up a huge following. There was a huge buzz from the word go."

Although accounts differ on the break-up of The Pogues, MacGowan maintains their split was down to the musical output and especially the direction of the band’s final album, Hell’s Ditch. The band reformed for a Christmas tour of the UK and Ireland in 2001 and headlined last year’s London Fleadh.

"The reunion gigs with The Pogues - it’s nice to see old faces behind the stage and in the crowd. You get to do songs you haven’t done for a long time and it brings back a lot of memories. We sounded pretty good for a bunch of doddery old men. It was just to get it done and give people a chance to see us that never saw us.

"It also gave people a chance to see why we broke up... democracy doesn’t work in bands really. They were drifting [from Irish music], that was the musical differences. I went back to doing exactly what I wanted, to a more Irish sound, which is what we started out doing - when I was officially in charge!"

The Pogues at their peak were one of the best live bands of the 1980s. They were intrepidly Irish at a time when anti-Irish feeling was rife in London, a multicultural fusion of styles and influences.

"The touring was great for the first few years and there were loads of great live buzzes," MacGowan adds. "We didn’t do any folk clubs ever - we did one once and we were clapped incredibly politely and all that, but it was obvious that the English folk scene wasn’t ready for us. The Irish folk scene was much more ready for us, apart from a few purists."

Outside of Dublin, MacGowan’s favourite city is Glasgow. He wrote a song about the city, ‘Tomorrow Belongs To Me’, for a Celtic Football Club charity record and appeared on the pitch at Parkhead when Celtic clinched the Scottish league against Livingston in 2002.

"Going out on the pitch at Parkhead was like going on stage at the Barrowlands; it was the same crowd. Celtic are the only team I’m interested in apart from the Ireland team, but I’m not really a big soccer fan."

Along with his backing band The Popes, he’s also been one of the biggest draws at the Celtic Connections festival for two years running. Their gigs can be every bit as dynamic and eclectic as The Pogues in their heyday, but the major difference is that MacGowan runs the show.

"With The Popes I’m the bandleader, so I decide what happens without having to bugger around. When everybody is supposed to be equal you never get anything done.

"The Popes are great musicians and they get better all the time. They’re tight as f***, and that’s good for me because I only have to worry about keeping myself together."

His first new studio album in six years is being produced by several world-famous names in Dublin, London and New York.

"Bono will be on it, there are a few duets, there’s going to be stuff with Finbar Fury, Ronnie Drew and people like that. There’s brand new stuff and some old Irish covers that aren’t well known standards that you can hear in any Irish bar."

Earlier this year in Glasgow, MacGowan picked up a lifetime achievement award at The McGinn Awards, named after Matt McGinn, one of Scotland’s most radical folk songwriters and poets in the 1960s and 1970s. I point out to Shane that it is unfortunate that McGinn means nothing to people in Scotland below a certain age.

"It’s a depressing fact about a lot of people. For a lot of younger people in Dublin, depending on the area, and in the North, they don’t seem to know who anybody is before Boyzone or something like that. I don’t think you should expect people who don’t get exposed to the older music to know about people that aren’t played on the radio or appearing on television.

"You have to broadcast culture to people nowadays - when I say culture, I mean entertainment. You have to broadcast it to them because it isn’t being handed down any more by the oral tradition."

As the interview ends, at nearly two in the morning, Shane reminds me of our previous encounter in Dublin, me falling asleep as soon as we got to the Dublin club. He cackles wickedly: "It was a bit late for you last time... Are you going out tonight?"

If I Should Fall From Grace is out now on DVD