1. Poochie Pete and His Very Big Feet is a fantastic picture book celebrating the joy that music brings. How did you decide on which instruments to choose for the storyline?
I think Pete plays the piano because my own dog, Iggy, sits beside me when I’m playing and really stares at me like he wants to get involved, so I guess that was kind of where the idea started. Also maybe subconsciously it has to do with my dad who was called Peter and was a great piano player – he didn’t have massive feet though.
The other instruments are a mixture of things that just rhymed and scanned well to help with the flow of the verse and things which mean something to me. The saxophone was my first instrument (I have been obsessed with David Bowie since the age of 5 and when I found out the sax was his first instrument I had to emulate) and the guitar is what I really fell for as a teenager.
2. Going from making music in Travis to writing a picture book is a huge change for you. With a brilliant mentor in award-winning children’s author Maisie Chan and the collaboration with your publisher, Little Door Books, can you tell us your writing process from first draft to finished book?
Writing stories and poems has always been part of my songwriting process. If I get stuck lyrically I’ll write some little poems or funny stories to loosen up that part of my brain. It leaves me feeling a bit freer and less precious when I turn back to the song.
I had a few stories that had become a bit more substantial and was introduced to the great Maisie Chan. She read some of my stuff and kindly took me under her wing. Her advice and suggestions were invaluable. We focused on Poochie Pete and after I’d taken her advice onboard and done a few rewrites she introduced me to Alan Windram at Little Door Books. He was absolutely brilliant. Being a writer as well as a publisher, he had some great suggestions to tweak a few things and then introduced me to the wonderful illustrator Rachel Seago.
3. The illustrations by Rachel Seago really bring Poochie Pete’s character to life, especially the paws. Can you share the creative decisions made between you both as the story came to life on the page?
The remarkable thing about Rachel is her ability to empathetically bring the world of the story to life and for it to be both funny and beautiful.
After she read the story she very quickly sent us thumbnails of the entire book, and it was exactly what had been in my head! Every page was what I had imagined when I was writing. I was blown away.
The hardest part was actually finding the character of Pete. Poor Rachel was sending over dog after dog and I kept saying ‘that’s not quite him’. I knew what he wasn’t but I didn’t know what he was. Thankfully, while walking Iggy, we bumped into the dog that would become Pete. He was an adorable Sheepadoodle with, yes, enormous feet. It was such a brief conversation with the owner that I didn’t even get his name, but I sent Rachel some photos and of course she immediately captured him brilliantly.
4. Learning to play an instrument takes time and effort, what advice would you give to learners regardless of which instrument they play?
Pick something you love the sound of and start working out your favourite songs as soon as you can. That gets very rewarding very quickly. Don’t worry about theory or learning the ‘dots’ you can always get into that stuff later, as it actually is quite interesting. Just concentrate on having fun with your instrument and getting joy out of it. Nothing is going to dampen your enthusiasm faster than doing endless scales and repetitive exercises to begin with but you’ll probably find you’ll actually want to do that stuff. After a while, to improve your playing, that becomes rewarding in itself.
But initially just have fun! It’s the greatest thing in the world. Music is like real life magic.
5. With book festival appearances on the horizon for you and Poochie Pete, where can readers and music enthusiasts come along to see you?
I’m thrilled to be getting the opportunity to do some book events. Rachel and I did our first one at the Wee Write Festival in Glasgow and it was great! I was a bit nervous to be honest but it was so much fun and the kids were amazing. I’ve written a couple of songs to go with the book, so I’ll be playing them, Rachel does a draw along with the kids and they all draw their own Poochie Pete. It’s really lovely.
We’ll be heading to the Boswell Book Festival on the 9th May then the Paisley and Dublin Book Festivals on the 16th and 17th May. There’s also the Borders Book Festival on the 13th June and a load more in the summer and autumn. It’s very exciting.
6. What’s next for Dougie Payne?
After the book events in May and June I’ll be going into the studio with the band to start recording, then it’s more book events before the next tour starts. I’m also in the midst of writing the next Poochie Pete book which is proving to be incredibly fun
Find our review here.
Published by Little Door Books
Photo of Dougie Payne, image credit, Stefan Ruiz
Dougie Payne
Dougie Payne is the bass player and backing vocalist
with multi platinum selling Scottish indie band, TRAVIS.
Dougie was a graduate of Glasgow School of Art where
he met the other members of Travis before joining the
band on bass guitar, going on to record best-selling
albums and selling out stadiums across the globe.
He has always read and written stories for his two
children illustrating them himself, but was much more
keen to develop his writing. In an effort to hone down his
ideas he was mentored by award-winning author, Maisie
Chan.
Poochie Pete is Dougie’s debut picture book.
About the illustrator
Rachel Seago
After several years travelling the world working freelance
from wherever I could find wifi, I have finally settled (for
now) in my home country of Scotland. My main focus is
children’s illustration and I now create the majority of my
work digitally. My inspiration is drawn from nature,
places I’ve been and people I’ve seen.
Rachel has illustrated the Lola and Larch series of
chapter books published by Nosy Crow.
Poochie Pete is Rachel’s debut picture book.
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