Mike Rimmer spent some hours with American singer/songwriter MICHAEL McDERMOTT during his recent British tour

At the Barfly, there's only a tiny audience gathered in the cold gloom to see McDermott sing. Those who have made the effort are greatly rewarded by a passionate performance. Michael plays some songs on guitar and then shifts to piano. He chats briefly to the audience and introduces songs. Clearly the years of experience have made him a deft performer. One of the highlights from the new album 'Noise From Words' is "Mess Of Things" with its lyrical echoes of Lou Reed and Velvet Underground's "Waiting For The Man". "I met Lou Reed one time," shares McDermott who has the story telling gift whether on stage or in a bar. "He was doing a book tour or something. I was in New York and we were talking a bit and I said something like, 'I got this show tonight, just playing by myself. I love playing solo acoustic because you are really naked.' Anyway I said goodbye to him and started walking out of this office we were in. He called after me and said, 'Michael, yeah man I know what you mean about that, but at least you've got a guitar and a piano, I'm just up there with my words.' And I went, 'Yeah! But you are Lou Reed!' Like are you trying to compare our journeys here? Give me a break!"

Michael has been big time and signed to major labels who have thrown away thousands of dollars trying to make him a success. "Millions," he corrects, and who knows exactly how much money he owes to the multi-nationals which they are never going to get back. "No they're not," he admits. "There's not a chance!" And that's the nature of the record business. In the end what is left are some great albums that you can still track down and the critical acclaim that has come with them.

A lot of comparisons have been made between McDermott and other artists. Springsteen is the most common. "I was a Springsteen fan growing up and not to name drop again but I got a chance to meet Bruce. I was at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I was on the cover of the New York Times. There was an article, Rock Finds Religion Again, and I had my hair down to here, all these crosses and Celtic crosses and a wooden cross. So I was invited and our chairs were back to back and so I knew I had to say something to Bruce. But what do I say? I turned round and reached for his bicep and said, 'Excuse me Bruce. I am Michael McDermott, I'm with EMI.' And he went, 'Yeah man, saw the article in the paper - congratulations!' and I said, 'Yep, whatever. What I wanted to say was I figured that if you jumped over the wall at Graceland to meet Elvis and I was sitting next to you and didn't come to say thank you, I would hate myself for the rest of my life.' So he got a laugh and that was it and I turned around, but he seemed very nice and yeah, he was my guy, he was my beacon, you know."

One of the most stunning songs on 'Noise From Words' is the closer, "I Shall Be Healed". McDermott explains how he wrote it, "The genesis of the song was on a trip to South Carolina. I was walking around on tour and we went to the auction block where there once was slave trading. I swear that I felt Jesus was walking around and I saw something out of the corner of my eye and I looked and there was nothing but there were ghosts in that place and some of them weren't great. I didn't sleep in days because I was partying, so I went out to my parents. I needed some kind of family thing. I drove by the church, St Michael's. I went in and the congregation were there because it was a Sunday morning and I went into a little chapel and I got down on my knees. I was crying my eyes out and I just kept saying, 'Say the word and I shall be healed, just say the word and I shall be healed.' Father McLoughlin walked in and saw the condition I was in and asked, 'Are you okay?' I just kind of pushed by him and went home. After I slept for a couple of days I got up, went to the piano and wrote the song."

In the Barfly, McDermott is about to sing "I Still Ain't Over You Yet". As he introduces the song he explains it seems to be the main motivating factor for people to head to the product table and buy his latest CD. The story of his heartbreak has a recent British chapter too since the girl in question is in the UK at the same time as McDermott and they were even in the same city a few days earlier!

I point out that he's really good at writing broken relationship songs. If his compositions are anything to go by, Michael seems to have been dumped by girls on an extraordinary number of occasions. "I think I go for the wrong one just for the material," he laughs. "I was going to propose to this woman (addressed in "I Still Ain't Over You Yet") on New Year's Eve, not last year but the year before. It didn't work out. Good news is I got money back on the ring! Anyway, but as Bogey would say, "Of all the juke joints in all the towns, she had to walk into mine." So I am playing Brighton a week ago and she was playing with this girl who is Meatloaf's daughter and they were opening up for Velvet Revolver and were on tour. It was just weird because I sent her an email before I came over just saying, 'If anything happens just know that I love you.' Then she wrote, 'Oh that's funny, I'm going to be in England too.' So we were in the same town on the same night; 1.4 miles apart - I looked up how far away it was. But then we ended up arguing about who was going to go to see who. She wanted to see Slash and I said she could see Slash any time. What are the odds that we are both in Brighton on this rainy Wednesday night? Anyway, it's not a good ending, we didn't see each other and I suspect we won't ever again."

So how is his post-"I Still Ain't Over You Yet" recovery going? "That was a big one to get over," he admits. "And after punching walls, it's going okay. Day by day. It's like anything; it's a recovery." Has the ex-girlfriend heard the song? "I don't think so," he ruminates. "I sent it to her obviously and then a friend of hers produced it and tried to get her to listen to it in the car. But she wouldn't. Then she told me, 'Michael, you are a great writer but I don't believe anything you say.'"

If you've not heard the song, there's a line in the middle which always leaps out at listeners. McDermott observes that "even Jesus himself doesn't know the piss poor state I'm in." "Yeah, I wasn't sure about using that line," he admits, "but yeah, that just goes back to our hide and go seek times. Does [Jesus] know? He does know, I know he knows. But it's just that moment of self-pitying, crying-in-your-beer kind of thing going on."

After the show I've made plans to introduce the singer to the delights of a Birmingham balti. However in the thin Birmingham Barfly audience is British journalist Hannah Kowszun who's made the trip up from London to surprise McDermott. They met a few days earlier when she interviewed him for Third Way magazine. She's a live wire and full of charismatic energy, could easily win an award for the most creative over-usage of the F word. All the signs are that they are in the first flush of a relationship with uncertainty and joy present in equal measure! I take them out for a curry and do a pretty good impression of a gooseberry. The meal is rushed and I can see how things are. I rush them back to the venue where they exit my car and head back into the Barfly fully occupied with each other. I know I am immediately forgotten. But that's fine. Michael McDermott is a romantic, a poet and a singer of exceptional power. Who knows? Maybe Hannah has already inspired a new song that we'll be hearing on his next album.