I flop in my car, sweating, hair dishevelled, dazed and ‘having a moment’ to try and gather myself before I tackle London’s roads. There’s a tap at the window and it’s Noel waving goodbye with his friends, off to get some lunch before his afternoon rehearsal session.  Holy shit, that DID just happen.

Re-wind a box of Coco-Pops, a trip to Costcutters, Capes, a cup of Luxury Comedy own brand coffee with creamer, and about two hours and there I am standing outside Noels studio chatting to Serge about the weather (seriously Louise, the weather?!?!?!) Luckily he is a sweet guy and is politely humouring my awful meteorological chat, going so far as to remove his jacket to placate my babbling over how hot it is for this time of year.  I’m working on that, don’t worry.

Noel arrives and the next two hours are a whirlwind of wonderfulness.

Noel is a pro at this. Even after a late night, his enthusiasm and energy was incredible, and together they fuelled each other to go bigger and better throughout the shoot. After we had secured the cover shot (there were so many it could have been!) we worked on the DPS I had been asked to get. Noel and Serge disappeared, replaced instead by the caped duo ‘The Decision’ and ‘Vacuum Cloud’ who make up the band ‘Loose Tapestries’.
Conscious of time, we concentrated on some set ups in the studio which I managed to get just before my deadline, when a genius trip to Costcutters was suggested. Ever happy to prolong the shoot, we spent the next twenty minutes wandering the streets of North London whilst I snapped them along the way. Unsurprisingly the pair attracted a lot of attention with Noel even posing for a photo on a scooter with a fan.

We eventually completed our pilgrimage to the local shop who were more than happy to accommodate a couple of caped minstrels and myself so we did a few shots there before our time really was up and regretfully I was forced to return to reality.

The interview and feature with more images appears in this weeks Big Issue