Sunday with Chilly Gonzales: ‘I’ll be piling up my pancakes’

Sunday work or rest? My job doesn’t differentiate weekends from weekdays. Most musicians would say that. But I do try to keep my Sundays something like what I think a Sunday should be. Concerts tend to happen on weekends, chances are I’ll be waking up in a hotel. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be piling up my pancakes at the breakfast bar, which is how I would be starting my Sunday if I was lucky enough to wake up in my own bed.

What time are you up? You have this phase in your 20s where you think, ‘I’m a rock star, I don’t have to get up for anything – ever.’ Well, I’m 52 now. I start losing steam at 6pm, and I’ve got way too much stuff to do to be laying in bed beyond a point.

How do you cope? I did a lot of therapy in my 40s. I started to realise that being Chilly Gonzales and the acclaim that came with that was where the gas in the tank was coming from. But that isn’t a long-term solution to life. I had to learn to live in reality.

So you rest? I do like to nap. Not too long – 40 minutes or so, otherwise you mess up your internal rhythms – and always in bed. And I will often go for a walk. But it’s not unlike me to make some music, too.

What are you eating? French toast. Nobody loves french toast like I love french toast, although my daughter is running me close. I’m Canadian, Canadians love their big breakfasts. We’re a lumberjack society. I love omelettes, waffles, toast, bircher muesli. I’m a fan of the English breakfast, too, but beans at breakfast doesn’t fly with me.

Are you in the UK? I split my time between France and Germany. Germans love this thing called quark for breakfast – it’s a sort of cottage cheese – and there’s never a shortage of cold meats, obviously. France has no breakfast culture at all. To them, breakfast is a pastry and cigarettes.

Retail therapy? Germany hasn’t let capitalism infringe on Sunday yet. Shops are closed, grocery shops are closed, even pharmacies. I wouldn’t change it for anything. That slowness is absolutely core to the practice of rest. And, ultimately, I think rest is the point of Sunday.

Chilly Gonzales’s new album, Gonzo, is out now via Gentle Threat