The following interview was conducted around the time of the 2002 UK tour and appeared, in an edited version, in the Western Mail in Wales. The author, Ben Carlish, has kindly provided the full version that appears here.

Jean Jacques Burnel, devilish bass player of the Stranglers, is hurtling towards London in a Land Rover when I catch up with him - on his mobile phone that is. I would probably need to be going at full throttle on one of his beloved Triumph motorbikes to catch him ‘in transit.’

‘I’ve had this “tank” since it was brand new 12 years ago and it’s done 170,000 miles and I love it. It’s the only vehicle that London cab drivers are scared of - so I can get my own back on ‘em,’ says Burnel.

One might think Burnel, one of the central figures of a band, which even when they formed 28 years ago were regarded as being a little old, might himself be going a little bit rusty after all the miles he’s clocked up. But watch him on stage still lithely hip-swivelling and pivoting around with bass strung low around his neck to some of new wave’s greatest anthems such as Peaches, No More Heroes, (Get A) Grip (On Yourself), Duchess and Golden Brown and you can see his engine’s still purring nicely. Besides this is the bass player who’s a fifth-dan Karate instructor with his own Dojo (martial arts school), who once tied a journalist he didn’t like naked half way up the Eiffel Tower, so I’m not about to suggest he’s past it. As it happens Burnel is motoring en route to teach one of his Karate classes. There can’t be that many jobbing bass players out there who have the sustained self-discipline and dedication to excel in the martial art despite years of living a rock ‘n roll lifestyle.

‘I got involved in the whole beauty and romance of it, I suppose’ says Burnel, of his love of Karate. ‘I am really lucky my master in Japan is the first rock n’ roll master; all his Dojos have got sound systems in them. He was a drummer in a band in the1950s and he loves the idea of training and fighting in time to the music.’

It’s a similar concept in reverse to the kind of pneumatic energy that has underpinned the Stranglers’ sometimes raw yet always melodious sound - one which has always marked them out from the punk movement with which they were first uneasily linked. They were confrontational without being punks, philosophical without being pretentious and musical without being self-indulgent muzos. They distinguished themselves with Burnel’s pulsating lead bass, Jet Black’s hammering drums and Dave Greenfield’s swirling Hammond organ keyboard riffs. And there was Hugh Cornwell - the founder of the band. For many the pithy lead singer and guitarist Cornwell was the driving force behind the band’s creative output and when he left in 1990, believing the band to have gone as far as it could artistically, many lamented the end of the Stranglers’ four.

But Burnel, Black and Greenfield disagreed and began to form the Stranglers’ five. In came ex-Vibrators’ guitarist John Ellis and Paul Roberts, whose frenetically energetic stage presence added a whole new impetus. Four new albums followed since and while none have emulated the critical acclaim and commercial success of the band’s early material, they still display the Stranglers’ hallmark musical diversity, lyrical intelligence and punchy energy. Yet another change in the line up saw Ellis quit and replaced by long-term Stranglers’ fan Baz Warne and again the detractors predicted the end of the line for the band.

But remarkably, says Burnel, a whole new generation of Stranglers’ fans have been flocking to see the band alongside the ‘old guard.’

‘We were sold out in Manchester and we did a mini-tour in Italy where a lot of the crowd turning up were 16 and 17-year-olds. I think they’ve been brought up on house and techno music and they see it as being old hat. They want to hear guitar bands like us,’ he says. ‘Besides we’re pretty damn good live on a good night and some of the material hasn’t dated.’

I tentatively ask if ‘he’s surprised by the longevity of the band,’ a polite way of asking: ‘Are they past it yet?’

He replies: ‘Fortunately we don’t sound stale, you might look us at us and think: “Blow me these old boncers look stale.” But there’s still plenty to write about in this world and the creativity’s still here. So when does the process end? Thank God we’re not relying on our looks or dancing abilities, otherwise we’d never have started in the first place.’