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Leader of the influential band The Pop Group, Mark Stewart is making his return with new solo album The Politics Of Envy on 26 March, boasting a host of collaborations including cult filmmaker Kenneth Anger, punk pioneer Richard Hell, Factory Floor, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and more. Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie appears on first single Autonomia, and the pair sat down to discuss the music and politics that have influenced their outlook as artists and their lives. In Part I, Gillespie and Stewart chat about their early days and shared heroes.

Mark Stewart: It's strange that although we're all from different towns, somehow when we were young we found similar influences like The 'Dolls and MC5 we all on our own. What do you think?

Bobby Gillespie: The thing that binds us is that we are all obsessive people who as teenagers were dissatisfied with what was on offer culturally, politically, socially. I'd say we were and are dreamers who dreamed our way out of the boredom, ugliness and violence of growing up where we did by seeking out occult bands, films and literature. We all felt there was something more to being alive but didn't know what or where. When punk hit it was like a psychic hurricane. Through punk I finally met people I could truly relate to like Alan McGee and Andrew Innes. I had a job in a printing factory when I left school at 16. I was totally miserable. Terrified that this would be it for the rest of my life. I had just got into punk through singles by The 'Pistols, Clash, Jam, Stranglers and Ramones which kept me alive, to be honest. It gave me a reason for living. Patti Smith's song Piss Factory had the opening line: "Sixteen and time to pay off/ I got a job, working in a piss factory inspecting pipe/ 40 hours, 36 dollars a week but it's a paycheck jack/" I can never explain how much it blew my mind that music could describe my experience and reality in such a beautiful, poetic way. Tough, tender and sexy - all at the same time. Eventually, through punk, I found that I could be creative, which, coming from my background and minimum education was a complete revelation and a totally empowering feeling. I think the reason we found those bands and obsessed over them is because at heart we are romantics in search for a better world. All the great rock'n'rollers are.

Mark Stewart: Politics seems to be in our blood. I recall talking to you about your dad being an activist...

Bobby Gillespie: As far back as I can remember my dad was political. On our wall at home we had abstract paintings by a family friend alongside the famous Che poster and a photo of the Black Panther American athletes giving the power salute on the rostrum at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. I remember asking my dad what that photo was all about and he told me that black people didn't have the same rights as white people in the USA; that they couldn't eat in the same restaurants, go to the same schools, sit beside each other on the bus. As a 7 year-old kid I found that shocking. Shocking in the same way that I couldn't go to the same school as my friends who were all Catholic. The politics of segregation are foisted on us all from an early age....

Mark Stewart: That gloved salute had as big an effect on me as the moon landing. From sitting on the floor at my mum's reading comics and playing with my Airfix toys, to seeing that event on the same day was a real rite of passage. I definitely started asking a load of difficult questions as a nipper after that...

Bobby Gillespie: At that point my dad was a trade union activist and in the early 60s he was a member of the International Socialists. He became politicised after being involved in a strike at the print factory where he worked. In the mid 70s he became General Secretary of the Society Of Graphical and Allied Trades union for the west Scotland. He was involved in working class politics all his adult life, he got involved to make the world a better place. He was born in the great depression in 1936 and saw firsthand the results of poverty caused by free market capitalism. He suffered malnutrition as a child and didn't want to see anyone else suffer. My father was a huge influence on my brother and myself as far as our political outlook goes. He wanted to change the system for the better, and so do I.

Mark Stewart: That's kind of why I asked you to help me sing this protest song Autonomia about Carlo Giuliani a protester who died at a G8 demo in Genoa.

Bobby Gillespie: I've always admired your lyrics, song and album titles. I once saw The Pop Group described as "Teenage Rimbaud's". When did you first realise you had a talent for the power of words?

Mark Stewart: I had a mate at school when I was 11, who was really into French poetry and we got into the Poète Maudit : de Nerval, Lautréamont and a bit later, Rainer Maria Rilke and Stéphane Mallarmé who is a massive inspiration to me at the moment.

Bobby Gillespie: We've both worked with Adrian Sherwood, when did you first meet him and can you describe your relationship?

Mark Stewart: I used to knock off school when I was a teenager and just hang around shopping centers and record shops all the time. Revolver records in Bristol would get the latest releases from Jamaica and I'd be in there trying to get the heaviest dubs by poeple like The Revolutionaries, Niney The Observer, Hugh Mundell, etc. It was Adrian who was driving the delivery van. I've got vivid memories of [producer] Prince Far I's wife making us all porridge.

Bobby Gillespie: When The Pop Group or Mark Stewart are discussed the critics always seem to mention people like Sun Ra, John Cage, King Tubby, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis and more, but I detect a pop influence on your new album...

Mark Stewart: The Pop Group always wanted to be a pop group. We loved Phil Spector's walls of sound, the massed choirs of The Beach Boys and the spookiness of the Shangri-Las as much as Mutant Miles and co. On this album working with such amazing people such as you guys, Daddy G, Richard Hell, Keith Levene, Factory Floor and Youth amongst other greats I think we're battering down a lot of doors and redefining the term pop. People are hungry for interesting sounds that they can connect with.

Bobby Gillespie: Who are your heroes?

Mark Stewart: I think we've got similar heroes, like Lou Reed, Iggy and on this new record The Politics Of Envy at last I've got to work with lots of mine like Kenneth Anger, Lee Perry, Richard Hell, etc. Obviously lots of mine are outside of music; I think protest movements across the globe from Burma to Bristol are the voice of hope.

Bobby Gillespie: Joe Meek or Phil Spector?

Mark Stewart: Adrian Sherwood! But yesterday I was standing next to some of Joe's recording gear, respect to the British godfather.

Read Part II of Bobby Gillespie and Mark Stewart's conversation now. Head to Markstewartmusic.com for more on the album and a free download.

11:40 AM | 20/02/2012