New York Dolls @ HMV Picture House, Edinburgh, 10 Dec

The New York Dolls, the legendary proto punks whose first appearances in the early 70s still stand out as some of the more shocking of rock ‘n’ roll history, are coming to town. Being social sorts, we had a chat with singer David Johansen, to see if they were as excited as we were.

Unsurprisingly, he was a bit more laconic than us. He has, after all, seen a lot of parties. But he was still well up for it: "To me and I think to everybody in the band it's pretty much what we like to do. We like to get together and play... Everybody has their good days and bad days but It's mostly good." Okay, a lot more laconic.

More surprisingly, we managed to get Johansen to open up on the subject of philosophy. (Honest! Heres an extract, Skinny-first:)

“What's inspiring you right now?”

“Consciousness of consciousness. That's keeping me pretty busy... I don't define my consciousness. I don't think anyone can. It's a theatre that is exciting because people are just getting up to that."

"Is it almost a question of unconsciousness of consciousness?"

"There's  consciousness. There's subconsciousness. There's the collective subconscious."

That this Jungian outlook was being explored by THE David Johansen seemed like it must've been a public first. The guy isn't, er, renowned for his subtle approach to life or music.

But if there is a new circumspection or even wisdom to Johansen’s conversation these days, this betrays the real reason the New York Dolls are actually better insulated against the effects of time than many veteran outfits. Specifically, they seem almost entirely immune to the ‘maturing’ process: latest (fourth) album ‘Cause I Sez So is as snotty, irresponsible and exciting as ever; and accordingly the live show is sure to be a raucous showcase of excessive rock ‘n’ roll (the cliché you know you love).

And they’re sure to have picked up some new insights along the way, as Johansen seemed to intimate when he insisted: “The way the subconscious works for a musician is one goes through life and experiences things which just kind of hit on a visceral level, and they kind of get stored away. Then when one is making music all these forces are there.” Which can be read as: ‘we’ve been living it for years; trust us, we really know what we’re doing now’.

Next month’s Edinburgh show should be a display of the creative benefits, not so much of hanging on, but powering through.