Synthpop legends Hot Chip bring in 2024 with a DJ set at Edinburgh’s Concert In The Gardens (before headliners Pulp take to the stage), plus a free set on New Year’s Day as part of the First Footin’ music programme. In our Q&A, the band’s Alexis Taylor talks Tasmanian tigers, haunting a Pogue and hot beverage revelations.

Who would you like to see playing you in the movie about your life? John Lurie.  

Who do you think the casting people would choose? Charlie Brown. 

What’s the punchline to your favourite joke? ‘Not unless round is funny.’

If you were to return in a future life as an animal, what would it be? A back-from-extinction thylacine.

If you were playing in an escape room, name two other people (well-known or otherwise) you’d recruit to help you get out? Our cat Squibbsies and George Whetnall.

When was the last time you were mistaken for someone else and what were the circumstances? A homeless person shouted ‘Harry Potter’ at me in about 2002. 

What’s the best cover version ever? ‘Mandy’ by Barry Manilow, turning Scott English’s depressing but brilliant drinking song ‘Brandy’ into a love song.

Whose speaking voice soothes your ears? Yinrun from Big Brother.

Tell us something you wish you had discovered sooner in life? The chords to ‘My Ideal’ by Chet Baker.

Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise people? I have never had a cup of coffee.

What’s the most hi-tech item in your home? A TV from the 1990s.

Describe your perfect Saturday evening? Eating a Turkish meal with my family and having friends back to our house afterwards to listen to records and talk.

If you were a ghost, who would you haunt? I want to be haunted by the ghost of your precious love; so Shane MacGowan. I’d hope to do the haunting with Sinéad O’Connor. In all seriousness, I hope Shane is in a fit state to be haunted by my precious love for as long as possible; I don’t think he is very well.

If you could relive any day of your life, which one would it be? The day I went on a date with my wife Kerri for the first time. 

What’s your earliest recollection of winning something? In the last year of primary school, we won a borough-wide school football tournament and I was very proud to have played on that winning team.

What’s a skill you’d love to learn but never got round to? How to cook well; or have more confidence to try at least.

If you were to start a tribute act to a band or singer, who would it be in tribute to and what would it be called? Hot Chip. Not Chip.

When were you most recently astonished by something? This morning. I went to a morning concert/congregation in memory of all the (known) homeless people who have died in the last year in London, with very moving speeches about particular people and a fantastic performance of Gavin Bryars’ ‘Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet’. It was very intense, and very inclusive of all the people attending, and very moving.

What tune do you find it impossible not to get up and dance to, whether in public or private? ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ by Flatt and Scruggs.

Which famous person would be your ideal holiday companion? Holiday Sidewinder.

As an adult, what has a child said to you that made a powerful impact? A child who had lost his father (who I had worked with on music) said a lot to me through his own musical abilities that was truly beyond words.

When did you last cry? It was this morning.

Did you have a nickname at school that you were ok with? And can you tell us a nickname you hated? Lek. Alexis Colby.

By decree of your local council, you’ve been ordered to destroy one room in your house and all of its contents. Which room do you choose? That’s easy as we have so much stuff that probably could do with destroying! The spare bedroom/place of hoarding. 

If you were selected as the next 007, where would you pick as your first luxury destination for espionage? Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

Hot Chip play DJ sets at Concert In The Gardens, West Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, Sunday 31 December, and at First Footin’, Virgin Hotel (Greyfriars Hall), Edinburgh, Monday 1 January.