Madness: Suggs on youth, ageing and why he’s like Homer Simpson ahead of gigs at Halifax Piece Hall and Scarborough Open Air

For 50 years, the music of Madness has been part of the nation’s cultural landscape but never ceases to sound like youth itself.

And frontman Suggs – real name Graham McPherson, a grandfather aged 65 – is reflecting on how ageing has changed over the generations.

“When I was young and your grandparents were 65, they were sitting in an armchair with a cardigan and a pipe. How life expectancy has moved on so much.

“I remember saying in an interview in Smash Hits, the old pop magazine, when I was about 19, I said: ‘No way I will still be playing that Baggy Trousers when I'm an old man of 30.’”

Still the Madness train rolls on, as music lovers across the age spectrum now come out to hop joyfully around to One Step Beyond, Our House and House of Fun.

That word, fun, is what they are still all about half a century on, Suggs agrees.

“We're just so lucky that the legacy of Madness is definitely about having fun,” he says.

“We have fun and it goes on because of that. We've never done anything if we didn't enjoy it. People ask me about the longevity. You look at the videos that we did and the records that we made, and we really were having fun. And I think you can't fake that, you know? I mean, that was authentic, and it still is. And, as long as my knees hold out, I’ll be skipping on until the old sunset arrives.”

He remembers at one show seeing four generations of one family, with a youngster of around six enjoying the gig.

“It's great, of course it is, and it's a privilege that these people want to come. When I first used to see people that age it was ‘Have your parents made you come?’ But I suppose that's partly the internet, that people look at what their parents looked at and could dig it and see the Madness videos. And it's got to happen because a lot of our old mates are falling off their perches, so we need a bit of fresh enthusiasm.”

It is what makes them an ideal summer live band – a point taken by Scarborough Open Air Theatre, where they appear on June 6 before two nights at the The Piece Hall on June 11 and 12 (a second date was added due to demand).

It comes as Madness prepare to celebrate their 50th anniversary of bursting on to the UK music scene in 1976 with a special blend of ska, pop and punk.

Over the years since, they have had more than 30 tracks in the Top 40, 11 UK top 10 albums and accolades including an Ivor Novello Award.

Performing on top of Buckingham Palace for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert in 2012 shows just how much the British public have taken them into their hearts.

National treasures, then, but could an eclectic band like Madness make it in the mainstream now?

“We wouldn't have got very far in the X Factor,” says Suggs.

"Also the fact there were seven of us, I think it's very hard (now). It's hard enough for a four piece band these days, I think, financially, the way the industry is. For a seven-piece band to survive...

“Where we were, in north London, there were probably 12 or 14 pubs that you could play in for nothing. I mean, nowadays you have to pay to play,” he adds, referring to the controversial policy of some venues which charge bands to perform. "So it's very difficult, a very different space, I think, for bands. But I don't know if we'd have survived today.”

Fans might be wondering whether guitarist Chris Foreman will be joining the group for upcoming dates after he revealed in August last year that he was diagnosed with a “treatable but not curable” form of blood cancer called myeloma.

“He's in the right treatment and I speak to him every week,” says Suggs. “We just don't know (whether he will be on tour). He's got optimism and we’ll just have to see.”

Suggs has been open about his own health issues in recent years.

“I had a struggle with alcoholism but I sort of got through that,” he says. “It was very interesting because when you've been drinking for as long as I have, 30-odd years, it's just part of your firmament. It’s funny because music, you don't need to be completely in the room, the music carries you along, but it's the rest of life that's a bit of a struggle. I did it for about six months without drinking and it was interesting, it was like an out-of-body experience. But I can have a couple now. I've kind of managed to get myself in a different position, which is what it was early on.

He stresses: “For people who can’t drink, I'm not saying you should have a couple.”

Ultimately, it is the crowd which elevates him during the shows, he says.

Yorkshire has been a staple of the Madness touring schedule for years, of course, but a lasting recollection is from a night out in the vicinity back in the 1980s.

“My abiding memory is the 50p Motown disco on a Friday night. I can't remember what venue it was but the town was absolutely rammed full of rugby players and girls in mini skirts and coppers on horses. It was quite a scene.”

The Piece Hall should be somewhat different.

Suggs now lives in Leyton, having moved from the capital’s north to the east to be near his two daughters and grandchildren.

“I've now got four grandchildren. My wife, Anne, wanted to be near the grandchildren. I didn't really want to move but I'm really liking it.

"It’s just change. As a man, I’ve always found change really difficult. I have a very simplistic routine. Football, beer - I'm like Homer Simpson.”

And that other constant, Madness.

For tickets to Madness in Scarborough on June 6 and Halifax on June 11 and 12, visit www.madness.co.uk/live