H e's been the guitarist in Britpop band Ocean Colour Scene since he was a teenager and he's also a mainstay of 'modfather' Paul Weller's live band. Considering his reputation as one of the best guitar players of the past 20 years, it's strange it's taken Steve Cradock until recently to go it alone.

A true mod-revivalist, known for his retro guitar sound, the height of Steve's fame came in the early 1990s when there was a second wave of mod-influenced music blending into the indie scene. In 1996 Ocean Colour Scene's second album Moseley Shoals was a massive chart success and from it sprang the singles the band will always be best known for; The Riverboat Song and The Day We Caught The Train.

Now, almost two decades later, Steve still divides his time between playing for Paul Weller and for Ocean Colour Scene. But to add to his hectic schedule, he also released a solo album in 2009, with a follow-up last year, and he's recently been supporting Liam Gallagher's solo project Beady Eye.

Go! caught up with Steve, who counts Oasis' Noel Gallagher and Mani from The Stone Roses among his best friends, on his way to play at the Brixton Academy.

How did you start out in the music business?

"I'd been in bands all through my teens but I started seriously with Ocean Colour Scene when I was 19. And a bit later on I met Weller at a recording studio and we got chatting there; he remembered me as a fan. So he gave us a few support gigs and that's how Ocean Colour Scene started to get big. And he also asked me to join his band at the same time as second guitar player. So I've been playing in both bands ever since."

Does that ever get confusing?

"I've been doing it for the last 18 years and it's really confusing. I've got hundreds of songs going through my head at once. It's like having a split personality."

But your solo stuff is taking up most of your time at the moment?

"It is yeah, I've released a couple of albums and I'm halfway through another one. I've only been doing solo things since 2009 and I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying songwriting, I'd never done that before. And singing! I have to sing all the time now.

"But I'm not a big fan of being the centre of attention on stage. I've never been that comfortable on stage anyway."

And the tour that you're bringing to Tunbridge Wells is with an acoustic band?

"It is an acoustic tour. As in I don't play an electric guitar and we don't have a drummer. And we sit on stools – does that define it as acoustic?"

You have a backing band with a revolving cast we hear?

"Yeah, I'll be bringing with me my wife Sally, who plays keyboards – she's my Yoko. And then I've got the guitar player from Ocean Colour Scene and another keyboard player who also plays with Paul Weller.

"So there's the four of us on this tour but my albums have got guest performances from all sorts of people; Weller, Andy Crofts, James Buckley..."

James Buckley – seriously? The actor who plays Jay in The Inbetweeners?

"Yep. He came and played on a couple of tracks on my second album which we recorded in a studio that's quite far out, in many ways. It's in the far reaches of Devon and it's on a farm there.

"Him and his girlfriend came down there for a week and just chilled out really. He used to be in a band before he was a TV star so he I think he likes to still tread the boards in that way.

"I don't know what else I can say about him. He's a good bloke. He's a keen mod and you can tell just by looking at him. He's not as funny in real life though!"

Who comes to see your solo gigs? Are there Weller fans and Ocean Colour Scene fans?

"I suppose so yes. But it's very popular among mods. You get the fat old mods who've been going to gigs forever, no disrespect, but we're also getting a young crowd as well.

"Mod culture was quite underground when I was growing up but it's still going very strong. And once you're a mod, you're always a mod."

You played with Ocean Colour Scene at the Hop Farm Festival last year but have you ever played at The Forum before?

"I think Ocean Colour Scene played there in about 1996. Have I got this right? Is it an old public toilet or something?

"In that case I remember it quite well actually. Once seen never forgotten. Oh yes, I have fond memories..."