Paolo Nutini wants to be a carpenter.
The 27-year-old star – who is set to make a comeback with his third album ‘Caustic Love’ on April 14 – wants to explore joinery after taking inspiration from a man he saw as his grandfather when he was younger.
He explained: "The man I grew up to I think of as a grandfather on my mother’s side, a man called Eddie, he was this old army hand, big white bushy moustache. He dealt in scrap, he was always down at the lost-and-found at the airport or prison, and I’d be the little kid tagging along, because he’d often look after me during the day … He worked with wood, and made me this little rocking horse when I was young, called Rocky. I still have it.
"Whittling and carving wood is something I’ve always wanted to do, yet I’ve only dipped my toe in the water. I find it therapeutic … I need to do that, go away and separate myself from things, get some education, some life, outside of a tour bus or a venue."
The ‘Candy’ singer fled back to his Scottish homeland four years ago when being in the spotlight became too much to bear and he admits he needed the hiatus to repair his relationship with his family and friends.
In an interview with Culture Magazine, he explained: "It’s not like I’ve been making an album for three, four years. We toured the last record for a year and a bit, and I got to this point where I was only seeing my family and friends at gigs, I was miles away from home, my relationship was handing by a thread and I realised I was losing everything."