Jason Williamson of the electronic punk music duo Sleaford Mods was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire. He moved to Nottingham in 1995, where he formed Sleaford Mods in 2007 and where he still lives with his wife and children. With Williamson on lyrics and Andrew Fearn on music, the duo's impassioned social commentary about everything from Brexit and Trump to breakfast cereal and white Range Rovers has built them a huge following and critical acclaim. Now back with The Demise of Planet X (Rough Trade), their excellent 13th album and accompanying world tour, Williamson sat down with the Nerve to tell us about his favourite cultural discoveries at the moment and was as full of colour and character in person as he is on the records. Enjoy!

Home of the Year: Ireland (with judge Hugh Wallace)

(On RTÉ in Ireland; Apple TV and Prime Video in the UK)

It was my wife who initially got into home interiors programmes – I had no interest whatsoever. But it's a ritual in the morning now: we’ll get up at about six o’clock, she likes half an hour on her own, and then she’ll put on an interiors programme. I'll have a bit of kefir, put my phone in the usual place, then give the remains of the kefir to the dogs to fight over while we’re watching. Currently it’s the Irish Home of the Year, or anything with architect and TV presenter Hugh Wallace in – he’s one of the show’s judges and is very professional, very studied. These programmes are so soothing, almost utopian. Hugh recently passed away and I identified with him on his struggles with alcohol and his upbringing, which I think was conflicted, and you could see that in his face: a kind of sadness.

The Carpenter’s Son (dir. Lotfy Nathan)

I love any films that depict hell, that touch on the idea of religion intelligently. The Carpenter's Son is about the early years of Jesus Christ and it’s based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which was discredited by Christians. FKA twigs plays Mary and Nicolas Cage plays Joseph and there’s this really dark set of occurrences as this young lad comes to terms with being the son of God and having powers of healing. Initially he doesn’t heal anyone, he kills them. I'll watch any kind of horror film. I was talking to [the musician] Aldous Harding and she said: “I use them if I want to punish myself.” And I thought, yeah, perhaps I do as well.

La Storia, West Bridgford, Nottingham

This Italian restaurant is around the corner from my house. The service is impeccable. The food’s impeccable. They do an Italian twist on the Sunday roast which feels a little bit different. I usually go with the family, maybe three times a year. It’s so comforting – like going from house to house. They know who I am, and I like that. I like being fussed. I don’t want to be that wanker that talks about restaurants, but it’s a testament to finding success and peace of mind after years of not having that, so I'm going to talk about it.

Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left

I’m not a massive fan of Nick Drake, although I’ve always liked what he does. But for some reason I started listening to this on Spotify. I don't want to use Spotify a lot of the time – I’m getting to the point of: “Are you suggesting things that I really want or am I just clicking on them for the sake of it, because it’s easy?” It’s like a fast food music service. What I like about the album is songs like River Man and Cello Song, which are very good, very renowned, but I also like the glimpse you get into that period of time. I’ll listen to it at night when I'm stretching before bed and I’ll get through four-five tunes.

Long johns

I’m not sure about thermal tops. They’re OK if you live in a cave, but the minute you put central heating on, forget it. But this winter I've not taken off my long johns – I ain't worn a pair of boxer shorts for about two months. I've got five or six different pairs including some tie-dye ones. I’m like a wellness David Lee Roth of Van Halen with my kefir and my tie-dye long johns! When I get in the house, clothes are off and in the summer it's boxer shorts and a T-shirt. But we live in an Edwardian house and it doesn’t stay warm so I moved to long johns. Perhaps because they always look good in cowboy films. 

Interview by Imogen Carter

The Demise of Planet X is out today on Rough Trade. The tour starts on Tuesday and runs until July