ME AND MY MONEY:Nick Kelly (aka Alien Envoy), musician, filmmaker
Are you a saver or a spender?A spender when I have it.
Do you shop around for better value?For better value rather than cheaper. I would factor in the sustaining of local businesses that I admire in my definition of "value". So sometimes I will consciously choose to pay a little more in an establishment I want to support.
What has been your most extravagant purchase ever and how much did it cost?A very powerful desktop Mac, with two spare hard drives for backing up all those recordings and movies I was intending to make at home. It cost me around €4,500 – and was tragically destroyed a few months later in a house fire. Now I make do with a modest MacBook Pro.
What purchase have you made that you consider the best value for money?My very first acoustic guitar, purchased 30 years ago in Savins Music shop, Limerick, for £40. It's Korean with a trashy sunburst design but I still use it in the studio where it regularly out-performs instruments 20 times more expensive.
Have you ever crossed the Border to shop?Not generally, but I became a bit of an expert at doing the IKEA run to Belfast before they opened down here. Owing to the house fire mentioned above, I ended up packing a hired van three separate times with cheap furniture.
Do you haggle over prices?Sometimes with people supplying professional services.
Has the recession changed your spending habits?I now don't buy expensive technology that I know I'll never get around to learning how to use.
Do you invest in shares?I don't invest in shares because I don't really know enough about markets. I prefer to invest in the creation of my own intellectual property, at least I'm backing something I have a genuine understanding of.
Cash or card?Cards, mostly. But I pay them off every month by direct debit.
What was the last thing you bought and was it good value for money?A pair of boots in Timberland for my 7-year-old. Time will tell.
Have you ever successfully saved up for a relatively big purchase?I regularly save up to pay for recording time and musicians. The new Alien Envoy album, Nine Lives, involved making a live recording with a different musical line-up once a month for nine months. The rest of each of those months I did a fair bit of scrimping.
Have you ever lost money?I've occasionally dropped a crumpled note while digging in my pockets for a plectrum, but nothing too devastating.
Are you a gambler and if so have you ever had a big win?No. My late father used to describe state lotteries as "a tax on fools", which more or less stuck with me.
Is money important to you?No, I'm motivated by other things; money is only the means to achieve them.
How much money do you have on you now?€105 in crumpled notes – which I'm probably going to lose hunting for a plectrum.
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea.
Alien Envoy's new album, Nine Lives, is now available at selfpossessedrecords.com.
