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Weller onstage with his Gibson J-45

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With his new album, Sonik Kicks, set for release on 26 March 2012, we look back to a decade ago when the Modfather was taking a stripped-down acoustic set out on the road.

"You know the problem with guitar magazines?" barks a thick London accent. We get the feeling we're about to find out. "It's always the same shot – some bloke there posing like this [mocks obligatory holding- guitar-plus-moody-expression]. Why don't you have more live shots? Can't we do a live shot?"

"Er, we don't really know," we reply nervously. We'd heard Mr Weller could be a little bit 'difficult' when it comes to interviews. After all, 20-plus years of getting kicked in the nuts by journalists might make a man wary.

By way of explanation, we manage: "Something to do with picture quality, I think." Pathetic. He's going to tear us to shreds. "Oh," he shrugs matter of factly, tucking into a box of KFC. "D'you want some food? Or a drink – whatever, help yourself. Anyway, go on mate, fireaway..."

"In the '90s, I rediscovered my guitar."

So goes Guitarist's first two minutes face to face with Paul Weller. And what a face: the chiselled features, the piercing eyes. The same set of facial furniture, in fact, that first belted out The Eton Rifles and That's Entertainment; that first crooned You're The Best Thing, Wild Wood and You Do Something To Me.

We're backstage at Bristol's Colston Hall to talk about his current record Days Of Speed, a warts-and-all live solo acoustic affair that's as remarkable for concept as it is content. No MTV, no huge fancy production and no pseudo unplugged band. Just Weller and his guitar.

Then again, renaissance is something he's good at. Old Frenchie coined the term in the 1500s with his music, art and literature, but even the French only managed one. Weller, Modfather, Dadrocker, Britpopper, British Neil Young – whatever tag you give him – is currently on renaissance two, somehow managing to widen both creative horizons and commercial reward with each shift.

Now the man from Woking has embarked on a new challenge. Not another direction shift of Jam-to-Style Council or Council-to-solo career magnitude, but something which draws together the common denominator in all his work and lays it bare for all to see: the humble song. What better way to demonstrate than hit the road with just a head full of lyrics and a handful of guitars?

What made you decide to do this record?

"I thought of the idea at the end of 2000. I wanted to do something difficult, just to have that challenge of whether I could hold an audience, me on my own: me and my songs.

"And it sort of spiralled from that because, originally, I was talking about little clubs, like 300-400 capacity. Now it's got really big, and not just in this country – we've been back to Germany twice this year which is bloody unheard of! The States, Japan... something like 10 countries."

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