“We were jamming together for fun really, then we started recording records and sold 30 million.”

Mark King makes success sound easy doesn’t he?

As our conversation continues, however, lead singer of 80s band Level 42 reveals it was a mix of hard work and luck that found them fame.

“There wasn’t a specific time we realised we had made it. We never had overnight success, we were always working on it. We were very lucky because we were taken under the wing of a group of DJs called the Funk Mafia who were working in and around London and some of Essex. This was when this movement, Brit Funk, was really starting to gather momentum.

“They organised weekenders and all-nighters, now they’d probably be called raves, and they were based largely around American soul. We would drive out to places and go on until 4 o’clock in the morning. People would turn up on a Friday and stagger home on Monday morning.

“It was a really good underground scene. That was how we broke through. As long as we were coming up with the music they liked, which we were.”

Level 42 had a number of UK and worldwide hits throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Their most successful here in the UK was Lessons in Love, 1986, which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, and number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The group disbanded in 1994 when the music scene began to change, Mark explains: “Brit Pop was suddenly there and we’d had nearly 15 years so it seemed like a good time to knock it on the head for a bit. It is good to want to do other things.

“I had a couple of years off, writing songs with other people. Then I did some solo stuff and a solo tour, it was pretty low key in compared to Level 42 obviously. It was great fun, I loved doing it.

“Soon more and more Level 42 fans were showing up and so I thought let’s get Level 42 back up and running again and here we are almost 16 years on.”

With a career approach the 40-year mark, I had to ask what the highlights have been.

“There’s just so many, the first time your record is played on radio. The first time you go on telly, go on Top of the Pops. The first time you play in Europe and in America. The first number one record is just mind-blowing. There’s so many high points, so many more high points than low points after all this time

“It is just as exciting to play now, in some ways it is even nicer because I don’t have the pressure from record companies on the records. Back then you made your money selling records, but struggled to make money on a ticket. I have a 1986 ticket for Wembley Arena and it was £6 to go and see us, but you bought the record for maybe £18.50.

“Now that’s all that’s completely changed. You might pay a little bit for an album, if you pay for it at all. Most people don’t bother, but if you want to go and see a band you’re going to pay something like £50.”

Thankfully, tickets to see Level 42 play at the Watford Colosseum tomorrow night aren’t quite that much.

Watford Colosseum, Rickmansworth Road, Watford, WD17 3JN, Friday, October 28. Details: 01923 571 102