Chequerboard: All I want for Christmas

Christmas for me starts . . . when I hear the opening bars of Do they know its Christmas? start to play whilst simultaneously holding a glass of mulled wine.

Last Christmas . . . I gave you some art but the very next day you threw it away.

This Christmas . . . to save me from tears I'll get you a screen print from the Block T & Dublin Flea Christmas market in Smithfield.

I'll never forget the Christmas . . . that I dressed up as Santa for the 30 kids at my friend's creche only to get stage fright after my first ho ho ho.

My favorite thing about this time of year is . . . the smell of Christmas trees.

The one thing that brings out my inner Grinch . . . is having to dodge rowdy mobs partaking in the 12 pubs ritual.

The perfect gift for my ears would be . . . The New Life by Girls Names on vinyl from Five and Dime record shop on Dame Street in Dublin.

The perfect gift for my eyes would be . . . Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD by Martin Aston from Tower records.
It wouldn't be Christmas without . . . cosy catch ups in the cosies of Keoghs, Walshes of Stoneybatter or the Royal Oak in Kilmainham with old cosy friends.

All I want for Christmas . . . is a Crimson Fender Jazzmaster HH from Music Maker on Exchequer Street.

Chequerboard's third album, The Unfolding, is out now on Lazybird Records. He plays Listen at Lilliput in Stoneybatter, Dublin 7, on Sunday and at Dublin Guitar Night in JJ Smyths, Aungier Street, on November 26th; chequerboard.com

In conversation with Emma Somers