Jayne Houghton, of Brighton-based PR agency Excess Press, began her career as a photographer for NME. She covered the birth of the grunge movement when she lived in Seattle, photographing a then-unknown Kurt Cobain, before looking after press and touring with the likes of New Order, Manic Street Preachers and the notoriously unruly Happy Mondays.

Was there a photographer who made you think “I want to do that”?

Jane Bown at The Observer. She shoots primarily in black and white and uses an old Pentax SLR camera. She uses the back of her hand as a light meter, with no modern gadgets or digital technology, so she’s my inspiration.

When I was doing the press for Glastonbury she came down to photograph Thom Yorke [of Radiohead] and I looked after her. I hadn’t realised, but she took a photo of my daughter behind the Pyramid Stage and she sent it to me afterwards to say thanks, which was an amazing surprise.

Do you remember the first record you bought – what was it, and where did you buy it?

It was Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris. I’d saved all my pocket money for a birthday present for my big brother, but didn’t have enough for a new single for him, so I bought it from a car boot sale in Leeds. He wasn’t impressed. The first record I bought for myself was Dancing Queen by Abba, from Jumbo Records in Leeds. I’ve still got it.

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or DVD collections – something you know is a bit naff but you can’t help yourself.

It has to be Grease, with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. I sing along all the way through and hideously out of tune. My favourite track is Hopelessly Devoted To You, which I completely murder with my hideous screeching and wailing. My kids hate it.

Are there any TV programmes you couldn’t live without?

I love House – it’s superb. I’m on series three and have a growing, slightly worrying obsession with Hugh Laurie, who becomes more and more attractive with each episode. In fact, the more caustic and cantankerous he is, the more I adore him. Odd. Perhaps I’m having a mid-life crisis.

Do you have a favourite album?

I can’t really say one of my bands’ albums can I? So probably Echo And The Bunnymen’s Greatest Hits.

I love them, always have and always will. When New Order headlined Manchester’s Old Trafford a few years ago I begged them to have the Bunnymen as a support band. I spent most of the day stalking Ian McCullough and completely neglected my PR duties with New Order. I love all their albums, and couldn’t choose a favourite, so the Greatest Hits package is the perfect answer.

What are you reading at the moment?

I never get time to read books, which is a shameful admission. I try my best to read the Sunday papers, but often not until midweek, when all the news is already redundant. If I can grab the NME before my son gets to it, I have a flick through (just to remind myself, despite running a successful music PR company, how pathetically out of touch I am with new young and upcoming bands), and if I can get to Heat before my daughter disappears with it, I keep up to speed with all the vacuous celebrity lives. I need to get out more!

Is there a live music or theatre experience that really stays in your memory?

My favourite, most memorable show was New Order headlining Reading Festival in 1998. They were amazing, but my hormones were all over the place as I’d just given birth to my daughter, who surprised me by arriving three weeks early, but I still had to attend.

I remember having to breastfeed her on the side of the stage as they played Blue Monday in the encore; the show had run over and she just absolutely wouldn’t wait any longer, she was screaming nearly as loudly as the 30,000 people watching the band.

You did press for New Order, Happy Mondays and [iconic Manchester nightspot] The Hacienda... tell us your favourite war story you share with your mates at the pub.

I took Piers Morgan (when he was The Sun’s pop editor) out to Rio de Janeiro for a press trip with Happy Mondays. He arranged to take us all to a barbecue at Ronnie Biggs’s house. It was a very mad party, and went on for so long the band missed an important TV appearance because they decided to go on to a club. I was supposed to be in charge, so I got my wrists slapped by Tony Wilson for that one. There are lots more stories, but not for a family newspaper.

Is it true a young Kurt Cobain asked you to take his photo when you lived in Seattle?

Yeah, I was living out there in 1988 and working as a photographer for NME. I was photographing a Mudhoney and Pearl Jam gig, and he kept pestering me to take his photo with his band, who were hanging around outside. I did take some quick shots, just to humour him. Kurt is swinging around a lamp-post on the sidewalk. The photos have never been published, and if I could find them in my archive, I’m sure I could earn a fortune!

What brought you and Excess Press to Brighton?

I lived in East London and when my son Sam was two (13 years ago) we decided to move out of London for a better quality of life and school options for him. Brighton was an easy choice, as we had friends here and I could still commute to London to run Excess. The business is based down here now, we live in Saltdean, and we wouldn’t live anywhere else.