SUGGS used to be the cheeky boy in the pork pie hat and Mod suit who, throughout much of the 80s, looked like he was having a lot of fun while having a lot of hits. But if you thought the lead singer of Madness must have sobered up by now you'd be wrong because at the age of 42, he's feeling crazier than ever.

He says: ''I thought by the time you were 35 you would reach some sort of plateau of grown-upness. I half hoped it would all level off and get a bit boring. But it seems to me that life gets more and more bizarre and surreal. I am probably more confused than I was when I was 18 about what it all means.''

Suggs is certainly showing no signs of settling quietly into middle age. Gratifyingly similar to how you might expect him to be, he has the sort of energy and short attention span you'd normally find in a teenager.

At the moment, he's filming a few episodes of Salvage Squad - a programme in which old machines are restored - preparing for another tour and recording an album of old and new songs.

He says: ''Variety is the spice of life. If anything goes on too long, I start getting a bit bored.''

Although he's bristling with enthusiasm and bursting with ideas, impatience can sometimes be an obstacle for Suggs, especially with his latest attempts to write a novel.

''I had a great idea for the opening - it would be a birthday party and the guests would be all people born on the same day. But mine are really boring! The day before my birthday, it was Buzz Aldrin and Marilyn Monroe, so I just missed the bus. But if I'm honest, I don't know if I have the patience. I've tried speaking into a tape recorder, but I find even doing that, it starts to get a bit stilted,'' he says.

Suggs has always been restless. From the age of 13, he stopped going to school, stole a lot of records and changed his name from Graham McPherson. He chose his nickname from a jazz dictionary that listed a flautist called Pete Suggs.

In 1977, he and five other teenagers formed Madness after being brought together by a north London youth club and a love of Jamaican and jazz music. They practised in everyone's front room apart from Suggs' - because he didn't have a front room.

The band were so touchingly innocent that when they went on their first ever tour, one of the members said he couldn't go to Wales because he didn't have a passport. But Madness became hugely successful and had 21 singles in the Top 20 before first fizzling out in 1988. Suggs went on to try stand-up comedy, which he hated, before helping to produce an album by early 90s act The Farm. He then hosted his own TV show for Sky for six months, and in between acting cameos, began composing songs again. In 1992, just when his writing was taking off, the Divine Madness compilation was released with enormous success, and the band began doing reunion concerts.

Their upcoming reunion concert in December will take them across England, Ireland and Wales. Suggs says: ''I really enjoy doing reunions because fortunately, I don't do them too often. Seeing the chaps from the band and doing those songs again is really close to how it was when we first started. It's got a great energy.''

Although all the band members are now reaching middle age, Suggs is happy to go on performing as long as the fans demand it.

He says: ''Although I am not the person to judge, I think there is a timeless quality to Madness because the songs have always been about place, not time. If I don't see the band for two years, I still feel the same when we get together, whether we're singing songs we wrote in a pub or on my kitchen table, or sang in front of 100,000 people.

But I wouldn't be edified at the thought of us being wheeled on a stage. It's all a question of dignity - if the band or the audience feel it's undignified, then it is.''

The old Madness songs were given a makeover last October, with the launch of the West End musical Our House. Suggs, who co-produced it, was also given a starring role for two months this year, playing the dad of the lead character Joe.

He says: ''My agent said, 'You won't be able to do it,' which of course spurred me into it. I had a few close shaves where I missed my cues and burst onto the stage just as a scene was ending. I had to try and look enigmatic, by sort of looking left to right. But I take my hat off to the people who do musicals. After a month I was starting to get delirious about the Ground-Hog Day-ness of it all.''

Suggs still lives in Madness' spiritual home in Camden, north London, as do most of the band. He's been married to his wife Anne for over 20 years and has two daughters Scarlett, 21, and Viva, 18.

He says: ''Anne was a singer in a band that I used to go and see called Deaf School, and I was very attracted to her. The guitarist in that band went on to become our producer.''

Although Suggs' daughters have inherited their mother's voice, they are not planning to follow their father into a pop career.

"They are both very talented singers and piano players, but I have never encouraged them in that way because of the fear of ending up with some stage school girls. My eldest daughter is studying fashion and my youngest is at art college,'' he says.

Although living with three women might sound like a daunting prospect for many men, it is clear that Suggs thrives on all the female attention.

He says: ''Some of my friends said they can't bear the thought of it. There is a gang and you are slightly outside it, but that sort of works for me, I like it. I had kids when I was really young, and I was pleased they were girls, because I don't know if I could have been a role model for a boy!''

l Madness will appear at the Telewest Arena, Newcastle, on Saturday. Tickets, priced £24.20 to £27.00, subject to booking fee, are available from the 24 hour credit card hotline on 0870 400 0688 or online at www.cclive.co.uk.