Reeves Gabrels has had a career most musicians would dream of.

In 1987, the Staten Island-born guitarist met David Bowie and went on to spend 13-years with the iconic singer as bandmate, co-writer and co-producer – four years of which he was a member of the Tin Machine.

Then in 2012 he was invited by Robert Smith, who he had met at Bowie’s 50th birthday party in 1997, to join The Cure.

Now he is on the road with his own project, Reeves Gabrels and his Imaginary Friends, and is returning play at The Horn in St Albans next week.

And St Albans rock band The Vaulted Skies will be his supporting act.

Hannah Worrall spoke to the Nashville resident about his music, playing with The Cure and the secret to his success.

What are you up to today?

I’m pulling some things out of the storage locker here. I have guitars that live in London that I use when we play in the UK and the rest of the guitars are in The Cure locker. How do we say it – I’m just trying to get my s*** together.

How would you describe the Imaginary Friends’ sound?

Basically, my roots are in old-school power trio rock, Hendrix and Cream, Led Zeppelin. A trio is like a tripod, it either stands up or it doesn’t. In as close to one sentence as I can – it’s a power trio from 2050.

Would you say your music has a cosmic feel to it?

There’s the cliché of psychedelia, I think I try to avoid the cliché but I like the unexpected and I like writing solid songs I can use as a springboard. One night the song will three minutes long, and the next night it might be eight minutes long because whatever happened during the day I had something to say instrumentally that took a little bit longer.

Tell me about the Imaginary Friends’ self-titled album released earlier this year?

I was surprised at the reaction to the album, this is my fifth. It was actually ready to come out in 2012 but then I got the call from Robert Smith who was on a couple of my other records and I played on some Cure tracks back in the 90s. When that happened It meant I had to put the breaks on so far as putting out my record. I ended up joining The Cure and that changed my life in a fairly big way.

Are you looking forward to playing in St Albans?

There are places we played the last time that we remembered as good people, good club, good sound and The Horn was one of those places It’s a nice little pub up front and Americans we romanticise playing music in clubs here in the way that I guess UK musicians do for America. This time around in the UK there are places we play the last time that we remembered as good people, good club, good sound and The Horn was one of those places. It’s a nice little pub up front and Americans we romanticise playing music in clubs here in the way that I guess UK musicians do for America.

What’s it like being in The Cure?

I look at what I do through a jazz club lens, but the rock version so it’s smellier and sweatier. It’s about being in the moment, it’s about the individual notes. With The Cure, to me that’s such an event. It’s kind of like church for a lot of the fans and I feel a bit more in the service of the audience. My reason for being there is to take them to a place, or help take them to a place. But so much of that is on Robert’s back.

What are your memories of meeting Bowie?

He and I started talking and he said: ‘Do you want to come back to my trailer, and hang out?’ So I went with him. I went to Art College like him and hHe and I talked mostly about art. I was a huge Bowie fan. I felt that telling David I was a guitar player – that would be the end of the conversation. It was pointless to bring it up. About six months later he called me up and said: “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought it was a practical joke, so I said: “Ok, who the f*** is this?” And then a week later he asked me to come to his house in Switzerland where he lived at the time for the weekend. And I ended up staying for a month and we ended up writing material for Tin Machine"

How do you feel when you look back on your career?

People ask you, 'what’s the secret?' You must know something about how to succeed! But it’s really like being struck by lightning. All you do is you go to a golf course and stand in a bucket of waterunder a tree, holding an umbrella, during an electrical storm and hope for the best."

Reeves and his Imaginary Friends are at The Horn, Victoria Street, St Albans, October 7, 8pm. Details: 01727 853143, www.thehorn.co.uk