What happens when rock stars collide?

For a moment, rock star Phil Etheridge was 19 again, living the life of someone in uni digs .

There was a traffic cone at the side of the road and, as every student knows, traffic cones belong in bedrooms, on the top of statues or in the river. The one place they don't belong is at the side of the road. Phil – singer and frontman with The Twang – ran for it like a man possessed, determined to wear it on his head, hug it like a girlfriend or stick it on the top of a Christmas tree.

He found it following an interview about The Twang's co-headline gig with another Brummie/Black Country band, The Wonder Stuff. He'd been chewing the fat with Stuffies lead singer Miles Hunt about their mid-summer show at Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Hall next weekend.

Miles had arrived ahead of schedule, bemoaning the frailties of a SatNav system that had erroneously sent him to a cul-de-sac resembling The Projects in South Central LA, rather than his local newspaper. "I thought I was going to get done over," he said.

Phil arrived 15 minutes late, beaming like a kid on his birthday and bouncing off the walls like a rubber ball. Their mutual admiration was obvious. Miles treated him like a kid brother, Phil looked up to him like his new best friend.

"I grew up listening to you," said Phil.

"It's fantastic to be on a bill with another great local band," said Miles.

They resisted the temptation to hug one another; they're both far too manly for that. But their membership of the Mutual Appreciation Society was paid up in full.

"I was actually in one of your videos once," Phil added.

The video was for Caught In My Shadow, The Wonder Stuff's paean to Birmingham. It featured Miles and co performing live in the centre of Brum. Wannabe rock star Phil showed up to groove and the camera caught him waving a cigarette in the air. He was 10.

"What did your dad say?" asked Miles.

"I told him I was holding a pen."

Rock'n'roll, eh?

Miles and Phil talked up their gig like prize fighters at the weigh in. They took themselves none-too-seriously. Sample question: "Who'd win – The Wonder Stuff, Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned's Atomic Dustbin, or, The Twang, Ripchord and The Enemy."

Miles – answer: "What, in a fight? We've got a lot more weight behind us, I think we'd have 'em."

Official duties over, it was time to have some fun.

Phil spotted the cone. "Quick," he said, fist-pumping the air as though he'd just been presented the Champions League trophy on behalf of his beloved Aston Villa FC.

I didn't feature in any Wonder Stuff videos, back in the day. Though I interviewed Miles a couple of times and saw too many of their gigs to remember: from Walsall's Junction 10 to Walsall's Bescot Stadium, from Birmingham's Hummingbird to Aston Villa Leisure Centre.

The Stuffies were the soundtrack to my youth. The acerbic Miles was one of the Black Country's finest rock Gods. He had a mane, rather than hair and he leered from the front covers of the NME, Melody Maker and Sounds – the Bibles for kids at Wilingsworth High School.

He flew around the world in fast jets, drinking too much red wine, getting off with the wrong women, thrilling thousands of fans and writing the sort of tunes that The Beatles might have written if they'd read Hunter S. Thompson – a simile that Miles himself coined as the title for their greatest hits.

I bought albums on the day of their release, playing my vinyl copy of Hup until the grooves were pretty much worn through. And I did the local-reporter-talks-to-local-rock-star thing when his band returned from their travels to play in Birmingham and Walsall.

Despite his reputation for being something of a tricky customer, Miles was never less than charming.

I can't claim the same association with The Twang, though only a fool would have missed tunes with the quality of Either Way, Two Lovers, Barney Rubble and Wide Awake. A kind of Stone-Roses-meets-Mike-Skinner-Of-The-Streets, their euphoric indie pop tunes earned them a number three debut album and have kept Phil out of a real job ever since.

And now their two worlds are colliding. The Stuffies and The Twang will headline Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Hall on July 5.

Phil is looking forward to playing – but he's looking forward to watching one of his favourite bands even more.

"Once we're off stage, I'll be straight back down the front, beer in hand, dancing."

Phil might even bring a traffic cone. And so might the rest of us. Hup.

Read the full interview in the Express & Star's Ticket supplement next Friday, July 3.