As one-time guitarist for classic brit-pop underdogs Longpigs and the seminal Pulp, you get the feeling that Richard Hawley didn’t really start loving what he does until he started as a solo artist. Now five album albums later, with another about to be released, we caught up with him before he embarks on a 16 date tour in October.
Richard’s voice over the phone is not as deep as the as the rich deep timbre that dominates his new album Truelove’s Gutter, and the voice on the album doesn’t have the soft northern twang of the Sheffield accent that is also present with the occasional “yer’ner” that peppers his sentences.
You just finished, an album and your about to go on tour, which do you prefer?
They’re both totally different things, but I love the creative side of things – I love writing, its one of my favourite things to do.
You said on your website you was specifically making an album, do you thing the album format is dying out?
Yeah, it’s interesting, I was talking to Guy Garvey [Elbow frontman] about this only yesterday – he was in Sheffield supporting U2 – and we both passionately believe in the album as a collection of songs. The idea of one track is an odd concept, I accept the fact that it’s the modern world and the way things are going things are going, but I personally like to sit down and listen to a collection of songs and ideas as a whole. And I defiantly make albums.
Your voice is very prominent on this album, even though you describe yourself as guitar player first, was this a conscious choice?
I spent a lot more time on this record, but a lot of the vocals were done in one or two takes. I invested in a really great vocal mike and that made a massive difference to the sound, it surprised me how much difference it made. I concentrated a lot on the lyrics of this record and I just wanted them to be heard.
I read somewhere that you originally didn’t intended to sing on your albums.
Yeah it was pretty much by default, I kind of thought about getting a singer but I couldn’t find anyone with a deep enough voice.
You’re very engaged with your online forum, you have a presence on Second Life and Last FM and a few other things but I didn’t notice you on twitter, are you on twitter at all?
No only the forum, there’s things like Myspace or whatever that are set by the label. But I only go on the forum, I like interacting with people, and through the forum I’ve made a few very good friends. But the internet is not a huge part of my life.
It’s quite unusual for an artist to be so involved with the fans was that a conscious choice?
It started when our sound man Mike Timm set that up, and I kind of joined it right in the very early days when there was a handful of people who had even heard of what I do, and it’s just grown. I go there now and again, to talk, well it’s not really talking, to communicate with people and have a laugh.
What do you think about things like Guitar Hero? Do you think it diverts people attention away from learning an instrument?
I don’t really have an opinion about it one way or another because its not part of my life. I know the one positive side of it is that Guitar Hero actually sponsors a lot of bands, I’m producing a band called The Hope and the whole cost of the album was paid for by Guitar Hero, so that’s a good thing. I’ve got nothing either way to say about it really, if someone wants to learn an instrument they’ll learn an instrument. It’s driven from within.
Your dad encouraged you to play the guitar from an early age?
Yeah, my grandfather, my uncle, my aunties were all musicians and it was around all the time when I was a kid, And they’ve all got an interesting history – my dad used to play with John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter, it was just in the air, it was difficult to avoid.
As a self confessed guitar fan and collector, how did you feel when Les Paul died?
It was very sad, well anyone passing away is sad, but the one positive with Les Paul passing is the massive legacy. Without Les Paul I can’t imagine the history of the Twentieth Century and the Twenty first, and beyond, being like it is. All guitar based music changed after he invented the Les Paul and with the electronic sides of things and multi track recordings, there’s no way the history of the world would have gone the way it has. His legacy is incalculable. He also had a very long life, he was 94, lets hope we get half that.
Are there any other musical icons you feel changed the course of history?
Leo Fender as well, he has a massive part in the technical side of music that allows musicians to play the way they do know. Before Les Paul the guitar was a tiny part of the orchestra or band, used in the background. Leo Fender and Les Paul made it so that instrument would be king.
You’re coming to Birmingham to play the Town Hall have you played there since its renovation?
There you go you see, the only reason we are playing that gig is because of a girl on the forum. She works at the town hall and all she suggested it and put a picture of the inside of it up on the forum, when I saw it and I thought it was a great gig. So I e-mailed my manager and told him to have a look into it. I was determined to seated venues, so the audience are treated with a bit of respect not just herded into a big shed, so they can relax and enjoy the music and atmosphere. All the venues I wanted there to be that atmosphere. Interacting on the forum has made me very aware of the needs of an audience, and with my own audience the age range is very varied from very young kids to old people and everything in-between. Everyone just wants to relax and be comfortable so it’s not too much trouble for me to play seated gigs.
How are you going to translate the album on tour? Are you going to take all the instruments?
It’s a physical impossibility to take the Cristal Baschet and the glass harmonica with me, the glass harmonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1750 and most of the instruments where built around that time. So it is a bit of a head scratcher, but we’re rehearsing now and it sounding good. I’m taking David Coulter with me; he plays the Musical Saw and is a great musician.
How did you know that you wanted the Cristal Baschet and the Megabass Waterphone, did you have a sound in mind that you later matched up to those instruments?
Well, I didn’t want to make it easy on myself; it was part of the challenge. I wanted to create a sound that was beautiful but didn’t have much to do with orchestration. There is one track on the album that it was obvious it needed a strings section and horns and all that, and I use a few strings in other places. But the sound I heard in my mind, a lot of them I didn’t know what they were called, I thought I was going to have to invent instruments. I use Tibetan Singing Bowls at one point, and that came about from being in B&Q and I kicked a plant pot and it made a ringing sound, so I spent ages trying find an instrument that sounded like that. I probably could have made it even easier on myself by using that big fucking bowl from B&Q.
I would have liked to have seen that credited in the notes “big fucking bowl from B&Q”
Yeah I might get free plant pots for life.