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Richard Hawley

September 2009 | Alternative

"Truelove's Gutter" is the sixth album from Sheffield singer/songwriter Richard Hawley. A touching and emotional record, it marks something of a return to form for Hawley, after the rockabilly of 2007's "Lady's Bridge".

In an in-depth interview with we7, Richard reflected on his early days growing up in Sheffield and how music provided a alternative to a lifetime working in the city's famous steel factories. He also talks frankly and openly about the inspiration behind "Truelove's Gutter" and his thoughts on touring...

You've had a long career in music haven't you?

Career! It's not a career. I became a musician to avoid having a career! My family were all steel workers. That was a career. But I saw how, after 25 years of loyal service, they'd be thrown on the scrap heap. Being a musician was a way of avoiding a career.

So when did you choose music over the steel works?

I wasn't enamoured with the idea of working in the steel works - then again, no one was.

I was pretty young when I chose music. My dad started teaching me guitar when I was six. My family were showing me music theory. I was about 12-13 when I thought, this is what I really what I want to do. It was such a great laugh, such a buzz playing.

Sheffield had a lot of great bands in the 1980s - Human League, Heaven 17, Cabaret Voltaire. Did these inspire you?

The kind of 80s electronica of the bands you mention - except for Cabaret Voltaire - seemed very remote. It was quite bleak in Sheffield. Pulp were the first band that opened the door for us, that made you think you could do something.

Critics often describe your music as being very bleak - was the industrial decline of Sheffield in the 1980s an influence?

Yeah, it is difficult to avoid really. But the little acts of kindness taught me a lot. Although life can get bleak, seeing people with nothing give what little they had to each other - especially during the miner's strikes - can give you hope.

The new album, "Trueloves Gutter", is out now . It's a bit more downbeat more reflective than your previous record.

[Pause] I call it atmospheric!

I wanted to create an atmosphere on the record, one that could sit down in listen to in its entirety. I want to read the whole book, rather than snippets.

It's unusual these days to hear a record, like yours, that can only be fully appreciated by listening to it in its entirety.

Well, what happens to the record now, I don't have any control over. I hope people will by the album, but I realise some people will cherry pick their favourite songs from it. You can't - and shouldn't - control it...

What is the inspiration behind the record?

I wrote songs about things I thought were broken but wouldn't heal.

Coming back off touring, last December... I made some fundamental choices for myself as a person. Because I'd been away so much, I vowed that I was gonna stop with the mobiles and the internet for a while and see what happened. I want to spend time being around my kids... just to see what happened. For my own piece of mind.

I discovered a lot of people I knew weren't having a great time. I spent a lot of time with them, and I guess that bled into the writing of the album. Those things they were going through did influence the songs.

You have a UK tour starting in October, are you looking forward to it?

I probably want me head looking at, but I always love touring.

I've never done a full theatre tour. Most gigs, from an audience's perspective, can feel like you are shoved in a big shed, slightly exploited, then shoved out. I thought it might be nice to play lovely old theatres that even before you walk in have an atmosphere. I'm hoping it would be a nice experience for the audience to sit back and relax.

Do you miss the family on tour?

Yeah, it's a nightmare. Awful. You can end up doing the Phil Collins thing and take the family on tour... I wouldn't dream of it. It would be very selfish to take your family on tour, kids need toys and stability. You have to accept your life is chaos - organised chaos that said.