Richard Hawley. Photo: Dean Chalkley
To be on the phone with Richard Hawley, the Sheffield-born-and-bred crooner and rocker, is to be constantly, swearily entertained – even when he’s knackered and shoving a “sandwich into my gob at 5pm because today I’ve only had a fucking banana”. He’s mid-rehearsals for his run of homecoming gigs at Sheffield City Hall in a few weeks, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his breakthrough album, the lush and cinematic Coles Corner. It was nominated for the Mercury prize a year later, which the Arctic Monkeys – Hawley’s fellow Sheffield-dwellers – won for their debut LP. “Someone call 999,” Alex Turner said from the stage. “Richard Hawley’s been robbed.”
A father of three and married for 27 years to his therapist wife, Helen, Hawley is 58 now, and has released nine solo albums in total, five of which went Top 10. Two years ago, he also won an Olivier award for the score to the critically acclaimed musical inspired by his album Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Before fame, his luscious guitar lines were all over the albums of underrated post-Britpop band the Longpigs, and he was also a bit-part member of Pulp, having been friends with Jarvis Cocker since the 1980s. He recently described Cocker’s band on 6 Music using a phrase he first used 40 years ago: “like the Bloomsbury Set mixed with the cast of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,” he tells me.
In January, Hawley releases Little Bangers From Richard Hawley's Jukebox Vol 2, a second volume of his favourite seven-inch singles, on Ace Records, but, music aside, he’s also a deeply political soul, still raging at how the closing of Sheffield’s steel industry “broke my father’s heart”. He’s someone, however, “who has got faith and hope that things will get better eventually. Things are shit now, like the whole AI thing, but, you know, we’re humans, and our need to be human will far outweigh the irresponsible, mind-numbing, greedy stuff that's going on. Eventually, we'll learn that we're better off sharing a birthday cake than eating it alone.”
What is the first thing you would do if you were made prime minister tomorrow?
First up, I’d abolish the role of prime minister! I’m half-serious – single rulers act like kings. But honestly, sorting out the parlous state of the mental health situation in this country. Somehow, we know more about the Mariana Trench and deep space than we do about the human mind, which is ridiculous when we’re living in a world where people are losing it on a much more regular and extreme basis. My wife was a mental health worker for years, and my lovely sister runs a teenage homelessness charity, and it’s terrifying how cruelly underfunded mental health departments are.
What’s the thing that annoys you most at the moment?
Oh, where do we fucking start? [Laughs] Make sure to put that in, please! I find the level of misinformation and outright lies that are given airtime without criticism really difficult to cope with, to be honest. It almost gives seals of approval to lies, and says it’s OK for people who might have been vaguely reasonable a few years ago to now be frothing, ranting fascists.
Tell us about something that's given you hope over the past few months?
Music, always, especially at this time of year, when this old git is getting older and needs extra vitamin D shots to smile a bit more. Take the other night – I had the great pleasure to be invited to Sheffield City Hall to play with Jools Holland and his band. We didn't really rehearse, had a quick run-through backstage of some Fats Domino songs, and went on, 40 people who didn’t know each other before, and yes, it could’ve gone horribly wrong at any second, but it was really joyful, an almost out-of-body experience. That sounds a bit pretentious, but being part of a group of fabulous people going in exactly the same direction, I have to tell you, is wonderful.
What do you always carry with you?
My card, my keys, and – this might shock you – a knife. But I’ve carried one since I was a little boy, because I’m from Sheffield, a city known for making knives, and mine is a tool to use to open envelopes, to do things with. The idea of plunging it into another human being's body is about as far from my mind as it could possibly get, because it isn't the knife that's the issue, it's the person wielding it. Plus some plectrums, mainly because I have a mortal fear that I'll drop dead in the street, and someone will look through my pockets, and only find a couple of quid, and won’t know who I am. If I carry my plectrums with me, they’ll know I was a guitar player.
Nature or nurture?
Nature, more than you think. As a parent of three young adults, I can definitely say that traits in their personalities were revealed really early on. Of course, you’re not born with empathy and sympathy, which has to be learned or taught, but you have to put yourself in situations where you develop these for other people, otherwise you’ll never know it. To be honest, I think so many politicians are massive cunts, because they're from wealthy backgrounds where they don't have to think about anyone else, and exist unaware that people could possibly live a different type of life.
What would you say to somebody struggling to feel optimistic right now?
Something my grandfather used to say: all empires fall. The Phoenicians, the Romans, the Greeks, the ancient Egyptians, the great empires of the Mesopotamian Delta, the British Empire. They all fall, eventually, because they're all based on the wrong principles. It’s just the way of history.
What or who brings you joy?
They’ve both got four legs and they’re sleeping at my feet right now – our magical dogs. I love putting them in the car, driving around for a couple of miles, pulling up in a garage and opening the boot to see which one’s happiest. They love to see you, whatever mood you’re in.
What is your favourite swear word or phrase and when did you last use it?
“Cunt”, which I used about two minutes ago talking to you, didn’t I? I understand why some folks would get very offended by my daily language, but I speak from where I'm from, which is, of course, the streets of Sheffield. I’m with Lenny Bruce: if we use these words and say them very casually, we reduce the power of their worst meanings, and then they can no longer hurt people.
Do you have any regrets? If so, what and why?
Cigarettes. I wish I'd packed them in a lot earlier. I’ll be a year without them in January.
What’s your favourite joke?
There's a local man addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time he wants.
What’s your favourite decade? Why?
From an aesthetic point of view, probably the 1950s. The coats and the cuts of clothes just made a fellow look better, whatever their shape – men’s clothes these days make you look like sacks of shit with belts tied around them. The reality of that decade was very different though, of course. Despite all the trials and tribulations of living on planet Earth at the moment, with terrifying climate change and insanely narcissistic, terrifying rulers of the three big countries, you can no longer die of toothache or rickets.
Are you a political person?
I was brought up in a very strongly political, old-school socialist background, as I think you can hear in my songs, but like many people today, I’m finding it increasingly frustrating to find anything that represents even vaguely the politics of decency, or the genuine politics of someone standing up for the many rather than the few. Also, to hear about the mind-numbing levels of greed in the Covid-19 inquiry recently, including the PPE scandal, has been mind-boggling. The fact that there are no consequences for these actions beyond just a slap on the wrist is even more so.
Where do you tend to have your best ideas?
Walking. When we’re putting one foot in front of the other, at some point in that process, we feel safe and our daily life drops away. I find my mind flips into a fantasy or a dream-like state, a bit like when we fall asleep – something shifts. Songs are almost like Rubik's Cube puzzles, and something often shifts when I walk. Suddenly the red bit’s not on the green bit anymore, and the puzzle’s complete.
What’s the best lesson you taught your kids?
Pay attention in your foreign language classes. It’s not good to grow up and only be able to communicate with people in our own mother tongue.
If money or travel were no object, where would you live?
I’d probably pay for an airfare and fly around a bit, as I love travelling, but then invest the money to make sure I stay here. My roots here are so strong.
Name a piece of art that’s inspired you recently
Reunion, the Warp Films series made for the BBC, about a deaf man who’s just come back from prison. I did some music for it, and seeing the courage they took in making it and what they achieved was mind-blowing. The Warp Films team have made Emmy-winning films without leaving Sheffield, and it’s good to see, while globalisation is raging, there are still some people who see the importance of the smaller picture.
Interview by Jude Rogers