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  Late Night Final with an invisible guitar  TOTAL LEE! The Songs of Lee Hazlewood  Lowedges |
PUKKA: What gave you the inspiration of making a Lee Hazlewood tribute album Total Lee/The Songs of Lee Hazlewood? |
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| Richard: Me and Jarvis were asked to do it. We chose a really old song recorded
in the 50's by Sanford Clark. I'd been listening to it since I was a kid. |
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| How much of him/his songs attract you? |
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| R: Lee Hazlewood's music has been in my life one way or another for 30 years.
I view his music like I think about oxygen. |
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| Kate Moss and Bobbie Gillespie from Primal Scream released a single "Some
Velvet Morning" which was originally performed by Nancy Sinatra and
Lee Hazlewood. In your generation in England he still seems very popular,
what is the general opinion of him/his songs? |
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| R: I've not heard their version of the song so I can't comment. Primal Scream
are a great band, what more can I say? |
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| Late Night Final is highly praised in the U.S.A. as well. Is that something
to do with the tradition of American road movies? Because the protagonists
of your songs are often on the way to somewhere, and think of what they
have left behind. What do you think of that? |
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| R: America's a big country with a big population of transient people. I've
always been a restless man and always moving on to the next thing either
physically or mentally so I identify with that. But I've had that feeling
since I was a child in Sheffield so make of that what you will. |
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| I was struck by the solitude in the Late Night Final. Brutality (you mentioned
this word sometimes before) and tenderness come alternately as we listen
to the songs. The mixture of these very different emotions is the main
theme of Late Night Final. |
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| R: Life can be hard, know what I mean? |
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| Late Night Final's another theme is family. Does fatherhood affect your
songwriting a lot? |
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| R: It affects everything about my life. |
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| If your children say they want to be a musician, what will you say to them? |
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| R: Practise. |
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| A friend of mine went to see your live in East London. You seemed to enjoy
chatting with the audience a lot. She said she was very surprised at the
amiable, open atmosphere of the show, because there had been something
in you that kept people at a distance before. Do you think you have changed
in that sense? |
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| R: I would hope that after 35 years on this planet I could hold a conversation
with people. All people change, in time. |
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| She also went to the Longpigs show at Heaven in 2000, and she said recently,
'It was natural for them to split up, because what he is trying to do now
is totally different from what they were doing at that time.' You haven't
made any definite comment on the matter, but musically speaking, what led
the band to split up? |
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| R: It's a long time ago. I loved being in that band at the time, and I've
moved on. We split up partly because of bad business management and partly
cos we were knackered. Me and Simon have young families and we didn't see
the point of all that work and love going into the music if at the end
of the day everyone involved would be unhappy. I didn't leave the Longpigs
to go solo, I left to have a life. The solo thing came later and by accident. |
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| As a producer, what kind of quality do you want in a band/artist? |
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| R: Passion, feeling, purpose, good songs, you know the usual! |
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| As a producer, can you name some bands/artists that you want to work with?
If so, can you tell us the reason why you want to do so? |
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| R: I'm afraid most of the people I'd love to work with are dead. I like working
on projects that are unfinished with new artists the best: they're always
much more fun with less record company bullshit to have to deal with. |
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| You mentioned Charles Bukowski before, who do you read recently? |
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| R: Patrick O'Brian, biographies on Laurel and Hardy, Eddie Cochran and Skip
James. Lots of Steinbeck, Jack London and Hemingway. I just read a great
book about the history of the spice trade but I can't remember who wrote
it. |
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| Do you get any inspiration from what you read when you write lyrics? |
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| R: I just try and tell my truth. |
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| Who do you listen to recently? |
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| R: Norman Greenbaum, Chet Atkins, Howlin Wolf bootlegs, Lemon Jelly (my wife
likes this), John D. Loudermilk, Charley Patton (I got a beautiful box
set for Christmas last year and I haven't stopped listening to it). Loads
of other stuff I won't bore you with. |
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| Your new album Lowedges is coming out in January. What kind of songs does
it have? Is it an extension of Late Night Final? |
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| R: You can be the judge of that. |
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| How does it evolve from where you were at Late Night Final? |
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| R: I refer to my earlier answer. |
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| Do you tour with Lowedges? |
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| R: Unfortunately yes. |
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| Could you introduce your tour members? |
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| R: Andy Cook - drums Colin Elliot - bass Simon Stafford - keyboards Shez Sheridan - guitars |
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