26/02/11
Paul Heaton is not having a good day. I’ve just interrupted him finishing off a salad he’s prepared for his lunch and as well as having no heating, he’s had to change a tyre on his ex-girlfriend’s car as a prelude to a day of phone interviews. The former lead singer and songwriter behind The Beautiful South and The Housemartins possibly could be wishing to be anywhere else than chatting to Outline about his upcoming gig at the Waterfront, but to be fair, after finishing his meal, he’s up for a grilling.
So you’ve been in the music business for twenty three or so years, how has the Paul Heaton of ‘Flag Day’ (The First Housemartins single) changed from the Paul Heaton who has just released his solo album The Cross Eyed Rambler?I was a very different person back then, in fact, it’s difficult to remember what I was like at the beginning of the Housemartins - after all, it’s almost a generation ago. I do know I weigh more and am definitely more relaxed, although not as relaxed as towards the end of the Beautiful South. I suppose that’s something that success can do to you, as is the drinking which wasn’t a good thing. But with the new band and the new album, I feel a lot less relaxed and comfortable which is a lot better for creativity; that is in my world at least.
So is it Paul Heaton: The Band, more than a solo project?It’s a band in my name - people could leave and it will still be Paul Heaton: The Band, but the set up we have is very much a co-operative. I still work under good socialist principles; saying that, it would be nice for the lads if we started to make some money out of this album.
You’re now Manchester based - did you pick out the band through the pool of local talent?Following the end of The Beautiful South, I was doing some work with the local community radio station up here along with a guy who used to be in the power pop band The Smirks - they’re probably on the internet if you want to check them out - I loved them as a teenager. He said if I was looking to form a band he could recommend Steve Trafford as a guitarist I could work with and to be fair, he wasn’t wrong. The other two lads hooked up and we’ve worked extremely hard in recording and rehearsals to perfect the sound of the album as a live set. It’s a harder sound than the Beautiful South, but there is still the ear for a good tune in there.
You had a chance to take the new material out on the road during this year’s festival season…We did the festival dates on the back of a run of our own shows and I really enjoyed it. It was far more pleasurable to be playing at this level than the times I played with The Beautiful South on the main stages. You have more freedom to explore and this year has seen gigs in smaller stages, large tents and even next to a puppet show in a very muddy field at Bestival, which at the time, was suffering a severe dose of the great British summer. Still, that was my favourite gig of the season just from the excitement and randomness of the event and for the fact I’d never done a show in wellies before.
Speaking of shows, you’re at the Waterfront on the 29th of October with Cerys Matthews - how did the joint tour come about?Strangely, I’d only met Cerys once before. People think with all the television and festivals that The Beautiful South and Catatonia would have done at the same time, that we would have bumped into each other more often. Mind you, this was at the height of my problems with alcohol and it’s been documented that Cerys wasn’t exactly on the straight and narrow either, but we do have similar leanings politically, so there’s one thing to share whilst on the road. The tour itself was put together by the promoters; I was at first looking to get the support slot with Paul Weller, but that ended up as a non-runner, so we decided to get out as a headline act and the people in charge looked around for a support and I think they did a decent job in their choice.
Cerys is known by a lot of people as much for her music as she is from the reality TV show ‘I’m a Celebrity…’ - is that something you would consider? I’ve done Newsnight, Football Italia and The Politics Show myself, so I’m no stranger to non-musical television. But not too many people know I was asked to be on that particular show the year before Cerys did it and I was very close to accepting the offer. The producers would have known I can be forthright and possibly would have shaken things up and for them that is good TV. I had to consider the tabloid intrusion though that comes as part of the package of reality TV. I have two daughters at school and I had to think of the reaction that they would get if their dad was on ITV nightly being a bit of a twat. So as much as I would have liked to do it, they had to come first, so I passed on the offer and yes, in some ways I regret the decision.
Would people have known who you were if you’d have done the show?I don’t really get recognised at all; it’s a case that I’m not as well known as my song writing and the songs themselves. I’ve been away on holiday recently and some folks who were staying at the same place eventually asked what I did. They didn’t know the name, but after asking what songs I’d written it turns out they knew most of the songs. I suppose it is a blessing that I can carry on daily life untroubled whilst still having the back catalogue to sit alongside the new album. Looking at it being known for what you do rather than who you are is quite pleasing - if a bit East German! What I do is really all about the music anyway - I don’t think I ever was a poster boy!
And to finally take things back to the album, that sentiment is reflected in the closing track, ‘Everything is Everything’ a broadside on fame and the music machine. The older Paul is still like the young Paul in one way - the fire is still there...Yes, you’ve got me there - I’ve still got things to say and a weak Paul Heaton song will be coupled to a weak lyric. That’s not something that will happen and with so many things that annoy me out there I’ll still have things to say to people. My lyrics are reflective of myself - it’s the way I’ve always written. Looking back I was the archetypical grumpy old man at the beginning of The Housemartins, so if I am to be tarred with that brush now, as it’s almost fashionable as a genre after all these years, I guess I haven’t changed all that much.
David R Gray
Paul has been in a band with Norman ‘Fat Boy Slim’ Cook, sold more albums than most with The Beautiful South’s Greatest Hits collection ‘Carry On Up the Charts.’ The new album, ‘The Cross Eyed Rambler’ stands head and shoulders alongside the best of his canon and deserves to become acquainted with your ears. So for a taster, get down to the Waterfront on the 29th of October to Catch Paul alongside Cerys Matthews for a night that won’t disappoint.