Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge

Richard Hawley comes from Sheffield in the UK. His previous album "Coles Corner" was a finalist in the 2006 UK Mercury Music Prize (it lost out to the Artic Monkeys). His new album is called "Lady's Bridge" & is out now on the Mute Records Label. Th etitle comes from the name of the oldest bridge in Sheffield that goes over the river Don.

The album was recorded at Yellow Arch Studio in Neepsend, Sheffield in the dilapidated building that Hawley had helped out with the restoration of almost four years ago. Yellow Arch gives Hawley what he calls "that Sun Studio red light factor" and the pressure of turning up with the bones of an idea and leaving with a masterpiece.

From the Mute Website

"I didn’t want to re-invent the wheel or anything,” he explains. “I write songs and I play guitar, that’s it. There isn’t any mystery to it. I’m just constantly in search of something beautiful, melodies that just hit. That’s kind of what I do, I find it difficult to explain because its so simple.”


It's an intensely personal record for many reasons but mainly because during its recording Richard lost his father Dave Hawley, after a three-year battle with cancer, in February 2007. Hawley Snr was a man who not only inspired his son to pick up a guitar but who gave him his work ethic (he was part of a generation of musicians who’d work in the steel industry all day then play gigs at night) and his sense of humour. Here, in Richard's words was “a first wave teddy boy who lived life to the full” and “could make a cat laugh”.

“It was very difficult to not let the events that were happening affect the record,” he says “I tried to keep balanced and keep my eye on the ball. The last thing my dad would say to me every night at the hospice would be, 'Now then bastard, keep your eye on ball' and then just as I was leaving he'd say: '... and don't forget my ale and fags'.”

Links:
www.mute.com
www.richardhawley.co.uk