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Jan
Goodey walks the beaches with Stranglers legend, Hugh
Cornwell
 On
the same day as interviewing Hugh Cornwell of Stranglers
fame I went to see John Cooper Clarke, punk poet with
a nice line in pre-PC, post-watershed humour. These two
have had all but the kitchen sink thrown at them during
careers which have sailed very close to the wind when
it comes to misogyny and general Bernard Manning-ery.
It was Cornwell who sang jauntily about 'walking on the
beaches looking at the peaches', not a lyric to bandy
about at a post-feminist get-together. He is in the process
of re-inventing himself however. As for Cooper Clarke...
that's best left for another day.
Cornwell's
re-invention has been a long time in the making and along
the way he's brought out the same number of solo albums
as The Stranglers: eight. The latest, Hi Fi, contains
the track Leave Me Alone which features in the forthcoming
film Trigger Men, starring Neil (Men Behaving Badly) Morrisey.
"It's a very funny film about two down-and-outs in
Chicago who are mistaken for hitmen and consequently take
the money and run," says Cornwell.
He
is no stranger to the profession himself: "I've done
bits and pieces, haven't been lucky enough to get any
breaks in feature films yet. I did stuff with the Comic
Strip when they made their films in the Eighties. Then
years and years ago I did a play with Bob Hoskins, it
was a charity thing for the Almeida." With his grim-faced,
tough exterior - and that's Cornwell I'm talking about
- I feel sure he was the baddie, although he's reluctant
to talk about it. In fact he's so focused on the here
and now I'm lucky to wheedle out the barest of biographical
detail.
At
53, single, and with homes in west London and Wiltshire,
he is pretty settled these days. He was brought up around
Kentish Town in a 'boring old middle class' family. Following
school, he proved no slouch in the wider academic field,
graduating from Bristol University with a degree in biochemistry,
then gaining acceptance onto a Phd course in Sweden. "I
didn't complete that. The music bug got hold of me and
that was that," he explains.
The
Stranglers formed soon after in 1975. They rose from the
ashes of a band he started in Sweden: the unfortunately
named Johnny Sox. The Stranglers reputation was sealed
with albums Rattus Norvegicus (1977) and Black and White
(1978) plus classic tracks like No More Heroes (1977),
Outside Tokyo (1978) and Golden Brown (1981). Out of the
whole punk era few bands have stood the test of time better.
"I'm quite proud of what we did, I wouldn't play
them today otherwise." And what of the split? "I
just got bored with it all, bored with being belligerent.
It was like wearing a uniform, you know you have to behave
like this, otherwise it'll be bad for the image, it's
all crap. I feel a bit sad for them that they're still
stuck in this strait-jacket. I hardly hear from them now,
over the years they've shown a bitter side to my splitting,
which is a bit unfortunate."
Cornwell
has attempted to set the record straight in his new book
Song by Song. "I mean you probably don't know about
it," he angles. Spot of false modesty there Hugh,
'course I've heard of it: that whole tense time of touring,
heroin, prison (Cornwell served time in Pentonville for
possession). It's all there in graphic detail and he hopes
that as a result people will be a bit more understanding.
Even the feminists mentioned earlier? "I thought
it was all taken a bit too seriously. We've become very
PC these days, almost unhealthily so, hopefully that will
change."
On the current tour he includes an acoustic set of Stranglers
songs. "The attendance has been incredible,"
he enthuses. "Last week in the Exeter, the average
age was about 25. These songs were coming out when they
were born and they knew them, I was absolutely amazed."
He also slips in the odd new one from an album due out
in the autumn and describes the audience he is aiming
for as "Anyone who's heard of Bob Dylan I'd be happy
to play to".
Is
it hard for someone who once had the fame and fortune
to find themselves struggling to find a toe-hold in an
industry increasingly beholden to manufactured bands and
personalities? "No, not at all. I make a living and
I'm quite happy, obviously I'm ambitious, I'm doing a
lot of work in the States. I've got a high profile here
but no interest and vice versa there."
So
any chance of an original Stranglers reunion? "The
Stranglers are the only band that aren't going to reform.
I've got no interest in it. I mean I've just heard the
Buzzcocks have got back together with Howard De Voto for
Godsake. I mean after how many years, 25, what is the
point? I would hope I've got a few more fresh ideas."
Hugh
Cornwell is at Komedia, March 14, 8.30pm, tickets on 01273
647100.
copyright New Insight 2001
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