Carry On Regardless

You’re preparing for a bunch of live festival dates throughout August, and New Beautiful South kick-started things with a mini grassroots tour in March. How does it feel to be back on the road?

DH: It’s a strange feeling. Obviously we’ve got a new line-up as Paul is no longer with the band.  It feels a little bit like starting again – we’ve had to re-jig a few things, explore which songs we could keep doing, and how they would work. So it’s a challenge in some ways. The tour in March was a really good way to begin. We were thrown in at the deep end and got on really well. By the end of it we were building on old stuff and some new stuff too.

Re-forming and starting out again inevitably means touring at smaller venues, in the beginning at least. Is that an anti-climax after the stadium gigs the band was doing during the mid 90s?

DH: I never really liked the bigger venues; I didn’t really think the band was best suited to them. Stadium gigs are more visual and about showmanship. We’re suited to the middle-sized venues. I like the atmosphere in them, as long as people aren’t chucking stuff at the stage! That’s one of the bonuses of stadium gigs; you’re too far away for anything to reach the stage. But I might be tempting fate here… please don’t throw stuff at us!

So, have you ever played in Peterborough before?

DH: Never, I’ve passed through Peterborough before, but we’ve never played. I think the nearest was Cambridge, which has just made me laugh in memory of a time we played there… we were a bit worse for wear and the crowd let us know. So it’s the first time for us to play in Peterborough – it’s always good to play somewhere new. 

With the reformed line-up, you’ve had to step into the limelight and take on the role of frontman. What’s that like?

DH: Well, I do more now. I was definitely more reserved before, and I was very happy to take a step back because I was quite shy and not really cut out for it. Having said that, I’ve got to do it now, and I’m embracing fronting the band. I owe it to them – I couldn’t let them down by not making a good go at it. Basically, I’m talking more, communicating more, and I’ve found that it can be fun, as long as I hold my own. 

Were you the catalyst behind reforming the band?

DH: No, it was actually Dave Stead the drummer. But I didn’t want the band to fold in the first place. At the time, when Paul was leaving, I thought there was no way we could carry on. In retrospect, that was because I was shell shocked by the decision. When Steady suggested it, I didn’t say yes straight away. I thought about it for a while – ‘Could we be a force still, could we be good?’ It meant going from three singers to two singers and I felt, if we could cover all bases, then we should give it a go. We also needed to get the right bass player and guitarist in and then, suddenly, it became really obvious that we could do it. And that we should.

Winston Blissett, who has played with Massive Attack, is the band’s new bassist, and Phil Barton is the new guitarist. How does their addition change the band’s dynamic?

DH: It freshens things up without a doubt. There are changes – only subtle changes – but that breathes new life into the band. When you’ve been together for almost 20 years, there’s a danger you can become staid and find yourself just going through the motions. But there’s no chance of that this time round.

You mentioned that the band is also working on new songs, tell us more?

DH: We’ve got some demos recorded, but there are other songs that need arranging with these new people in the band, and we’re very excited about it. Hopefully in the future we’ll be able to get into the studio to do that. But we’re also playing mostly older songs, we know that people coming to see us want to hear them. And we’re very happy to play them, we’re proud of them.

What’s been the reaction from audiences since the shuffle around in line-up?

DH: Of course you can’t win everybody over but it’s been going well. We’ve shown that we really enjoy playing the music and that’s a really big bonus because when the audience see us having a good time, they enjoy it more.

What’s been your most memorable gig?

DH: Our first gig as New Beautiful South was in Leicester. It was a pub gig with a capacity of only about 150 people; it was real ‘whites of their eyes’ stuff. Once we confronted that, and could do it, I knew we could do anything – it’s so vastly different from playing venues with a huge sound system and set-up. So we threw ourselves in at the deep end and it was great. As for most memorable gigs, throughout the years there have been some great times, like Glastonbury on the main stage during the mid 90s. That will always be a great memory.

And who was your inspiration to get involved with music?

DH: I’m showing my age here, but when I was a kid growing up, I loved The Beatles. They were so interesting, interesting chord progressions and harmonies. It really made your ears prick up, even if it’s a bit of a cliché to say that. So that gave me an interest in music as a kid. Today I like so many different kinds of music, anything that is done well, that it’s hard to pick just one.

What does the future hold for New Beautiful South?

DH: Well, we’ve got live dates throughout August, but it’s not a proper tour, as in one that we’ve organised ourselves and that we’re in charge of. So we’re hoping to organise our own tour for November when people will be more aware of us being around. We know we’re a bit of an unknown quantity until people know that we’re out there playing again. So that’s on the cards and we’ll build on that, and work on new music too.

How important is playing live to you as a musician?

DH: I feel more involved with it now than I ever have. Before I was happy to stay in the background, but now it’s much more important to me. Live music seems more important in general today, with so many changes in the music industry. You see quite a few bands coming back and reforming – live music is important again. I think it dwindled for a while but that’s not the case now. And we want to be amongst that. We’re really enjoying it.

You’ve mentioned that a large selection of the back catalogue of Beautiful South tunes will be played out during your set. Care to enlighten us about which tracks we can expect at The Brewery Tap?

DH: Well, we’ve gone through the songs, and we’ll be playing the ones that work and the ones that we can do justice! Seriously though, there’ll be plenty of opportunities for those who want to sing along. And there will definitely be lots of songs that people know. One of the great things about the band is there are a hell of a lot of songs we have got to choose from.