Charlotte Hatherley Interview

The big news today on BBC6 is that Ash might work with their former guitarist Charlotte Hatherley at some point in the future. In fact the BBC6 news team made rather a lot of some vague statements from singer Tim Wheeler, who said there was no bad blood and no reason why they couldn't work together again.

Charlotte left the band this January, to concentrate on making her second solo album. A couple of years ago, when she was releasing her first solo effort, I was given the chance to interview her over the phone by the editor of a fanzine. There wasn't any money on offer but it was a good opportunity and I was promised a free copy of the album. Unfortunately, the fanzine, Keep On Keeping On, never got off the ground. My interview was never published and I never got sent the album. I can't do anything about the free album, but I might as well put the interview here, for the sake of anyone who likes reading two year old interviews with indie guitarists. You lucky people, you!


KOKO: Hi, is that Charlotte?
CH: Yep Speaking, how ya doin?

KOKO: Good thanks, how are you?
CH: Yeah, not bad

KOKO: What have you been up to today?
CH: Some more interviews! Just sitting at home talking about me, its not too bad.

KOKO: Your new single “Kim Wilde” is available as a free download on your website. Was that your idea?
CH: Yeah, I think because I thought it would be slightly audacious to come out with a proper single first. I thought it would be nicer to start with a download thing and it coincided with my website going up as well so it just kinda gauged people’s reactions to it really. ‘Cos its quite a scary thing releasing a new single for the first time ever, putting yourself out there. But fortunately it’s gone really well. Several thousand downloads in the first week.

KOKO: It’s had some very positive reviews.
CH: Yeah, that’s given me loads of confidence actually to persevere with the rest of it.
KOKO: Your vocals on the single have been compared to Bjork...
CH: Yeah that’s a bit weird; I think that was nme.com or something?
KOKO: A number of places, and also The Corrs have been mentioned.
CH: The Corrs? That’s interesting...I don’t really see the Bjork thing because I don’t think I sound like Bjork. Someone also mentioned The Cardigans. I guess it’s a lot higher than most of the stuff I do with Ash. Someone else also mentioned Julianne Hatfield, the singer out of Lush. Anyway, it’s all good! I don’t really care as long as people like it!

KOKO: In Oyster magazine in 2002 you did an interview where you said you were going to record a solo album. You said your material was “big on tuning and sounds” and would be influenced by PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth and Guided by Voices. Now its 2004, you’ve made the album, do you think those comments still hold true?
CH: Ermmmm, I can see the Guided By Voices thing, I think people expected it to be more of a PJ Harvey-esque record, quite raw and a bit rockier. I guess it’s a bit more accessible, a bit poppier than that. Those are bands that I listen to a lot but I don’t necessarily think it sounds like that. I like bands like XTC and The B-52s, sort of pop songs that have a lot going on in them. I read a lot of old interviews. I’m always going on about it! It seems like I finally got round to having a finished product so I’m very proud of that.

KOKO: You’re not doing any shows or touring to promote the album but touring with Ash still. Might you be doing any of your songs?
CH: I might do some acoustic stuff on radio and maybe play some instores. I might do something like that but I haven’t really had time to get a band together.
KOKO: You won’t be having a little acoustic moment in the middle of an Ash show or anything like that?
CH: I don’t think so. I’d quite like to keep it quite separate, as separate as I can.
KOKO: Have you had quite a positive response from Ash fans about it all?
CH: Yeah it’s been pretty good actually. One of the reasons I decided to go ahead with it is I recorded Grey Will Fade as the B-side of There’s A Star and that got such a great response from the fans online it made me think well maybe I should just get on with it and do it instead of waiting around. They’ve been really supportive and they seem to be quite into it.

KOKO: You’ve had some good reviews and the albums out soon. What will you do if it’s more successful than [Ash’s last album] Meltdown?
CH: (laughs) I don’t think that’s gonna happen! I like the fact that I can just kinda do my own thing and I don’t really want to make a massive deal out of it. I’d like to go on and make some more records really but I do love the fact that I can play with Ash which is a bigger band. It’s not a competition for me anyway.

KOKO: So you’re not gonna become a diva and start demanding bigger dressing rooms...
CH: ...get my own tour bus? Erm, I might do, you never know. Sounds like good fun! But I doubt it very much.

KOKO: Your mum had a cameo in the Shaun of the Dead movie, how did that come about?
CH: Well, the director, Edgar Wright is my boyfriend actually, a little bit of nepotism there! No, my mum used to be in Carry On films and was quite a serious actress back in her day but she hasn’t really had much work recently after having three kids. When Edgar met her, she was just perfect for the role of lead zombie so that’s kind of how that came about.

KOKO: So will there be more Ash music in Edgar’s work in the future? (Ash covered Everybody’s Happy Nowadays by The Buzzcocks for the soundtrack of Shaun of The Dead)
CH: Yeah, yeah. It was his idea to do the Buzzcocks song which is a really cool cover. He was a big Ash fan prior to us meeting so maybe, maybe, you never know! I think he’s starting writing some new ideas now with Simon Pegg.

KOKO: You’ve got the drummer from PJ Harvey’s band on your record and you’re known to be a big fan of her but her new album has had a muted response and some mixed reviews...
CH: I’ve only heard [PJ’s latest single] The Letter, I need to get buying some new records.
KOKO: What did you think of The Letter?
CH: What I’ve heard is really cool. We did Jools Holland together. I think she’s such an amazing performer, she’s really cool. I don’t think it really matters if this album comparatively does as well. Her last album [Stories From The Sea, Stories From The City] is quite mainstream in a way I think she’s gone back to her blues roots. I can’t imagine she’d be too bothered.
KOKO: returned to her core audience?
CH: Yeah, I don’t that for somebody of PJ Harvey’s stature and reputation that it really matters what your chart position is.

KOKO: Do you think she’ll see you as competition?
CH: Erm, I don’t think so, I hope not! I think we’re doing quite different things. There’s plenty of room for female musicians out there, there aren’t really that many.

KOKO: Your new single is named after 80s pop star Kim Wilde. Are you not worried that Kim Wilde fans will think she has a new single out called Charlotte Hatherley and get very confused?
CH: (laughs) No! It would be quite cool if she did do something like that though. I’d be very chuffed if she’d returned the favour. I’d love to get a load of Kim Wilde fans buying Kim Wilde! It’d be good!

KOKO: Eric Drew Feldman, of The Magic Band and producer of Frank Black produced your album what’s he like to work with as a producer?
CH: He’s cool you know? Really laid back guy and we actually recorded it at his house he’s got a studio he built in his garden so it’s like a really relaxed month of recording. I think cos I came to him and I had everything written and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. All he had to do was sit back and give me advice, y’know? He’s done so many amazing things that he knows exactly how he wants the record to sound too. So yeah we got on really well and he’s a really cool guy, loads of stories.
KOKO: Do you think if the solo career is a success you’ll consider dropping your last name and become a single name star like Cher or Madonna?
CH: Yeah, Charlotte Hatherley is not the coolest name. It’s too long I think. Sound’s more like a romantic novelist than a rock star. Maybe if I was gonna aim for the rock star league I’d probably have to change my name.
KOKO: This is what happens when people start solo careers after being in a band. They haven’t been using stage names so they get stuck with their real ones! Like...(I struggle to think of a good example)..Erm, Robbie Williams.
CH: Yeah, I didn’t really want to hide behind a stage name or a project name or anything. Maybe if I do some other things I’d like to go under a different name cos it just sounds cooler. Something like Head, or something like that.

KOKO: What do you you think about Napster and the BPI and paying for downloads and stuff like that?
CH: I don’t see there’s a lot of point in pretending its not out there. With Ash especially we tend to do a lot of free stuff. We go into it with the idea that if we give you free stuff you have to buy the album or the single. Sort of return the favour really. I know anything I download for free that I’ve really enjoyed I’ve wanted to go out and buy so I’m not really worried.
KOKO: Charlotte, thanks.