Hugh Cornwell, writer and singer of classic and addictive tunes like Golden Brown and Strange Little Girl, is coming to Róisín Dubh on Friday April 14.
As leader of The Stranglers, Hugh was the main songwriter of all the band’s most memorable songs across ten stellar albums. Their 1977 debut Rattus Norvegicus – featuring seminal songs Peaches, (Get A ) Grip, (On Yourself ), and more – follow up albums No More Heroes, Black and White, The Raven and The Gospel According To The MenInBlack - which Hugh cites as his favourite Stranglers album – consolidated Cornwell’s stature as a unique songwriter and musician. His lyrics to Golden Brown, from the La Folie album, and their multiple meanings, is a songwriting masterclass with the song reaching number 2 in the UK singles charts. After releasing his final album 10 with the band, Hugh embarked on a solo career.
Clearly a hyper-creative individual, Cornwell not only writes and plays music, he also writes his own novels. How does that type of longer form writing compare to writing songs? He says: "Writing a novel is just as personal an experience, but it just takes so much longer. You've got to do your research and you've got to rewrite and rewrite. It's a long, slow burner. Whereas songs can generally be written in five minutes. I think the longest time it's ever taken me to write a song was about three months on and off. I kept going back to it and changing it. The shortest time I've ever spent writing a song though was with Golden Brown, with Dave Greenfield. That genuinely took five minutes."
The first thing a writer is told to do to improve his craft is to read, read, read. I'm interested to know from Cornwell whether he listens to music to help inspire and spark something new, and if so, what does he listen to? "I'm bewitched by the music that I listened to when I was a teenager. I think that's the same with everybody. You can never really get away from that. Having said that, for a long time now, I haven't really listened to anything. I just can't concentrate on listening, I'd rather be playing music, or watching a movie. The only time I hear new music is when I watch a film and it sparks my interest." What type of movies does Cornwell like to watch? "They're never brand new, generally they're older, the classics. I saw This Land Is Mine, by French director Jean Renoir recently, it was so good. I find most of the newer movies a bit disappointing. A lot of people seem not to like 'slow' films anymore, which is a shame. That's the sad thing about the mainstream movie world at the moment - it seems to have been dumbed down a little bit, it's all action and no real dialogue." I try and make a case for the current independent movie landscape, recommending Aftersun and trying to explain its slow pace and evocation of a very specific time and place.
Having had such an expansive career and the experience writing with others and also alone, does Cornwell find it more freeing to develop music on his own? "Yes, absolutely. I deliberately involve no one else in the recording process. When I play live with my band, they all put their own trademark on the music, they change and add things, or take things away, which is great, but I love working alone in the studio. It gives me the freedom to do all sorts of things. And it's fun."
What does Cornwell make of this newer music industry ruled by streaming platforms? He says: "Anyone who has a career in music at the moment is very lucky. I feel very fortunate to still be able to make some sort of a living from writing, recording and playing my own music. I mean it's getting ridiculous - you can't make any money from a record that's released. You can only make money from live concerts, it's hard."
Cornwell’s tenth solo album, Moments of Madness, was released in 2022. An album of acute, pithy, and witty observations and social commentary across ten singular songs, how did he find the process of making it? He says: "The album got made during lockdown. I had a lot of fun making it and it was a very interesting process for me. I played live bass on it too, which I haven't done for a long time. Lyrically, there's a lot of introspection going on. Some of the songs are about dreams I've had, disastrous love affairs, Covid.
I ended up finishing the songs off in the studio as I was recording. I deliberately didn't finish them off before that, because there's a certain amount of magical accidental stuff happening during the recording process, and it's great to be able to take advantage of that."
What's the next project for Cornwell? "I've got a lot of ideas. It's just about finding the time to do the work. I'll find it though." Watch this space.
Tickets are available from roisindubh.net
