"There's never been a fucking masterplan in my life, mate," admits Richard Hawley in his Yorkshire drawl through a sly smile. "I became a musician to avoid having a career. After the steelworks closed and my dad, uncle and grandad got kicked out of their job, the alarm bells went off in my head from a very young age that says 'whatever it is I'm going to do, whatever hole I dig myself, the shovel is going to be my guitar'."
Moreso than most, Hawley has indeed lived by the sword. Born and raised in a 'rough as fuck' corner of Sheffield, he would go on to tour the world with The Longpigs and Pulp, but the Steel City remains not only his home and muse, but his anchor and moral compass.
"I just saw all those great men and women get thrown on the scrapheap, and it caused so much emotional and psychological damage that I just 'what's the point in working for 25 years to just get a golden fuck off at the end of it'?" he frowns. "If you can make a living by playing guitar, it's a damn site better than nicking cars - which was very nearly my other profession!"
The last time I spoke to Richard Hawley was on my very last day of living in Sheffield, before moving down to The Big Smoke to find fame and fortune, or whatever. "What the fuck are you doing that for - everything you need is here," he told me, looking up as sipped his pint from his local in the hills on the edge of town. In many ways, he was right, but one thing we agreed on was that 'comfort kills creation' - and the need to earn our place in this word.
To write for a living is a privilege, to write about music is absolutely insane. Hawley feels the same about life with a guitar around his neck.
"Oh fucking hell, I'm reminded of that every day," he laughs. "All of those men and women who used to work 14 hours in the steelworks, and here I am. That grounding is something that I'm very grateful for - it never allows you to disappear up your own arse. It's not that difficult when you're reminded constantly. To earn your daily bread from playing these songs is a fucking dream come true for me."
And the dream continues. Having just released the beautifully reflective and romantic Hollow Meadows, the accidental star finds himself on his eighth solo album. Again, named after a length of the Sheffield landscape. But what aspect of the city that created him lent itself to the atmosphere of this LP?
"You're asking me to dissect a section of a river, which is impossible because it's already flowed on," he admits. "I've never had writer's block but there are certain times when I've not picked up an instrument on purpose because there are certain tricks you can do. I don't like to be too harsh or knowing about it - I don't look the genie in the eye. Ultimately I don't want to analyse things and there's a fucking damn good reason why the word 'analysis' has got the word 'anal' in it - and I don't do that."
We breeze over our last conversation, and whether my move to London was really that wise, or if Sheffield could have continued to feed me as it has him for 48 years.
"I realise what you're saying about moving to London n' all," ponders Hawley, "I always think you lose more than you gain when you do, but evidently I'm talking to you three years later and you seem to be doing alright?"
It's not bad, but I had a plan - something that Hawley protests he never has. The heady Britpop days, having his 'life saved' by Jarvis Cocker when he joined Pulp to becoming a household name through his Mercury-nominated solo work and collaborations with the likes of Elbow, Manic Street Preachers and Arctic Monkeys - all of it, is just part of him 'drifting' through life.
"I guess I've just been really lucky with my drifting," he chuckles in understatement. "For a very long time, especially early on, when everyone else had this huge exodus in the 80s and 90s for creative reasons, I could never move to London - but you've just gotta follow the rainbow, you know what I mean. I don't know what it was, but there was always something nagging me at the back of my mind saying 'don't do that'. Maybe I'm just not that 'together' as a person."
Now, the accidental star finds himself on his eight solo album. His previous, Standing At The Sky's Edge, was a firey and politicised desert-rock tirade. In its wake he suffered an injury that saw him addicted to pain killers and in a bedbound state of recovery for some months. The time clearly gave him the space to take in the world around him, but with Hollow Meadows such a departure, does Hawley feel like he still has anything to prove?
"It's not about that, that's a very careerist thing, and I don't have that mentality," he admits "Every album earns you the right to make another one. It's just the work and the writing for me - I'll let folks like you worry about all that shit! If I worried about that, I'd never get out of bed."
He continues: "After every record, I have to take the batteries out and put the Action Man back in the box. I have to just carry on with what they call 'normal life'. The greatest asset for anyone who's a writer is boredom - if you allow yourself to get bored enough, you just basically start coming up with ideas. The worst thing possible to being creative is the screen. You have to slowly detach yourself from media and the fixation with fiddling about your fucking phone and the computer."
Yes, as you may have guessed it, Hawley is not a fan of Facebook or Twitter. His approach to human interaction is pretty old school, whether it's by chatting to fans at gigs or his occasional spots DJing at the King Bee clubnight up in Sheffield, you're more likely to find him with a pint and a friendly word, than with his thumb scrolling through a feed. He just doesn't care what you think of him.
"I don't give a fuck!" Hawley cackles. "I don't engage with social media because there are too many fuckwits out there. I was brought up to be respectful to people - I actually like people. The social media thing for me, just removes basic manners.
"If you were sat next to a bus stop and you said half the shit you would on Twitter, you'd just get hammered. If you said it in a pub or library...you just wouldn't, because of the safety mechanism that goes 'I shouldn't say that, because I'll get my head kicked in'. I was brought up in a really tough as fuck area where you just wouldn't do that. I refer the honourable gentleman to my earlier answer which was 'I do not give a fuck'!"
To simply sum up his stance on life, he adds: "I do give a fuck about entertaining people and them walking out happy - I give a fuck very much and that really matters to me, but you've got to pick your fights and what's important. I can't change the world, I can just make them feel better at the end of a gig."
No masterplan, no fucks given, just a man, his guitar, his open heart and a drive to entertain. There certainly are worse ways to earn a living.
New album Hollow Meadows is out now.
Richard Hawley's upcoming UK tour dates are below. For tickets and more information, visit here.
OCTOBER
Thu October 22 2015 - HOLMFIRTH Picturedrome
Fri October 23 2015 - LIVERPOOL Dome at Grand Central Hall
Sun October 25 2015 - BRIGHTON Dome
Mon October 26 2015 - CAMBRIDGE Corn Exchange
Tue October 27 2015 - BIRMINGHAM Institute
Wed October 28 2015 - SCARBOROUGH Spa
Fri October 30 2015 - DUBLIN Vicar Street
Sun November 01 2015 - LEEDS O2 Academy Leeds
Mon November 02 2015 - MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Tue November 03 2015 - GATESHEAD Sage Gateshead
Thu November 05 2015 - GLASGOW Barrowland
Fri November 06 2015 - SHEFFIELD Arena
Sun November 08 2015 - LONDON Roundhouse
Mon November 09 2015 - BRISTOL Colston Hall
Tue November 10 2015 - SOUTHAMPTON O2 Guildhall Southampton
