Stepping out of Oxford Circus tube station nothing seems different. London’s commuters look disgruntled at London’s Tourists, while London’s Tourists look equally as irritated as they struggle with their inappropriately sized sightseeing guides – essentially, it’s just the normal scene of instability on a damp, wintry day in England’s capital city. Half a mile up the road in Regent Street, and fifteen floors above the chaos, however, things are different – tranquil by comparison – and there’s good reason.
Sitting in a quiet corner of a restaurant which boasts panoramic views of the ‘hustle n’ bustle’ below, is Charlotte Hatherley, a singing, song writing guitarist – and nowadays, front woman - whose perspective on the future is now almost as infinite as the horizon she’s admiring in the distance - “Nice view, isn’t it?”
It hasn’t always been this clear, however. Almost twelve months ago to the day that Gigwise catches up with her, Charlotte was contemplating one of those life-changing decisions that everyone has to tackle at some point in their life that will - regardless of what decision they settle on - alter their life’s direction. For Charlotte, the choice was whether she was going to stay with Ash, a band with whom she toured relentlessly for almost a decade and released four, enormously successful albums with; or leave that all behind to build on her solo reputation following her critically acclaimed solo debut album ‘Grey Will Fade.’
Of course, she went for the latter, and a year on it’s a decision she confidently stands by and candidly talks about, even if she is still a little confused by the whole outcome. “At the end of touring Meltdown, I was just not very happy at all; not very inspired to do anything, like musical, which obviously I took as a bad sign.”
Although Charlotte managed to record ‘Grey Will Fade’ during a two week window in Ash’s touring schedule in 2004 with the bands approval (“Tim in particularly was really encouraging about the song writing”), she admits that trying to manage both things “did have its moments when it became awkward.” Also, when Tim Wheeler (vocals/guitar) and Mark Hamilton (bass) relocated to New York to seek inspiration for the sixth Ash album, she was reluctant to follow suit. “We got together after a few months and discussed how I was going to do my album whilst doing the next Ash album and it became obvious that it was just going to be too difficult.” She confesses, “It was actually their suggestion. They just said well why don’t you just do it and we’ll do our own album and lets just split. I kind of welcomed that decision really. It was a weird one, because it’s not like I left, or they told me to ‘fuck off,’ it was just like this is going to be the best for all of us.”
While for Ash, Charlotte’s departure meant they ‘just’ lost their second guitarist (they were originally a three-piece until they plucked Charlotte out of her previous band Nightnurse, aged seventeen), for Charlotte, the separation left her with a lot less. Most notably, she no longer had the security she’d had since she was a teenager, “I guess it’s like arrested development when you join a band, you know? To come out of that ten years later at twenty-seven thinking, ‘fuck’ – reality hits quite hard.”
For Ms Hatherley, therefore, the last year’s been about a lot more than just recording another album, it’s been about taking on the responsibilities and accountability that she didn’t have to worry about being in a band. Taking the first steps as a solo performer has been such a burst of realism that she admits her new LP feels like it should be labelled her debut. “I was quite aware of that recording, thinking it’s not really my second album, it’s my first and I know it needed to be much better than anything I’d done before.”
Written and recorded in Italy on her terms, and without the constraints that restricted her debut, ‘The Deep Blue’ is consequently far more representative of her influences (which include, Kate Bush, David Bowie, Captain Beefheart) compared to the “carefree” bubblegum pop-punk inspired ‘Grey Will Fade.’ She smiles proudly as she explains her new musical direction. “Yeah it’s a fairly large difference. It’s a lot less guitar driven. The guitar takes a back seat to piano, strings and there’s a lot of kind of electronic sounds going on. It’s much more expansive, much more thoughtful. It sounds like it took the best part of a year to make.”
Lyrically, does this new direction still incorporate the ending of her time with Ash? “Yeah, lyrically there’s a lot of stuff to do with that, but it’s mostly about a big change happening.” The already released, download only, ‘Behave’ is a good example of what she means. It mixes cathartic lyrics with subtle guitar stabs and features an intro as quirky and salubrious as Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill.’ It’s certainly at the other end of the spectrum to anything she’s done before – but then again, that’s exactly what she’s looking for.
As Charlotte discusses the events of her last year what’s evident is that although she no longer has her band mates, she’s not taken long to find suitable replacements – and not necessarily fellow musicians either. She works within a circle of friends that includes a photographer, stylist and director and whilst she jokes that she’s maintained her production alliance with Eric Drew Feldman and Rob Ellis from GWF because she “could afford them,” the words she uses to describe their relationship: “trust,” and, “familiar,” imply something more poignant.
The album also features a writing collaboration with XTC’s Andy Partridge called, ‘Dawn Treader,’ and although their partnership was initiated through the pair’s publishers without her knowledge, their relationship is now much more than a musical association. She recalls that “there were quite a few times when I was just in despair with the record and he’ll be at the end of the phone offering me fatherly advice.”
As if ‘Team Hatherley’ didn’t have enough to think about with the album, one of Charlotte’s biggest decisions following Ash was finding the right record label to release it with. She speaks ardently about the process. “Initially there were quite a few labels that I wanted to sign to but they’re so slow and indecisive, and if they don’t get something straight away then they take a heck of a lot of convincing.” To solve the problem, therefore, she setup her own label - Little Sister Records - with her manager Ann-Marie Shields. It’s another shrewd move which means Charlotte now maintains total creative control over her music and, whilst she was originally hesitant she admits; “Now I’ve done it, it’s just like any other way would be alien – it’s the way forward.”
And so what exactly is the way forward for Charlotte now? Well 2007 is about putting 2006 into action. She smiles enthusiastically at the mention of her intimate tour of the UK and Ireland scheduled for February. They will be her first gigs since 2005, and they’re something she’s understandably thinking about with equal amounts of anticipation and trepidation. “It’s quite a challenge because there are six people in my band and I know it’s got to be good and in a way that really drives me because I feel like I have something to prove, but in another way I kind of wish that I didn’t have to have that pressure. But we’ll see, I’m sure this time next year I’ll be totally cool about it.”
Indeed, perhaps the only remaining person who still has to adjust to the title, ‘Charlotte Hatherley – solo-artist,’ is Charlotte herself. But one thing that’s certain is that when she does, it will put the final piece of her business plan into action and she might never want to go back. No wonder the view seems so attractive.
