Why Richard's a '˜post-punk neo-rockabilly'

Richard Hawley has just come back from walking the dog.

Not that he wants to come across as a creature of habit, but he goes to the same place every day, Forge Dam in Sheffield’s Fulwood. There, the pair wander around, and Hawley stops off at the cafe for a coffee before heading home.

“When you have a dog, it’s simple - you walk it, or you wake up to a steaming pile of shit. And I’m not fond of waking up to a steaming pile of shit, metaphorically or otherwise,” he says, laughing his unmistakeable laugh.

For a man with a relatively deep, gruff speaking voice, who sings with a velvet-smooth baritone, when Hawley cracks up, as he frequently does, he does so with a high-pitched, infectious squeal.

This morning on his way down to Forge Dam, he saw a kingfisher and a heron by the river, and a rainbow.

All part of nature’s wonder, he says, and reasons he’s become completely enamoured with the sorts of mundane tasks he used to try to put off for another day.

“There’s a rhythm to all that,” he explains. “And I see the magic in it all. Plus it’s free - didn’t cost a thing to see that kingfisher. I used to moan about walking the dog, but not now, I love the simplicity of it.”

Sensing he’s gushed enough about the wonders of South Yorkshire’s wildlife, he counters by pointing out that he’s no hippie.

“Actually, I’m a post-punk neo-rockabilly, if you believe what some hack wrote about me in a review recently. I’ll take that. But what does it mean? It’s like being a postnatal milkman.”

After he’s walked his dog, Hawley, who turned 49 a few weeks ago, likes to sit in his favourite chair and play his guitar until his kids come home from school.

He doesn’t try to write songs, he stresses, explaining that he’s more likely to “hit the bullseye” when he’s not aiming for it.

“I’ve engineered a life where I do what I want, although there are certain parameters and rules, which is good for a healthy mind.”

There’ll be no rehearsing either, he admits, again with that infectious cackle. “We don’t like to be over-rehearsed. We might do an afternoon the day before we go.”

In truth, his band, largely the same for a long time, don’t need much practice, and in any case, it’s only a few months since Hawley last performed in the UK, even more recently around Europe.

Longer tours, however, are out of the question these days. Hawley, as a former member of underrated Britpoppers The Longpigs and later Pulp, plus almost 15 years as a solo musician, has done his fair share of that, but it no longer fits into his carefully designed existence.

“And in any case, I miss the dog too much,” he says, not really joking.

l Richard Hawley’s latest album, Hollow Meadows, is out now. He begins a UK tour on February 18. For dates, see www.richardhawley.co.uk