Boo Hewerdine
Boo Hewerdine, the creative force behind the band The Bible and “one of Britain's most consistently accomplished songwriters”, brings his acclaimed solo show to St Mary’s Cathedral in Middlesbrough on Friday March 28.
We spoke to Boo and discovered why he loves playing in churches, the story behind Boo-penned Eddi Reader his The Patience of Angels and why this gig will be even better than the last time he played in Middlesbrough…
This won’t be your first time in Middlesbrough, you played at the now long gone Knights of St Columba 20 years ago. Do you remember that night?
I remember having fun, but it’s a bit blurry. I’ve just done a 19-day tour with only one day off and the gigs are always great, but you get really wrecked during the day.
How do you feel about the prospect of playing in a cathedral?
I've played in churches many times. I love playing in churches because the atmosphere just suits a person and a guitar. I used to live in Ely in Cambridgeshire and have played in the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral: This was told to me, I've never checked it on the Wikipedias, but the Lady Chapel was Roman Catholic and the rest of the building was Anglican, which I always thought was rather lovely. I think I’ve performed in the main part as well. It's an incredible cathedral.
There’s a Lady Chapel not far from Middlesbrough, at Osmotherley, North Yorkshire, that’s at the top of a hill in the countryside and escaped the Reformation…
Ely Cathedral didn’t get away in the Reformation because the heads have been knocked off the statues all the way around the church. So it’s steeped in history and the fact that you can stand there and see the damage done by the Reformation is quite extraordinary.
How did you choose the name of your old band, The Bible?
It's a funny thing. We were a bit saddled with that because we were a two-piece called – and I haven't said these words for a long time – the Georgia Peach. We thought it would be funny if every time we did a gig we’d say, “The Georgia Peach presents…” as if we were a fictional band. The Bible was just one of them and it was where we started becoming well known, so it was an accident, really.
Did the name cause any confusion with people expecting religious music?
No, but on our first tour we used to get quite a lot of disappointed goths and there was an angry letter in the Daily Telegraph but that was kind of it. We always wanted to be respectful and sensitive and when we were having something released in America and we were aware that American promotion can sometimes be a bit off colour, I said, ‘Whatever you do, can you please keep any promotion respectful because we don't want to upset anyone.’ And much to our horror we got a report back that they’d sent some strippers dressed as nuns to a bowling alley! So we never really took off in America.
Do you have to change things a bit when you're in a church for that kind of reason?
Not particularly because I don't do anything that would be disrespectful, anyway. I'm not one for effing and jeffing. I play with Edie Reader and we love playing in churches. For a while we were planning this idea of playing in all the cathedrals going around the country. For some reason it didn't happen, but they’re wonderful places to perform.
Kris Drever sings an incredible version of your song, The Harvest Gypsies…
He’d be nothing without me, Kris! I live in Glasgow and Kris and I share a studio. I'm a huge admirer of his, he’s a good pal, and I love what he does with that song. I was on tour and someone sent me a CD to listen to and I was totally blown away with this treatment. It's incredible. He’s a bit of a hero of mind, although he’s younger than me, so if you’re allowed to have a hero who’s younger than you!
Just for people who don't know your music, can you tell us a little about what they can expect and anything else about you?
I will sing songs they might recognise because people like Eddi Reader and Kris Drever and other people have done them. And I tell a few anecdotes about things that have happened over the years. Strange things happen to you when you do this job. Even on this tour that I've just done, quite a few good stories came out of that.
Eddi had a hit with your composition, Patience of Angels – is that your best-known song?
Yes, and I’ll be doing that. An amazing thing happened with that song. I met a woman who I didn't know but I knew her father. We were playing in Bolton and her father wasn’t meant to be doing the sound because his wife had just passed. But he came along anyway and I know that feeling, you want to be busy. Then I got the message yesterday that at his wife's funeral, he and his daughter played Patience of Angels. That's so incredible when you just you make up a song and just hope people like it and then it means a lot to them.
Did you write it for yourself to sing or with Eddi or someone else in mind?
I wrote it kind of from experience of what I could see from my flat. It was based on this single mother I saw walking past and she looked like she was having a really crap time and I just wanted to imagine she might hear it one day. I just wrote it because I wanted to write a song. I was playing a gig somewhere and Eddi came to watch me and heard me singing it.
Did you know it was going to be one of your standout songs as soon as you wrote it?
I was pretty convinced actually, but I was still in my band and I played it to them and they went ...Hmmm. And I played it to all my friends and they went …Not sure about that one! But one of the things Edde’s amazing at is spotting songs. Because she's such a great interpreter of songs, she can spot them as well.
Are you looking forward to the gig?
I am. I think I'm probably a better performer now [than when I last played in Middlesbrough] because of two things. I've been doing this job a lot longer and I've realised how much I'm in love with doing it, but also I'd probably had a couple of drinks when you saw me before and I don’t drink any more, so they can expect a sober evening!