H. Hawkline - The Importance of Being Welsh

In your albums the folk roots seem close to John Fahey's, while the psychedelic elements are harder to pin down. Which musicians have really influenced your approach to music?

I listened to a lot of John Fahey in my late teens, and I still do - "The Yellow Princess" is one of my favorite albums, and I listened to it a lot while making my first two records. I'm a huge fan of the Beatles and their solo albums. Paul McCartney in particular: it's hard to find bad songs on Beatles records (although I know there are a few), whereas in all their solo work some songs are terrible, but there are also gems. I think that contrast in their solo records makes the best songs stand out even more: a George song like "Give Me Hope" would have gotten lost on a Beatles album. I also don't think John would ever have let Paul record "Monkberry Moon Delight". I also like Bowie's approach to lyricism, or the Tronics' approach to randomness: we record and see what happens (at least that's how it sounds). I also admire musicians like Gruff Rhys and Euros Childs, they always seem to have an eye on the next record and are in a constant state of creativity.

In the seemingly simple structures of some of your songs, there's an often obsessive attention to detail, as if all you really care about is what surrounds the melody of your songs.

Melody is definitely the most important part for me, it tends to be what I write first. I think everything else should serve to highlight the melody when needed, and I like to cut something out of the middle if it's getting too tedious and unbalanced. I also think simplifying the song is the best way to make room for added melodies and noises, to give it substance and depth.

Often in your albums you can hear some noise that seems to have been accidentally caught by the microphone: is that a deliberate choice or a random one?

It's honestly a combination of both. When Kris Jenkins and I started recording the first album, we kept the microphones on the whole time to capture any mistakes or noises that weren't intentional. That's something I kept doing while finishing the album with Stephen Black ("Sweet Baboo"). Very often the parts of songs I like best are the mistakes.

Is the choice to release vinyl in extremely limited editions (150 copies) down to the realities of the modern record industry, or is it a cultural, elitist choice?

It was a pragmatic choice. When I put out my first two records nobody had ever heard of H. Hawkline. It seemed absurd to press 500 or more copies of something if I didn't think I could sell them all, 150 seemed like an achievable number. It took a year to sell every copy of the first LP. I remember at the time someone accused me of being elitist for making that decision, even though all the music is available digitally anyway. Just the thought of 450 unsold albums under my bed would have sent me into a depression.

How did the collaboration with Cate Le Bon come about, and what sound did you want to achieve for "In The Pink Of Condition"?

I've played guitar for Cate for the last 3 or 4 years, and a bit on all her records too, on the latest one especially. I think she's one of the best out there right now, and asking her to produce was a no-brainer. She has a talent for tearing songs apart and putting them back together in a way that neither I nor other musicians could. She also plays guitar like no one else and writes the best riffs: the tips of her 12 fingers are like the pit of an oily avocado. The sound of the record is all built around the song "Everybody Is In The Line", I wanted something creeping and, for lack of a better word, groovy, that had the sound of sand between chains. I wanted it to sound like when Emil Zátopek used to run.

Do you think Gruff Rhys interpreted your music the right way when producing "Black Domino Box”, or did he misread some elements of your approach to psychedelic pop?

Gruff's production on "Black Box Domino” was very informal, he helped me a lot with the drum sound and with the arrangements on some of the songs. When we recorded "Black Domino Box” and "Ghouls” we'd been touring for a long time as a band, and the idea behind those records was to capture our live sound, with a few tracks built up specifically. I think Gruff has the right ideas and musical mindset to make anything you have in mind sound good, he guides you in a completely subliminal way, making you arrive at his own conclusions on your own.

Some critics have cited Felt as a possible reference point, but I find the visionary character of your music closer to figures like Jonathan Richman or Ty Segall - in which of these musicians do you find a bit of yourself?

I've definitely gone through different phases of listening a lot to Jonathan Richman and Kevin Ayers, but the latter especially: I love the register he sings in and also his melodies. Both of them have a great sense of humour.

How important is it for you to be Welsh, and what are the distinctive traits of your country's pop-rock tradition?

I feel very lucky to have been born in Wales and to be able to speak Welsh: out of all the places and languages in the world, this feels to me like having hit the jackpot. It's important to me, in the sense that it represents who I am, but I don't have any tattoos, you know? I think Welsh bands share a good sense of melody, and overall I think we're also able to not take ourselves too seriously all the time.

Which songs would you have liked to write, and which character would you like to be in another life?

In another life I'd like to be an accountant who plays table tennis semi-professionally on weekends, I'd like to go to Japan once a year to take part in eating competitions, I'd never want to win and would feel inadequate as an eater, to be psychologically haunted by defeat and ultimately driven to become the best accountant in all of Cardiganshire. That, or I'd like to be a carpenter. I would have liked to write “Helpless” by Cleaners From Venus and the Marseillaise.

More a question than a promise. Will you reissue the first two albums to satisfy your fans' demand, now that Heavenly has finally opened the doors of success for you?

I've talked to Marco, who runs Shape Records, we'll see! I'm still not sure how high the demand actually is, to be honest! Maybe we could release both of them as a double album in an edition of 300, if we manage to sell them all, who knows? We could also do a CD. It would be nice to do something with both records, but I don't think I even have a copy of my first album.

Would you like to play in Italy?

Of course. I went to Bologna a long time ago with Cate Le Bon, she was playing a show organised by a good friend of mine, Dr Kiro, the tallest Italian who's ever set foot in Wales. I think you know him. I think everyone knows him, or at least that's what he used to say. We ate the best food morning, afternoon and evening, and wandered around the city. I'd love to play in Bari: can you sort out my debut Italian tour for me?

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