An Interview with Paul Heaton of the Beautiful South

I guess when the students arrive trade may pick up - and a pound isn't a lot for peace of mind.
Well I think we'll be offering less than a pound for either students or people who use it regularly; with passes or something...we just have to see first of all who's using it - so if there's a lot of students using it they'll get some sort of offer. I like the idea of you being able to cycle around Hull freely you know, and fortunately since then the council have agreed to build cycle paths leading to the centre and our building, and pop up a few sign posts. I think it looks cool when you go to a city and there's loads of bicycles. Amsterdam's fuckin' great.

Cutting down on cars obviously is a good thing, with the heat and fumes together being directed at little kids.
Well do you know the junction of Beverley Road and Freetown Way? That's supposed to have something like the third worst toxic releases from cars and lorries in the whole country.

Is that why you've put money into Blazing Saddles. It isn't going to be a big money maker is it?
No it's not gonna be, err, we see it as we have invested a fare amount of money in it, so if it does make money we'll take the money in, but the idea was really as a service, and I mean I don't drive myself anyway. I will use it myself - I don't know how much I'll charge myself, but I'll definitely use it. It's just really a service.

Did you set it up in Hull to thank Hull for something?
Possibly a bit of thanks but, I like the idea of Hull becoming good, and I think that's one small way of it becoming better than say Sheffield or Manchester or whatever. Just having a dinky little place to park your bike, possibly a cafe upstairs where people can have a game of cards or whatever.

So that's considered for the future?
That's gonna be considered for upstairs yeah.

So when did you last travel by bike?
I use my girlfriends bike. The last time was the last time I came into the city centre. The only time I can't use a bike is when I catch the train to London - I just don't fancy taking it down there. Last time I came in I was shopping; I got some pants [combat], yeah it was last week.

Do you have any other business idea moving on from this?
No, I'm pretty keen to sort of like...one I'm not adventurous with my money, which may be me being tight or might be my politics. Also I'm keen not to be seen as a local business man, I don't have any ideas to open any big business ventures. I just thought it would be a nice mixture of a service and Hull looking cool.

You don't have ideas of a record company then?
Nah, if I wanted to open a business, I think I'd have to do it all the time; The Beautiful South is enough of a business for me. It probably doesn't look it , but it is. So if I did ever open anything really seriously I'd go sort of 100 per cent into it.

Do you get noticed much?
(Walking to the watering hole it was noticed that people stopped and stared!)
Not too bad. Just about right - for my ego

Are you happy about it?
I'm not unhappy

When you got famous, what changes did you see?
Loads of changes. The first thing - I mean about being recognised is I think, you're a pretty dismal wanker if you can't handle it. I can't understand people who don't give people at least a dignified "Hello, yeah I'm so and so"; I can't understand that, I just think they're scum. One of the things I noticed interestingly enough was my football changed. Just playing football locally I got a bit more confident. I started trying things that I hadn't done before; usually I was very quiet - kick the ball up...I'm a defender...kick the ball straight up the field, and I noticed when I got a bit of confidence that I started, doing things that I knew I could do in the first place, but just - I mean I'm not a great footballer - but I just started behaving differently on a football field. I noticed that change, and I noticed me coming out of my character a little bit. Obviously people's attitudes towards you have changed; they're a lot more positive towards you. This is why I think things like that happening a hundred yards back [getting noticed in the street], aren't a negative thing - they're not really are they? They're negative if you wanna make them negative. You should afford people decency of like at least a "hello" back, or "yeah I'm doing alright" - It's not as though I'm saying "Yeah, don't you know my album' out on October 12th" - which it is!

Do you have any music insider gossip?
Sporty [Spice] might be interested in me and Dave [Rotherway] writing some songs for her Are you interested in that? Well I think she's got the best voice out of the lot of them, and in a way the best personality. And I think that she's got a bit of edge to her. So yeah I wouldn't rule it out, the only thing I find with writing songs for other people is, I get a bit...not precious but it feels like giving your baby away - up for adoption. Old Red Eyes I wrote originally, I thought I'd write it for Chris Rea; sounds a bit of a weird thing to say but Perfect 10 was originally written for Sam Moore out of Sam & Dave. He was after materiel and I wrote that for him, then after that we asked Tom Jones; Phil [manager] was in contact with Tom Jones. We asked Tom Jones to sing the part that I was singing, which is sort of why I'm singing it like it is. I was sort of singing a guide for him to copy. We just thought of the lyrics...the lyrics are very.. Phil -"Saucy"

A sexual thing then?
It is yeah, well it's our most direct sexual single

Basically Paul's singing about loving a girl - whatever her body size, and she's singing back that she'd love him whatever his penis size.
Tom Jones would have made it saucier - cos he's got a saucier voice, but I don't know with Sporty. Again what I was saying about doing a business venture, I'd have to be 100 per cent in the studio. I wouldn't want to just say 'here's a song I've written for you', and then let them arrange it. I'd like to be there for the production, and made sure they did it justice. I'm not sure if I could do that with Sporty: I don't know if she's got enough time for people like me.

What do you think of the laws on cannabis? Do you smoke it yourself?
No, no I don't. There's other drugs that I'd legalise before that. I've got no objections to people smoking it, I don't think people should be arrested for smoking it - like pretty much the Holland Police attitude on it.

Do you spend much time in Holland?
No I just wrote the last two sets of lyrics in Holland, Holland and Span. And we recorded Blue Is The Colour in Holland. I think it [cannabis] stops people functioning on certain levels. But I think most of the responsible users, would use it occasionally enough to get a high, but I do know...most of the people I know who smoke it - I can tell when they've smoked it. I don't mean when they've just had it, but I can tell any single person when I first meet them, whether they've smoked it or not, ever. Even if they've smoked it five years ago for two years...

It puts an effect on people then?
I'm exaggerating saying it's a permanent effect but I just think most of the people who I know that'll smoked it, they sort of like...I don't know..it's not a get up and go drug is it? It can take a spark out of people. It can take that thing that ignited them. II sometimes look back to when I was at Grafton Street and I was trying to think what to do, and possibly if me and tan had been smoking draw at the time - which in Hull I think draw is a doley's drug - we're on the dole, been on the dole for two years or whatever, I don't think we'd have been cycling round Hull giving leaflets out, doing this mailing list and being so positive about ourselves. Apart from that I have no negative feelings about the drug. I just think like any drug, if you're taking it at 11 o'clock when you get up, then it becomes a really big problem. And that's the same with an drug - ecstasy, coke cannabis. I just think there's more people who take cannabis from when they get up, about the same as alcohol, where some of the other drugs are more of a weekend thing, like E's are a weekend thing or coke maybe people take it on a night time.

(Moving to a lighter note) What type of music are you listening to at the moment?
Popdog [Hull band]. I was just going to go to Golden Oldies this afternoon if I'd had time, and just get some old stuff. This morning when I got up I listened to Lee Perry And The Upsetters - old reggae, 1970's reggae. Ottis Reading I listened to this morning. In general I'm listening to 70's rock at the moment.

From your own music, what's your favourite song/lyrics?
I liked Alone off the last album [Blue...]. It summerised how I felt at the time. That sounds as though I was alone at the time but I wasn't, though I felt alone."So empty at the airport, you don't set off the doors", that's the line in Alone. You know when you walk into an airport and there's always those automatic doors? So the idea was I felt so low that they didn't open for me.

Didn't recognise you?
Didn't do anything.

Have you any music ambitions left?
Just to be as big as we can, and also maintain our smallness. That's the ambition. To sell a lot of records - I don't mean make a lot of money, but just to get our records into people's heads; and be respected. But also remain some how distant from that big figure, because I think so many bands are swallowed up by that whole thing of like: world touring and famous fanny. You know all that shit; you know 'I've got to have a piece of famouse fadge on my arm', and all that shit. [Mick .H. springs to mind at Visual!]

So you've not thought of that then?
Nah, nah. My girlfriend's famous: she's famous for being beautiful - in my house, and she never stops getting complimented about it. When I was about 15 I wrote...that I wanted to be accepted, but unacceptable. I suppose that's what I'm talking about with size; to be big - but with a small feel.

Is that the reason why you haven't gone to London and left your past behind?
Not really; I hope people when they play football with me on a Sunday or a Saturday - that they don't think I'm doing that 'cos I don't wanna do that [London thing]. It's more of an effort going down to London and behaving in their manor, than it is for me to just put a strip on, on a Sunday and kick a ball about.

Have you had any trouble due to your fame?
No not really. No like with football, Sunday football Division 2, which is a fairly high standard, I think most people are too hung over to go chasing some fucking little pop star who thinks he's Bobby Moore. There's a smell of aftershave, beer and curry at the corner: you can't replace that with any feeling in your pop star world. There's no smell like the corner of a Division 2, Sunday match. Aftershave - slightly stale, curry - very stale, and beer - fresh. That's the buzz.

So with images of a Sunday morning game of football - and all the nice smells coming from 22 hung over blokes, one of the slightly more famous than the rest. But as we've heard it doesn't really matter. Not to the one trying to be Bobby Moore anyway.

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