After a decade with rockers Ash, guitarist Charlotte Hatherley tells Charlie Melvin what it’s like to wear a frock.
When Charlotte Hatherley comes out to play at Brum’s Carling Academy 2 on Saturday, she won’t be in the company of the boys from Ash, the band with whom she’s played guitar for the past ten years.
There’s been a split in the ranks, with the three original members, Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray continuing under the Ash banner, leaving Hatherley free to pursue a solo career.
"It was actually very much the boys’ decision," the 27 year-old admits. "And I think they were safe with the knowledge that I was going to be fine with that decision. It was quite obvious that for a while I've been pretty unhappy with the situation. In a way it was very amicable and lovely but it was also quite difficult to deal with at the time. The reality is that they’re continuing as Ash, and I'm out here on my own. It was very much a parting of the ways, but I feel okay about it.
"They said: ‘We've been thinking about how we're gonna do the next album and how you're going to do your next album. We think it would be better if you left and did it on your own.’ But I wanted to do that anyway. I'm going to be busy for a whole year and so I said ‘great, okay, fine’. One thing that had kept me there for quite some time was that I didn't want to leave them in the middle of a tour. I didn't want to leave at a difficult moment. It was the right time because they were moving to New York and we were going to be apart from each other for months anyway."
Hatherley, whose long-term boyfriend is successful film maker Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead / Hot Fuzz), has taken to the road in support of her well-received second solo album The Deep Blue, the follow-up to 2004’s Grey Will Fade.
Both records were produced by Eric Drew Feldman, once of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. As a taster, the track Behave is available to download from her new website, complete with a clever Japanese-style video courtesy of animator Oscar Wright, brother of Edgar.
"I wanted Behave to be the first thing people heard from the album, even though I Want You To Know will be the first proper single." she explains.
"It's an expensive operation. I'm not doing myself any favours by bringing six people on this tour. I won't make any money at all. I don't know what I would have done this year without Edgar.
"I'll tell you who is in the band – there's Angie Pollock, who plays keyboards with Goldfrapp and is absolutely brilliant. I've got the guitarist Luke Smith playing with me and he's a complete genius. He plays mostly lead because I’m stuck with the vocal duties which are quite considerable.
"John Clayton is on bass and there’s a man called Stuffy on drums. He plays with Graham Coxon. And then there’s Jen Macro, another girl, who does backing vocals. She's a bit of an all-rounder, doing keyboards, percussion and bits of this and that. Jen's really here because none of the boys sing. It's just unfortunate really and Angie's got a hell of a lot to do with keyboards anyway, so I couldn't live with just having one backing vocalist.
"So I'm on tour with two girls, sharing a room with Angie. I'm so happy about that. That's my band, all six of us – a happy little family. I'm a very lucky girl to have them all out on tour with me. I think the songs are gonna sound so powerful live. I want it to be quite a full-on experience."
Charlotte Hatherley was born in Chiswick, West London. Her mother was a Carry On starlet, her father a lecturer. They got her started on piano at the age of eight and she was classically trained, reaching Grade 7.
"At the time, I didn’t enjoy doing theory much, but I’m so glad I’ve got that with me now," she acknowledges.
But her teenage years brought a change of instrument. "I picked up my sister’s guitar and started having lessons."
While still at high school, she joined punk-riot grrrl outfit Nightnurse. "My dad said to the singer: ‘She’s only 15, you’ve got to look after her.’ because they were all in their late-twenties."
The following year, Hatherley acquired her beloved cherry-red Gibson SG guitar.
"My dad got it for me, second hand," she remembers. "It’s a really gorgeous guitar, just so flexible and it’s the best guitar for live work. I can throw myself around and I don’t even feel it hanging off my shoulder. I used the same guitar all the time I was with Ash."
The Northern Irish three-piece found her playing with Nightnurse and she became the youngest member of the band aged 18, after finishing her A levels in English and Music. Following just two weeks rehearsal, Hatherley made her nervous debut at the V97 Festival in front of 50,000 fans.
"I think I joined at a very odd period in their career," she muses. "Everyone was a bit depressed really. For a couple of years there I definitely did a lot of drinking and a lot of falling over. It was all good fun."
But this mature woman, demurely sipping her tea, is a world away from the scruffy young rock chick who trod the boards with Ash.
"You'd be amazed just how much more conscious you have to be when you’re the front person," she laughs.
"It’s so different. I can't get away with jeans and a T-shirt any more. Wait until you see me on-stage now – I’m the indie-Madonna, if you can believe such a thing."
Charlotte Hatherley can be seen at Carling Academy 2, Dale End, Birmingham on Saturday March 3. Tickets #8.50 adv Tel 0870 771 2000 www.ticketweb.co.uk. The Deep Blue is released by Little Sister Records distributed by Vital.
