Hardwicke Circus is a rock band out of northern England with a unique combination of punk and Motown influences. They’ve played hundreds of gigs in pubs, theaters, festivals – and prisons. Their sophomore studio album, Fly the Flag, was released earlier this summer.
Uncle Funkbeard: Let’s start with a basic question for an American audience. What does “Hardwicke Circus” mean?
Jon Foster (lead vocals, guitar): If you step foot in Carlisle for the first time, you will come across the center of English drunkenness and some of the most devastating driving to hit tarmac, all over a famous roundabout called Hardwicke Circus. Locals upon hearing our band name respond with “why the hell have you named your band after that,” but everywhere else in world welcomes us with open arms.
Tom Foster (drums): Hardwicke Circus means a lot of things. To some it means home. To Kinmont Willie Armstrong, who was a Scottish border reiver and outlaw active in the Anglo-Scottish Border country in the last decades of the 16th century, and myself, it means “how the hell do I get out of here.”
UF: In addition to playing the usual places like pubs and clubs, the band did a tour of prisons, eventually releasing the live album At Her Majesty’s Pleasure. What was that like?
Joe Hurst (bass): Performing in prisons was interesting, to say the least. It definitely gave me a completely different outlook on the judicial system and prisoners / offenders in general.
Jack Pearce (saxophone): I’d never had anything to do with prisons prior to going on the inside to play. It feels like going through airport security to a different country. It took two hours to do the 100 meters from the gates to the chapel we played in. The inmates were very receptive to the music: a captive audience! We played an hour then had a Q&A with them afterwards. They all had very interesting questions and were genuinely interested in how touring worked and the band as a whole.
Lewis Bewley-Taylor (keys): Prisons are grim places, so it’s rewarding to be able to provide inmates with an hour away from that; music is a human right and we believe in the rehabilitative power of it. Also, Tom got locked in a lift for two hours while we had to set up; by the time he got out, he was so late the inmates had to set up his drums.
JH: I think that was one of the best laughs we had.
UF: In 2020 you were scheduled to have your big break in the U.S. and play South by Southwest, but it got cancelled due to the pandemic. Instead, you isolated in a farmhouse in Yorkshire and recorded your first studio album, The Borderland. What do you think would have happened in an alternate reality where you toured the States instead of recording that album?
LBT: Who knows? It’s easy to get swept up by SXSW fever and the fantasy that it will be the turning point where everything comes together, but realistically for most bands it’s not that at all. Recording the first album was the culmination of all those years of gigging and I think it was right to put those songs down before going any further; draw a line under it so to speak, let us move on. The lineup changed after that and the sound had to adapt but it was a fortifying experience and we all grew from it, I’m sure.
JH: I think Covid and the cancellation of SXSW is one of the reasons I’m now with the band. I’d never been in other bands before nor had I played bass. This whole world that I’m in now was completely new to me!
UF: To my ears, your music sounds like the result if Joe Strummer had started his career in an early ‘60s Motown band instead of ‘70s punk. I know that you’ve listed The Clash as one of your influences. How did you develop your unique style?
TF: I think we’re constantly developing. You’d be a halfwit to think you’re developed at 80, so forget 20.
JF: It's been an organic progression. There's been very little thought into what “we should sound like.” As music lovers, obsessives, we have always tried to get behind the songs of our favorite artists. That is, to learn them and cover them and pinch all the minor and intricate values, but also more than that. We set out to understand what makes these songs undeniably good. We'll have a bit of that, be it Motown or rock n’ roll. Cos if a song is good, it can take on any life.
UF: Most of the musicians I interview are solo artists, so I’m always interested in how groups are run. What’s your process?
TF: If I like what’s on paper and I can picture Jon singing it that’s a good sign. if I can’t, I’ll roll with it if I want to. Aside from that, I do it quickly, give it to Dave Robinson [producer, legendary co-founder of Stiff Records] or Jon and forget about it, on to the next one.
JF: All of Hardwicke Circus write songs. Each of us write independently and bring about 75% of a song / idea to the table and then we each add our own musical stamp until we're happy with it. They can come at any time from anywhere. There's no rulebook. So long as it's great.
UF: One difference I find between your music and classic punk is that your songs feel more about hope and optimism than sheer rebellion. The opening track on Fly the Flag, “Everyday I Find the Luck,” is a good example. Am I wrong? Have I been fooled by the peppy instrumentation and upbeat melody?
JF: Our favorite tracks deal with opposites. Positive lyric / sad melody. Happy melody / adverse lyrics. That's not to say we run from rebellion. We just believe that the music can offer the alternative.The music is everything.
TF: “Everyday I Find the Luck” may sound optimistic but that’s down to the lads – they built that song up. Some say “three chords and the truth” but really the demo is me moaning in the key of E. The music isn’t really punk but the attitude is.
UF: One of my favorites off the new album is the Beach Boys’ influenced “It’s Not Over Till It’s Over.” I instinctively hear this as a love song, but having listened to the lyrics a couple times now I’m not actually sure. What is this song about?
JF: That's Tom’s song – he’ll tell you.
TF: The truth is I don’t remember writing that one. You see we have so many ideas recorded it’s tricky to know what’s best to pursue. You just gotta do what you want in the moment. I hadn’t considered “It’s Not Over” as anything until Dave said he wanted to hear us play it on the first day of recording Fly the Flag. I’d forgotten the words, chords, meaning – everything you’re supposed to have in the barrel for a session. Anyway, half an hour later we had the rhythm track. We recorded three verses and I only had two in my book. Verse three is just the same vein written a few years later.
UF: You end the album with a classic-style blues song, a cover of “No More Doggin’” by Rosco Gordon. It’s very different from other songs on the album. It reminds me of Bon Jovi’s inclusion of “Love for Sale” to end New Jersey and showcase their musical diversity. Why this song?
JF: It's a demon song by Rosco Gordon. That's why. One of the greats. Singers like him don't exist anymore.
TF: We don’t shy away from playing songs that hit us. Personally, I don’t think our version comes close to Rosco’s but we did it anyway. We’re in the studio recording the next album in between touring and I’d like to get a Lee Dorsey number on the next one or maybe a Grateful Dead track. There are Deadheads in England too, you know!
JH: “No More Doggin’” is a favorite of mine because I felt that I could really let loose and play what I wanted with it, nothing was regimented or set in stone, it was just a feel and a groove and that really comes across in the track, I think. Add the fact that I got to play fretless bass on it and the great Earl Slick played on the track and it makes for a really great song for me! Returning to those blues roots really interests me and I think we did old Rosco proud!
UF: For Jon and Tom: what’s the best part of collaborating with your brother?
JF: Not only is he an incredible drummer, he can also write a smash. Having that behind me on stage feels good.
TF: I wouldn’t be writing songs without Jon, Dave or Bob Dylan. I’m not pen pals with Bob nor do I have his landline, so I have to make the most of the other two.
UF: What’s the worst part of collaborating with your brother?
JF: He's a moody bastard.
TF: He’s usually right.
Hardwicke Circus tour dates, media information and more can be found at www.hardwickecircus.tv.