Hailing from Carlisle, England, Hardwicke Circus is a five-piece rock band whose live show has earned comparisons to such heroes of rock’n’roll as Mick Jagger and the Jam. Personally, I hear a bit of 90s vibe in their music as well. Furthering their classic-rock bona fides, no less an icon than Paul McCartney suggested them for a slot in last year’s Glastonbury Music Festival. Of course, this being the contemporary music industry, their journey has seen its share of bumpy roads, including the cancelation of an appearance at the South by Southwest Music Festival as well as the subsequent scheduled tour in the wake of the COVID pandemic. But they pressed on, using the touring hiatus to record their debut, The Borderland, and then venturing back out onto the road for a prison tour in November of 2021. Now, with the pandemic largely behind them and a nod from a Beatle under their belts, they’re looking ahead to the release of their third album, Fly the Flag.  

You were slated to play South by Southwest in 2020, but COVID got in the way. Can you walk me through those days? What was your initial reaction? How did you cope? Where did you go from there? 

The cancellation of SXSW was the ultimate realization that perhaps the world was becoming a new, unknown place. There’s no such thing as a free lunch – we had spent the previous six months traveling around England, performing in pubs and clubs, selling raffle tickets out the back of our van to raise funds to make the American dream possible. Without this guerrilla approach to band life, we wouldn’t have been able to afford the flights, visas, gear hire and the red tape related touring costs. We raised the cash and awarded the lucky winner flights to Texas & a week’s accommodation.

Unfortunately, when SXSW knocked it on the head our insurance didn’t cover this unknown ‘COVID-19’ phenomena and we couldn’t recover any of the cash. A real drag but we can’t moan – it’s much worse for others & we used that time to disappear into the Yorkshire Dales to start recording our first album The Borderland. Stranded in the darkness of the Swale Valley during that wintertime, that collective consciousness of uncertainty allowed us to tunnel all our energy into writing and being the best band that we could be at that time. We were really in the moment with no expectation. One last hurrah of sorts. And we came out stronger for it.  

And by 2021, you were touring prisons. Is that right? What was the story there? How did it come about, and what was the reception? 

We were first invited to perform in prisons after a gig at the Duke of Cumberland in Whitstable. A good friend now, Tim Cronin, who gives incredible workshops in U.K. jails, invited us first to Rochester. And it was here that we performed a 45-minute set and afterwards gave a Q&A session to the inmates, inviting the prisoners to ask us anything about being in a band, life on the road, or how they could possibly get into music upon their release. It was a phenomenal experience, borderline religious. Not only that, as we performed a track called ‘When The Chips are Down’ one of the inmates jumped on stage and gave us the most electrifying rap straight from the heart to a room of 200 inmates, all up off their seats engaging in the positive power of music. It was the first time any of us had ever been to a jail and it demonstrated the similarities we all have as humans, showing that we might come from different circumstances, but ultimately, we’re all the same. Upon leaving the jail we were told of the improved well-being in the wings and how it made some inmates ‘forget where they were for an hour’. We had to go back after hearing that and organized a 15-date jail tour.  

That tour resulted in the live album At Her Majesty’s Pleasure. How does the album’s backstory inform its sound?  

Without doubt it informs the sound. The songs resonated entirely differently in jail. The lyrics developed a whole new meaning. We have one song on The Borderland called ‘Let’s Make New Mistakes’, which as you can imagine went down a storm. In our usual pub/club environment, fans have a certain level of freedom to enjoy the music, be it down to the benefits of alcohol or other, whereas in the prison chapels where we’d perform at 10 a.m. to a sober crowd of men or women, the music was the only escape.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, the songs were enhanced by that environment, by the clear-sighted, sober feelings our fellow citizens were dealing with. The music became part of that process in a very natural way. The album is as much about the two-way connection developed between the band and inmates as it is the music, and I feel very lucky to have been given the chance to be there on every occasion.  

Did you do any overdubbing or touching-up on the live tracks, or are we hearing first-take performances on that album?  

All one take wonders. I mean, there was no chance of overdubbing the inmates … 

Fair point! Before At Her Majesty’s Pleasure, you wrote and recorded your debut album, The Borderland, at a farmhouse in Yorkshire. Did you go into the project with any songs under your collective belts, or was it all fabricated from scratch?  

Classic first album syndrome – we spent the previous couple years relentlessly touring the country, the gigs and stories of life on the road inspiring the music, growing the camaraderie and culminating in the first record. We had over 100 songs to choose from, and still on that farm more songs poured out of us. We are constantly on the lookout for the next hit, so over them few weeks with some good food and better wine, we dug a little deeper and got to work committing to tape. 

Your latest album, Fly the Flag, was produced by Dave Robinson, who’s also your manager. What’s it like working with someone who’s worked with a wide range of rock legends, including Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, The Damned, Motorhead, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash, the Black Crowes, Slayer, Danzig and The Jayhawks? What have you learned from him? 

It’s a fantastic experience working with Dave. He’s one of the legends of the game and to be able to call on somebody with such a vast encyclopedic understanding of music, of making records and of the industry, is real a treat. It’s an ever-deepening deep hole and I feel very lucky to have that relationship. And I think we’ve captured some of that broad musical history on Fly The Flag – all them heroes of ours who he’s been at the helm of, we don’t hide from them as our influences – Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Madness, we want all of it, we wear them on our sleeve and as a result, I think it’s a great record. His dedication to the music, to the song, how everything else comes second has made us a much better band and is something I particularly admire. And more groups should take note. I do think though that he never expected to be spending so much time in Carlisle…

How many songs did you write for Fly The Flag and how did you decide which ones to put on the album? 

Over sixty songs hit the deck and between us and Dave we selected the best ones. Fly The Flag demonstrates all of Hardwicke Circus as song writers – you can hear that in its schizophrenic nature, which I love. Me and all band members, Tom, Lewis, Joe & Jack all coming to the table. In any band you want to hear the different personalities of each member, otherwise it’s just a singer and his cronies. And that’s me saying that. 

I’m also curious about your thoughts on the album as a medium. What’s its place in a world dominated by streaming? And what draws you to the album as an artform, as opposed to sticking with singles?  

An album is an art form regardless of the state of play. That’s the whole point of art. The art is making it. Nothing else fucking matters. What’s ‘on trend’, ‘what’s the Tik Tok fad’, it’s all bollocks and giving way to vapid nothing-about-nothing songs that’ll be binned tomorrow in embarrassing. There’s a great story told in Bob Dylan’s book Chronicles about driving down the road with Robbie Robertson (of The Band). He tells the story of how Robbie was asking Bob where his ‘new direction’ was taking him. Bob replied saying he ‘rolled down the window and let the question blow away’. I’m having similar feelings at this moment. 

As a genre, rock’n’roll is arguably in decline, at least in terms of popularity, but you adhere fairly strictly to the classic rock formula. What inspires you to keep carrying that torch? What do you love about rock? 

I don’t bear any responsibility for it because I love doing it. That is being in a band and writing songs and making music touring it all over. I’m mad for it. That’s a human nature that won’t disappear. It’s what gets me up in the morning and keeps me awake at night. Nick Lowe said it’s like a tap you can’t turn on, but can’t turn it off. It’s unexplainable and I think understanding it might freak me out. Anyways, why is everyone wanting to understand everything about music or art. There’s a truth in not knowing certain things. It’s not knowing which takes you to the core of a song and that’s where I’ll be.

Regarding your appearance at Glastonbury in 2022, how did Paul McCartney learn about your music? What was your reaction when you learned he was a fan? 

I was underneath my van welding a wheel arch and suddenly I get this email saying revealing all … still being the same sentence as Paul McCartney blows my mind. 

What’s next for Hardwicke Circus? 

We are touring the Czech Republic in October and November. 18 dates back-to-back. Our first real tour in Europe, which we are so excited about. And it has sold out, which is incredible. Till then, we have a load more festivals and gigs all over the U.K. We’ve just released the latest single from Fly The Flag which is called ‘The Colour In Everything’. I wrote it as a birthday present to my girlfriend, but I have since been sent packing so let’s hope for some radio play and get Fly The Flag heard! We are all so happy with it and seeing fans all over the U.K. singing it back to us so soon is amazing. More of that, and third album here we come. 

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!  

Photo Credits: Top, James Vincent; Inset, Milo Robinson