When the Longpigs visited Southampton Uni back in late 1999 it was a sorry event indeed. With frontman Crispin Hunt wasting no time in confirming himself as alt-tosser number one it looked as if the Longpigs truly would would be consigned to the dustbin of history within a matter of months.

But, like phoenix from the ashes rose guitarist Richard Hawley. With the release of his first album, ‘Late Night Final’ he confirmed what we always suspected - someone in Sheffield must have a better voice than Jarvis. And now, with the release of his beautiful new album Lowedges, he’s proven that he has the songwriting to match. The Edge emailed Richard to find out if we’d ever have to endure the Longpigs again (oh, and some other stuff too....)

How would you describe your childhood?

My childhood was pretty normal for a working class kid growing up in pitsmoor/firth park in sheffield,i had and still do have a very lovingsupportive family.They were/are very musical people so instead of getting up to too much bad behaviour(althoughIwouldn't say I was a saint)i focused on playing music instead from a very early age.I'll alway's thank them for that cos a lot of my mate'sIgrew up with ended up in the nick or fucked up on drugs butIhad music to get me through.

What is your musical background – what music did you listen to as ateenager?

My dad was a guitar player along with my uncle,my mum was a singer and my grandad played violin and piano-as a teenager I loved the Velvet Underground,the thirteenth floor elevators,the chocolate watchband,Bob Lind,Santo and Johnny,Elvis,a shit load of rockabilly, A lot of old 50's and 60's stuff,er....some punk stuff like the strangler's,Hendrix,Captain Beefheart you know the usual.I still love all this stuff.

What do you love and/or hate most about Sheffield?

I love the history of sheffield,it's rich and diverse culture(its there,you have to look though)the self mocking humour, I love the park's and the green belt, I love Henderson's relish, I fucking hate the bastard "developer's" with monstrous venomous loathing,i hate the twat's who thought it would be such a great idea to build the N.C.P.M, I hate the apathy of the inhabitant's of our city sometime's,we just seem to let these people walk all over us, I lament the slow passing of the deep rooted socialism,but on the whole it's a good place to live. Good thing's sometime's aren't obvious.

Are the Longpigs gone for good now, or can we expect to see a comeback from them sometime in the future?

The Longpig's are definately gone for good, you've got more chance of seeing the Queen's tit's than seeing us lot together again.

What is the main inspiration behind the latest album, Lowedges?

Love,and it's component part's,trying to figure it out purely for my own peace of mind.

The album is dedicated to the Motorcycle Action Group and the National Association for Bikers with a disability - Why have you chosen to do this?

A lot of my friend's got fucked up riding motorcycle's,my dad had a few bike's,my grandad had a beautiful old square tanked Ariel,mine's an old Triumph Trophy that's under a sheet in our back yard in bit's,i think the Mrs would kill me before the bike did.  The motorcycle action group help's biker's with finance,re-habilitation and raising awareness about the fact that most accident's on bike's are caused by careless driver's rather than biker's.

What are the main advantages of being a solo artist? Overall is it better than playing in a band?

I like both but they are tottally diferent,i've had a very good experiences working with other people and I still like it,doing the solo stuff is as the name implies a solitary thing but that has it's reward'stoo.

Which current artists do you listen to?

Not a lot

Hypothetically, which artists, alive or dead, would you most like to do a collaboration with and why?

Bob Lind, Scott Walker, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Farina ,Little Anthony ,Fred Neil, Jack Nitsche, Phil Spector as long as he didn't shoot me er.......isn't it obvious?

How did you come to be involved in the Lee Hazlewood tribute album?

Wyndham at the label read that I liked Lee very much so he called me and asked if i'd like to do a tune for his tribute record and I said yes as long as I could do it with Jarv cos he's a fan too,normally I think those record's can be shite but I reckon you'd be a right tool if you could fuck one of Lee's tune's up,and I suppose I thought it'd be good to get Lee's stuff across to a new audience and maybe they'd listen to him rather than us.

What plans do you have for the future?

My wife's just had our third baby and i'm enjoying being at home a lot these day's,but there's the Relaxed Muscle album to finish,i did some track's with i-monster that will be coming out soon,i've done stuff with Richard X,Finley Quay,Nancy Sinatra and a few other bit's that'll be out this year,i've been asked to write song's for Nancy on her next album and isuppose i'll do some touring on my own too,i'll be doing some more tune's with Hogboy for their next Lp er... Tom McCrae asked me to do some guitar for him the other day when he played sheffield,some song writing with Ian McCullough er and I can't think of anything else but i'm sure it'll come up...

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