SPILL FEATURE: DON’T LET THEM SHOOT YOUR KITE – A CONVERSATION WITH NICK HEYWARD OF HAIRCUT 100

DON’T LET THEM SHOOT YOUR KITE

A CONVERSATION WITH NICK HEYWARD OF HAIRCUT 100

By 1980, Nick Heyward and Les Nemes had been in many different bands, but they joined forces and after a few trials and errors they formed Haircut 100. Graham Jones joined the band in 1980 and with a great deal of confidence the band (which now included Patrick Hunt) relocated to London, the hub of the U.K. music scene at the time. Beginning in 1981, the band entered the studio (Roundhouse) with a new drummer, Blair Cunnigham, and Phil Smith on saxophone (and horn arrangements) to record Pelican West. Pelican West was one hell of a debut album and has grown over the years in popularity to make many top 100 albums of all time charts. At the time the album peaked at number two in the U.K. and became a worldwide hit.

Now in 2024, the band is setting off for their first North American tour in over 40 years. And the band is back with its original line-up of Nemes, Jones, and Cunnigham. They have also written a number of songs and have begun recording the follow-up to Pelican West. As excited as fans are, Heyward is pretty happy this is happening too. I caught up with him recently, via Zoom to talk about the tour and the new album, and a few old solo hits.

“It came about because we were doing a 40th anniversary record (of Pelican West), but there were no plans for anything. It was coming out on Demon Records, and that was that. But in the summer of that year, I was backstage and talking to this guy, from this agency Kilimanjaro, and if we were ever to play, where would we play. And he said, ‘I’ll give some thought and come back to you on that’. He came back with ‘Shepherd’s Bush Empire, I’ll book it if you want,’ and I went ‘oh um, well I haven’t talked to anyone for ages, I don’t know about that.’ And he said, ‘I have to book it.’ So, I said, ‘all right’, but I had no idea any of this was going to happen. We played there, and it went great and then BBC’s Piano Lounge invited us to come on and we did that and then this fantastic management team got in touch and asked if we wanted any help, and we said, ‘yes we do, thank you!’.”

For the band, this became very important, it provided them the freedom to be the band and let others take over the other areas in their career. “We could get together in the past, but we couldn’t stay together. But it is like that magic ingredient we didn’t have, brilliant management. So skilled at what they do, which keeps us together. It is great, because if it is left up to the musicians, we don’t know how to handle it. We just know how to do what we do. Beyond that, we have no idea,” laughed Heyward. “Everybody plays their part in the team. It is lovely when it works. Even in the studio, I don’t have to be the producer, ‘thank you!’. It is good, it is really good and really working. We had no idea it was going to be what it is.”

Part of the reunion is the coming together of two old friends, Heyward, Graham and Nemes who started the whole thing off all those years ago. “Les, Graham and I are together after living together back in 1977. Being in bands and living the dream and still being here on stage now, dream come true. Can’t quite believe it really.”

And the band is in the studio. Heyward lit up talking about the sessions and a new song they have completed. “Yeah, it’s great! We recorded this song called “The Unloving Plum”. It’s good, if I say so myself. It’s got all the ingredients of the magic ingredient when we play together. We recorded it with Sean Read from Dexys in his house. And we had just finished a take, and he said, ‘I have just seen Haircut 100, I see what it is about you guys! You’re a band, I get it!’. That’s the thing, when you play together it is just years of experience you have. This backlog of meeting Graham on Beckenham High Street when he was dressed as a full punk, like a member of The Clash. Les came to Jason’s party wanting to beat me up because I had snogged Kate. We’ve become really good mates and wanting the band to succeed and all these culture waves coming over thick and fast. Ska, mod revival and this and that and suddenly we are 19 and living in London in one room above a flower shop on Costa Road. It is our time, and we are funking for Jamaica.”

For Heyward, the band is picking up where they left off. “It has taken us all by surprise. Something shifted, you know old mates, you drift apart, you’ve gone topsy turvy, but when you get together, you continue as mates and all that stuff gets put aside. And it doesn’t matter anyway, it is just gone. I don’t know what it is, but it is really good when it happens. It is when you have a strong foundation for a friendship, which is what we have. We look forward to being in each other’s company. We are on WhatsApp even now. Les has got a dachshund, this sausage dog, and he wants to have sex with other dogs, and he sends me a picture of this dog. But we are also saying can’t wait for the tour, it’s going to be really good and really exciting. We are in this together, and that helps you, it is brilliant.”

Even though Heyward and the band are looking forward to the tour, touring in 2024 has its complications. “It’s a bit tricky this year, we just finished this U.K. tour that went really well, it was fun and so good. The set grew tighter and tighter. But then we had to deal with stuff like Blair is in the studio but couldn’t do the tour. Those things you have to adjust to. Visas, and stuff like that. I couldn’t bring my son as well who does our sound. There are compromises that we are having to make. But you just have to go with the opportunity, and next time. As far as Les, Graham and I, we can go anywhere and play anytime, because it is in our DNA.”

PURCHASE PELICAN WEST – 40

The box set of Pelican West was released last year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album.

“Almost everyone was really enthusiastic with the Pelican West box set. We reflected with perspective, which is always such a joy. It is a brilliant place to be. You have all the experiences you need, so you look back with gratitude that you didn’t have at the time. Sometimes the last thing you have, while it is happening, is being grateful and thankful. When you are older, you get that because you have the other stuff you had when you were younger. Like the tight skin,” laughed Heyward. “When you are older, you are just grateful to be alive.”

Pelican West has a timeless quality to it. The album does not sound like it was recorded in 1982.

“We were lucky to work with Bob Sargeant. He produced The Beat, and we felt their songs were timeless pop songs. Even though it was ska, it had this kind of timeless pop feel about it. I also think we were a bit out of time. We didn’t sound ‘New Romantic’, we didn’t quite fit in, which is why I don’t think we took off in Europe at the time. Maybe that was why America embraced us more, because we were more musicians led. I remember Clive Davis, who ran Arista records at the time, said that we reminded him of Chicago. A really fast Chicago. We just sounded like that, no synths involved, just musicianship. I think we took off because punk took off. I remember seeing Talking Heads on the Old Grey Whistle Test and they looked like they were lost. And you think, can I look lost on stage? So, we are going into rehearsals looking lost at each other. How lost can you be today, Les? Trying to be like your heroes.”

“I remember hearing “Up The Junction” for the first time and just thinking ‘oh to write lyrics like that, about that subject’. It took the pioneers to do it. Chris Difford is a pioneer. He wrote about a kitchen sink drama, and it was just amazing. It was mind blowing to hear those lyrics and see them on Top Of The Pops. It was that thing about heroes and people who inspire you, everyone I met who I get on with in music has that. We all work in this business because we love music. We were just pop fans trying to make music we heard.”

And now, Haircut 100 and Heyward are musicians who influence and inspire new generations of bands and artists. “It is a huge honour. Because I know that feeling to be inspired. It is an evolution and to be part of the evolutionary process of pop or rock music, it’s just music, that is amazing. You are just trying to do your best at the time with whatever you have. That is all you are trying to do is do your best.”

This leads Heyward into talking about his classic solo song, “Kite”. “Doing your best and not doing your best. That is what that song is. The struggle between doing your best, the trying and the giving up. The balance between it. You have to put effort into something magical, and you can’t have something magical unless you let go. I was in the studio to write a single, and I have never been put into that position before. So, I just wanted to have fun, and that was “Kite”. I played my favourite chords, put a capo on, played A Minor and took it home, played it in the car, and then in the morning I got my little black book with ideas, and I built the song.

“I had watched this television programme about a mother and son who were sent to prison in Turkey because she got caught smuggling drugs. The mother died, and he was flying the kite in the prison yard, and I thought don’t let them shoot your kite. I played it for my friend Ian Shaw, sang it and thought I like that. I didn’t play for Sony because it is not the huge number one single, it was just a song I played with Ian to have fun, and it got picked up. The song is the demo, capturing magic.”

And magic is the key for Heyward and over the years he has, with Haircut 100 and solo, created magic. “I had something in the recording of that. It was like a magical recording. Everything about that…something very special about that song. It transcended artists. The song became something, it was nothing about who made it, it was about how nice this kite was. It took off on its own merits. For an artist, it is amazing.”

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