|
Hazel Winter was a sometime member of Bristol’s
cult indie-boys and Peel favourites The Blue Aeroplanes
through the 90s and is now as she was then and before
a striking solo artiste. Her forthcoming record ‘Situation
Normal Then’ is a cathartic and hypnotic blend of
coarse English folk and unapologetic, splintering garage
blues, like evil black-sheep twin sister of Maddy Prior
and early PJ Harvey. In fact, so alarmingly visceral
is she, trembling tonsils and maxed-out throaty intensity,
that she practically makes Polly Jean sound like a coy
Katie Melua. It’s a truly engaging and bewitching collection
that lets up for not one lone second. It will see light
of day in January and you’d be advised to make her a
new year’s resolution. And given her name is so seasonally
appropriate it would be a shame not to subject her to
some festive questions…
Have you been a good girl?
Are you talking to me or is there a dog in the room?
Will chocolate treats be involved?
What was last Christmas album you bought?
Can’t remember that far back. Downloaded the last Richard
Thompson album a few months ago….couple of fantastic
tracks on there; ‘Dad’s Gonna Kill Me’ and ‘Johnny’s
Far Away”. Utter genius.
What was the last Christmas movie you saw?
‘Wizard of Oz’ probably. I like the bit where she opens
the door and it goes from black and white into Technicolor.
I felt like that first time I saw a bloke playing 32/20
blues in the Welly Club in Hull in 1980, and I knew
I was going to be a guitarist.
What are you most looking forward to about Christmas?
Going home to Durham and walking in the woods near where
I grew up. It’s a medieval hanging ground and there’s
a Bronze-age burial mound…it’s remote and beautiful,
especially gorgeous if it snows.
What do you hate about Christmas?
Nothing particularly, although I’d be a bit more enthusiastic
if there was a new series of House in the offing.
Who are you willing to the Christmas number 1 spot?
I neither know nor care.
How’s your Christmas shopping going?
Don’t do much of that. Gift-giving is mainly blotted
out by feeding frenzy in the Winter enclave.
Top moment of 2008?
Hearing an elderly bloke at a poetry reading in Bristol
describing his anal probe in verse. Utterly fantastic.
What are your plans for next year?
Making more videos. Got a few ideas for some of the
other songs on the album. Sitting in front of a computer
manipulating images to my songs rather than lugging
a fender twin in and out of a transit van at 4 o’clock
in the morning is feeling increasingly attractive.
Relevant sites:
www.hazelwinter.co.uk
James Berry for Crud Magazine 2008©
|
