Elbow/ Hawley duet

Exclusive: Richard Hawley guests with Elbow

05 Feb 08 - Richard Hawley makes a guest appearance on the new Elbow album, singing a duet with Guy Garvey.

The pair wrote the track The Fix together - an idea they conceived after meeting on a trip to Tennessee in 2006.

Elbow frontman Guy Garvey spoke exclusively about how the collaboration came about.

"On the way back on the plane we formed a plan that we should write and record a really old fashioned kind of song, like a real story.

"I love the old duets that are about two cads, two bounders, who are up to something."

Also Richard Hawley told us the bonding on that Tennessee trip was all thanks to Battleships.

"I flew over with Guy and it was the first time I met him and I instantly got on with him because I'd brought travel battleships for the plane and we just played that all the way to America."

The song is about a horse race, as Guy Garvey explained.

"We recorded the vocal facing each other like Frank and Deano might have."
Guy Garvey

"The Fix is about two fellows who fixed a horse race in every way possible; they've drugged the horse, they've bribed the stewards, and they've fixed to win, and they're talking about how they're going to spend their money."

He also explained how the writing and recording process worked.

"I wrote all the lyrics and as I wrote them I was firing them at Rich, and if he liked them they got in the song, and if he didn't - they didn't."

"He plays the most amazing table top guitar solo at the end. It was so much fun making it with him. We recorded the vocal facing each other like Frank and Deano might have, years ago."

"And I think he totally outshone me on the voice department, but I quite enjoyed singing with him"

Richard Hawley though, seemed less convinced they were like Frank and Deano.

"That's in his fantasies. We recorded it live facing each other, but I think it was probably more like Laurel and Hardy."

He did say, though, that he would like make the odd live appearance with the band.

"I'd like to, it's just whether time prevails. But I'd really like to go out and sing it because, I know I'm involved in it, but it is quite a nice song."

The track can be heard on Elbow's 4th album The Seldon Seen Kid, which is released 17 March.