Interview: Guy Garvey

Rooting through the fridge in search of a cold beer, Guy Garvey settles for wine instead as, bleary eyed, he admits he didn’t get much sleep last night, thanks to his baby boy.

The Elbow front man may, in many ways, be a changed person and doting new dad, but he is still keeping the spirit of rock and roll alive as he sits down to talk music, politics, family and why he remains hopeful for the future ahead of the band’s headline gig at The Downs Festival.

“It’s been a massively epic year,” says Garvey, settling back with a cigarette in the garden of an idyllic country cottage in Gloucestershire that is certainly a far cry from the hedonistic hotel room band cliché.

“The album came out in February and I got married last June and both me and Mark from the band have just had new babies so we were both dads-to-be as we finished the record.”

“When did the word liberal become such a dirty word?” asks Garvey

He may be sleep deprived, but says his baby son Jack is totally worth it as he admits he is besotted with the “beautiful boy” who was born pretty much the day after Elbow finished touring.

“So much of the record was about his imminent arrival,” says Garvey, who was travelling back to be with his wife Rachael every night in the lead up to the birth.

Garvey was just 16 when he and bandmates, Mark Potter, Richard Jupp, Pete Turner and Craig Turner, formed a group and is now in a rare position of still being at the top of his game while looking back at a career spanning more than 20 years.

“We get a great mix at gigs and festivals, we get three generations turning up together, it’s really flattering,” he says of the band’s wide fan base.

“We put good stories together and I think that’s why they come. The music gets better and better every time we take it on the road. Part of it is having so many songs now and the songs are easy to play and sing because we all remember when it was written in the first place.”

The front man and radio DJ has never been afraid of speaking out about political issues and went on record saying that Brexit is “the biggest disaster our generation has seen”.

The track ‘K2’ on the band’s acclaimed album, ‘Little Fictions’, features the lyrics “I’m from a land with an island status – everyone hates us”.

“That was written before Brexit,” says Garvey.

“There is plenty of politics on all the records. I would hate for a record to be seen as always banging on though. It’s whatever the music evokes primarily and if it evokes political that’s what goes on the page.”

Elbow have been playing for more than two decades

Is he feeling disillusioned in the wake of the EU referendum and Trump’s presidential win?

“I still believe in people and in this country being an open-armed place despite small-minded coverage of things. I think as a nation we give too much coverage to the tub-thumping people who are not going to add anything.

“The way Manchester reacted to the attack was so inspiring and so full of love and that’s the country I want to live in – more kindness and more love.

“When did the word liberal become such a dirty word?” He questions, admitting that things have changed a lot in the time he has been playing live.

Flashback to last years rain-soaked Massive Attack gig

Following on from Massive Attack’s epic homecoming gig on the Downs last year, Elbow have big shoes to fill as the headline act on Saturday, September 2. How does Garvey feel about the upcoming Bristol show?

“I’m looking forward to The Downs Festival, I’m old friends with Massive Attack, I love those guys very much and it will be great – even if it rains,” he says.

“I have to say, I don’t know if it’s the lack of sleep of the huge romance between me and my son, but I’m feeling the words. If I get through the set without weeping, it will be great.”

He admits he often has tears in his eyes but says you can’t usually tell for sweat as an enormous amount of energy goes into live gigs.

While he and Potter might be new dads, Garvey reveals the band has always put family first.

“Jupp was the first one of the band to become a dad and we were about to go and conquer America which would have meant living there,” he remembers.

“We had a meeting and decided we would never tour for more than three weeks and that’s still the rule. If the band was to the cost of anyone’s happiness, then it would be no contest?

“We continue to have a massive life and we really like playing together and each other’s company.”

So, what has become of the rock and roll band lifestyle after more than two decades and with new babies in the mix?

“You cannot do what I’ve been doing for the last few years when you have got a new baby,” says Garvey. “But it’s just lovely. I never thought I would live anywhere but Manchester, but with Rach living in London it was different.

“There is absolutely no way that having a son and being a dad is going to get in the way of drinking and a good party, but it’s going to be so much less. I have not let the side down [on the partying side]. It’s time I thought of someone else for a while.”

He jokingly reveals that Elbow bassist, Turner, has taken things too far with a newfound love of a cheeseboard after a show.

“Me and mark despair of it,” says Garvey, rolling his eyes. “It’s the death of rock and roll. When you think about all the clichés and then there he is gobbling his Roquefort”

And after the Downs gig?

“We are going to the USA in November and for the rest of the year, I’m following my mrs around while she does various jobs. I’ll do some song writing, watching my boy grow and throwing songs together.”

Read more: Elbow to headline Downs Festival 2017