SOLD OUT

Tickets £12.50

Yes, it was full. The first half proved to be a very interesting discussion between Hugh and Jim with some good questions from the floor.

The second half was about 1 3/4 hours with Hugh coasting through his recent solo work with lots of Stranglers songs to keep everyone happy. It was an excellent night with a good, very appreciative crowd.

Doors 7.30pm

Venue Details

CannyGigs is delighted to welcome back Hugh Cornwell for this intimate evening of great music and of course Hugh's words.

An evening with Hugh Cornwell featuring 2 full sets. A full acoustic performance and a Q&A with Jim Drury featuring questions based on the best selling book ‘The Stranglers Song By Song’ interspersed with performances from song titles under discussion that evening.

 This is a ‘one off’ must see gig, ticket numbers are limited, so please book early.

“Hugh’s book is proof that every Stranglers lyric had a distinct origin, a reason for being written, a personal meaning- in some cases, so deeply personal it would have been unfathomable without his explanation. What a great thing it would be if other musicians and lyricists of stature wrote similar sorts of books, deconstructing (a word Hugh himself might use) their songs, talking about their lyrics and imagery."

Paul Theroux

September 2001

Autobiography

A Multitude of Sins  

Out Now 

New Album

  Beyond Elysian Fields Out Now  

New Single

Under Her Spell 

Out Now

Back in December, Hugh was on tour with Blondie and we were lucky enough to get him on a night off to do a solo show in Sunderland. Although the show went on sale just three weeks before the gig, there was a big an very appreciative night. The whole night was superb and Hugh happily signed books and met the fans after the gig. Ticket numbers for this Buddle gig are limited and we expect to sell out, so don't leave it any longer - book you ticket now.

A very brief Hugh Cornwell background ....

Hugh Cornwell, the original guitarist, singer and main songwriter in the Stranglers, enjoyed massive success with ten hit albums and twenty-one top forty singles in the 17-year period that he was in the band. He has revelled in his musical freedom ever since he stepped off the stage after a Stranglers’ sold out gig at Alexandra Palace in the summer of 1990 and announced that it was the last time he would be fronting the group.

Hugh felt it was “a bit like having a noose” around his creative neck and that it was time to do something different. He said: “To leave a band you’ve been with for seventeen years is an emotional decision and you feel it internally. The hard thing was not being able to talk to anyone about it. But I wanted to do it and that was that. With the Stranglers no chances were being taken any more. Although we continued to experiment with our music, the band had become an institution which meant that all the danger and risk had gone".

Risk is clearly something Cornwell relishes: “I love venturing into the unknown. It is the only way to get emotional feedback and it drives the creative focus. If you carry on along the same safe and familiar route, you’ll never experience anything at a new level, and you begin to lose the ability to judge what’s good around you."

Hugh has released five other studio albums, ‘Nosferatu’ (1979) ‘Wolf’ (1988) 'Wired' (1993), 'Guilty' (1997) and 'Hi-fi' (2001) which included the song 'Leave Me Alone', featured in its entirety in the new Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly) film ‘Trigger Men’. In response to public demand he has also released ‘Mayday’, a full live band set; and ‘In the Dock’, a solo acoustic album, featuring many Stranglers’ classics. The catalogue is completed by the release of ‘Footprints in the Desert’, a compilation of rare and unreleased tracks from the last ten years.

Hugh’s book 'The Stranglers: Song By Song' was published in November 2001 and gained massive media coverage. In the book he sets the record straight, displaces the myths and explains for the first time the real stories behind the Stranglers’ extensive catalogue of songs.

The Stranglers etched themselves into the nation's musical psyche with many hit singles, including 'Peaches', 'No More Heroes', 'Golden Brown', 'Always The Sun', 'Grip', 'Nice N’ Sleazy', 'Duchess', 'Walk On By', 'Strange Little Girl' and 'Skin Deep', all of which were written against a background of spectacular success, dismal failure, drug dependency, infighting, misfortune and financial ruin.

The band’s most successful song, 'Golden Brown', featured on the soundtrack to Guy Ritchie’s Hollywood blockbuster 'Snatch'; whilst 'Peaches' appeared in its entirety in the opening sequence of the hit film 'Sexy Beast', as well as in the Nike TV ad for 2002’s Football World Cup. Hugh’s songs maintained their association with cups when Wonderbra used ‘Hanging Around’ in their Winter TV campaign in the same year. HSBC bank are currently utilising ‘Peaches’ in an extensive television campaign, and Vodaphone have chosen ‘Waltz In Black’ for another.

October 2001 saw the release of the Tori Amos album 'Strange Little Girls', named after the Stranglers’ song  'Strange Little Girl', which was released as the first single on 1^st September in the USA. Cerys Mathews of Catatonia released a previously unheard Hugh Cornwell/Roger Cook composition, entitled ‘Chardonnay’, as the lead track of her first solo album, released in May of 2003.

In March 2004 Hugh completed his new album ‘Beyond Elysian Fields’ in New Orleans and NYC with Danny Kadar (My Morning Jacket) and Tony Visconti, who produced the last two David Bowie albums and co-produced tracks on the new ‘Manic Street Preachers’ album. Tony mixed the Stranglers’ two biggest worldwide hits, ‘Golden Brown’ and ‘Strange Little Girl’. Hugh has also contributed the lead vocal to the opening track ‘Underground’ on the latest ‘Mousse T’ album ‘All Nite Madness’ and also performed to a capacity house on the Left Field stage at Glastonbury 2004.

‘Beyond Elysian Fields’ was released on October 4^th 2004 on the legendary Track Record label, alongside his eagerly awaited autobiography ‘A Multitude Of Sins’, published by Harper Collins. He has completed the first leg of a very successful tour and book signing sessions across the UK have been incredibly well received, culminating in a Reading and Acoustic performance at Europe’s finest Literary Festival ‘Crossing Border’ in The Netherlands. He was also the only none Czech artist to be formally invited to perform at the Prague street Festival to celebrate 15 years of the Student uprising and to open Speakers Corner in the Czech Republic!  Hugh is one of this country’s finest song-writing talents and accomplished live performers.