Paul Hawkins profile picture

Paul Hawkins

Antihero folk songs

About Me

Buy This Lil Lost Lou/Paul Hawkins Highly Ltd Edition of 200 Vinyl Numbered and includes CDR of the two tracks and Postcard NOW !

Recently described as “the drunk British Tom Waits” (indiefolkforever), Paul Hawkins is one of the most compelling, unusual and imaginative new songwriters in Britain today. His songs evoke the emotional primacy of Nick Cave, the imaginative storytelling of Jonathan Richman and the wit of Jarvis Cocker to produce dark fantastical narratives on subjects ranging from teenage boys who throw themselves into nuclear reactors in the hope of gaining superpowers to lonely outsiders who don medical coats and operate on unsuspecting bystanders. Other songs showcase a much more direct, emotional honesty – perhaps best evidenced by the wounded drunken nihilism of “The Evil Thoughts”. ************************************************************ ******* Although Paul sometimes plays solo he prefers to play backed by one of his two bands (both of whom contain the same members but on different instruments). Chaotic post-punk cabaret collective Thee Awkward Silences provide spills, thrills and over-the-top showmanship (leading to comparisons to Iggy Pop and Alex Harvery) while The Carnival Evacuation Flashback allow Paul's more lyrical side to come through.**************************************************** ***** On record Paul's songs - recorded in collaboration with producer Ian Button - flit wildly from solo acoustic songs to garage punk to offbeat pop to Scott Walker-esque string-drenched balladry. Cohesion comes through Paul’s voice – unusual, full of character and “endearingly out of tune” (God is in the TV Zine) ************************************************************ ********* Paul is a key figure in the contemporary UK antifolk scene. He has recently appeared on complilations for Cherryade Records, AFUK Records and Jezus Factory Records (who also released "The evil Thoughts" a split 7" single with L'il Lost Lou). He has recently been written about in various webzines and magazines (Timeout London called him an “ace antifolk superstar”) and has been played a number of times times on the Huw Stephens’ show on BBC Radio 1.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/27/2005
Band Website: paulhawkinsmusic.co.uk
Band Members: On the recordings Paul wrote the songs and does the singing and the majority of the guitar playing. Ian Button plays pretty much everything else while Ben Anstis, Tom Mayne and Alex Templeton-Ward added bits herer and there. When Paul plays with the Carnival Evacuation Flashback he is backed by some combination Ian (omnichord, drum machine), Alex Templeton-Ward (ukelele, harmonica, melodica), Lunch (acoustic guitar, bass) and Tom Mayne (keyboard, electric guitar) When Paul plays with Thee Awkward Silences (see separate profile) Ian plays drums, Alex plays bass, Lunch plays electric guitar and Tom plays keyboard.
Influences: Nick Cave, Scott Walker, Jarvis Cocker, Leonard Cohen, the Divine Comedy, Belle & Sebastian, REM, Suede, Hefner, Billy Bragg, Elliott Smith, the Pogues, The Coral, David Cronenberg's Wife, Punk, DIY, UK Antifolk, the love of a great pop song.
Sounds Like: TimeOut London claims Paul is an "ace antifolk superstar". Paul claims that he's actually trying to write pop songs but tends to end up with something else entirely.
Record Label: The album's on AFUK Records
Type of Label: None

My Blog

Huw Stephens on Radio 1 played my song!!!

"I'll Be Getting a Divorce for Christmas" was played by Mr Huw Stephens on his Radio 1 show in the early hours of this morning.  Obviously I'm dead chuffed about this.  So, erm, yay! He said...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:42:00 PST

A Very Cherry Christmas Volume 2

I'm on a Christmas Compilation album currently available on the fantastic Cherryade Reocrds.  "A Very Cherry Christmas Volume 2" features such indie luminaries as the Bobby McGees, Dawn of the Re...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:37:00 PST

Lack of website updates

Apologises to anyone whose wondering why www.paulhawkinsmusic.co.uk hasn't been updated for a while - unfortunately there's some kind of problem that I hope will be resolved soon but currently me...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:34:00 PST

Debut Album - November 14th

Tuesday November 14th sees the release of Paul's debut album "The Misdiagnosis of Paul Hawkins" on AFUK Records.  The album will be available to buy from Paul in person at gigs (for £5) or online...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Sat, 28 Oct 2006 06:05:00 PST

Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences

We now have a Myspace site for the band at www.myspace.com/theeawkwardsilences.  Why not come and hear our recordings and be our friend?
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Mon, 21 Aug 2006 03:43:00 PST

Loads of New Recordings!

As you may have spotted, I've still not got around to releasing my album (it'll be very soon I promise!!!) but I have recorded 11 new songs, many of them with my new band Thee Awkward Silences. You ca...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Mon, 21 Aug 2006 03:42:00 PST

Ian Button Collaboration Update

I am now in the process of recording an album's worth of songs with Ian - with the plan being to attempt to release this at some point this year. As a result of this I have now scrapped the EP (or rat...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Wed, 08 Mar 2006 05:45:00 PST

Collaboration with Ian Button from DiV

I've recently begun collaborating with Ian Button, guitarist with Death in Vegas.  He's added some fantastic strings to make my songs sound damn good (or at least the bits he's added sound good e...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Wed, 15 Feb 2006 06:49:00 PST

10 Useless Facts About Paul Hawkins

At school, Paul's nickname was "Captain".  At one point it was used so frequently that even close friends had forgotten what his name was. When Paul sings about "being born with the same defo...
Posted by Paul Hawkins on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST