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Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences

About Me


Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences started out in 2006 as a collaboration between outsider pop maverick Paul Hawkins and Death in Vegas guitarist turned underground producer Ian Button and have expanded into an exhilarating, eccentric and ever-evolving eight-bellied beast of a band.
Previously part of the same UK antifolk collective that spawned the likes of the Bobby McGees and David Cronenberg’s Wife, Hawkins’ work with Thee Awkward Silences has seen him develop into one of the most intelligent, charismatic and confrontational frontmen in the UK today. Meanwhile the band have subtly shifted from their beginnings as a modern twist on the post-punk/garage rock of the Fall, the Stooges and the Birthday Party to a thrilling, inventive and continually surprising combination of sonic experimentation, darkly entertaining caustic cabaret and driving rock n’ roll, all underpinned by Hawkins’ knack for crafting compelling narratives and uncompromising and unconventional pop songs. The band have been compared to the likes of Elvis Costello, Edwyn Collins and Nick Cave but "Hawkins sounds like no-one. Someone doing something truly on their own and making the rules up as they go along." (artrocker)
In 2008 Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences recorded a session for Radio 1, played the Swn and Latitude Festivals and released critically acclaimed debut album “We Are Not Other People” on Jezus Factory Records. In 2009 they are recording a new album have plenty of other tricks up their sleeve…
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Music:

Member Since: 27/07/2006
Band Website: www.silenceisawkward.com
Band Members: Paul Hawkins (Vocals)
Ian Button (Drums, Production & Backing Vocals)
Kate Arnold (Violin, Dulcimer & Backing Vocals)
David Serra (Guitars)
Harvey Dodd (Keyboards & Backing Vocals)
Alex Templeton-Ward (MicroKorg, Samplers & Backing Vocals)
Jes Walton (Bass & Backing Vocals)
+ Occasional Cameos from Tom Mayne (Keyboards & Backing Vocals)
Influences: We're not deliberately trying to sound like anyone else but, if it helps, our music tastes are as follows:

Paul really likes Suede, Belle & Sebastian, Elliott Smith, Nick Cave, Hefner, R.E.M, Leonard Cohen and what he'd term "outsider pop music". If he's utterly honest he was massively into West End musicals as he grew up and that probably influenced him a lot too. He still thinks the music to Les Miserables is better than almost everything else ever.

Ian really likes 60s pop music and what he'd call "pop music that sounds slightly wrong".

David is a big fan of Guns N' Roses and the Mars Volta. In fact his Guns N' Roses obsession is such that the rest of the band attempt to avoid mentioning the words "Axl" and "Rose" around him for fear of a three-hour monologue on the said individual. Like Paul, he loved Suede when Bernard Butler was in the band. However (unlike Paul, who loves Coming Up and even really likes few songs on a New Morning) he isn't much a fan of the post-Bernard years. He also wants to make it known he really loves cats (as in the animals, not the Lloyd-Webber musical). Paul's a bit confused as to what this has to do with his music taste.

Kate has a fairly extensive knowledge of goth music, folk music and arabic music. Her favourite bands and musicians include Echo & the Bunnymen, Siouxie Sioux, Abdul Halim Hafez, Kalman Balogh and the Gypsy Cymbalom Band.

Harvey Dodd is a huge Divine Comedy fan. He's also a damn good performance poet in his own right, which isn't really anything to do with a musical influence per se but probably should be mentioned somewhere and here's as good as anywhere...

Alex's favourite band of all time are the Doors. He is also interested in noise music, especially stuff like Sunn O))) and anything that is so close to not being music that it is difficult to define it thus.

Jes is a massive David Bowie fan.
Sounds Like: Outsider pop songs.

I Believe In Karma

The Evil Thoughts

The Bigger Bone

Record Label: Jezus Factory Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

We Are Not Other People - Album Reviews

..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> So far.... Soundbites at top, full reviews below "Paul Hawkins sounds like no-one. Someone doing something truly on their...
Posted by on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:17:00 GMT

"Don’t Blind Me with Science" Reviews

http://beardedmagazine.co.uk/wp/?p=211..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Can I make it clear now that Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences are rapidly becomi...
Posted by on Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:45:00 GMT

"I Believe in Karma" Reviews

http://www.coolnoise.co.uk/2008/04/29/i-believe-in-karma-by- paul-hawkins-thee-awkward-silences.htmlThis is the second release I have been sent by Jezus Factory Records featuring Paul Hawkins & Thee Aw...
Posted by on Sun, 25 May 2008 02:31:00 GMT

The Bigger Bone - Reviews

The Bigger Bone is the Student Radio Association's Approved Track of the Week!!! **SRA APPROVED TRACK OF THE WEEK** PAUL HAWKINS AND THEE AWKWARD SILENCES - THE BIGGER BONE (JEZUS FACTORY RECORDS) Pa...
Posted by on Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:45:00 GMT

The Evil Thoughts - Reviews

Review of Bad Bad Girl/The Evil Thoughts in Drowned in Sound http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/11478       Lil' Lost Lou / Paul Hawkins Split' (Jezus Factory). And blame the p...
Posted by on Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:39:00 GMT

Review: Thee Awkward silences live at Barden's Boudoir

09/10/2006"Has anyone here been to Anglesey?" Filthy asks the crowd gathered at Barden's.Just the usual friendly small talk to start off a polite mid-week shindig. It will, inevitably, end up descendi...
Posted by on Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:00:00 GMT

Want to Hear More?

There's loads more Awkward Silences recordings posted up at www.paulhawkinsmusic.co.uk/awkward_silences.htm There you'll find 11 tracks including the 4 up here, 2 solo tracks, covers of "I Will Surviv...
Posted by on Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:24:00 GMT