Ant Interview July 2009
By: Stephen Maughan
This year the respected George Orwell book pirze went to (no, not Ant) the newspaper journalist, Andrew Brown, for Fishing in Utopia, a memoir of his life in Sweden with tales of falling in love with the country (and a Swedish girl), and embracing the socialism aspects of the country, before tragically watching everything fall apart, and moving back to England. You get the sense throughout the book that Andrew Brown tends to daydream about the past a lot.
Antony Harding, the former drummer of cult band Hefner, has won my prize for best EP of the year with These Long Dark Country Roads, a charming collection of bittersweet tales of his memories of life in England before being whisked away to Sweden (as told in the subtle ‘Time I Was Gone’). Once there he fell in love with Sweden (and a Swedish girl) and embraced the socialist aspects of the country. He admits he “Tends to daydream about the past a lot”.
He did not, however, move back to England full of disillusionment but instead had two children and wrote the most beautiful lullaby's hidden away from both the British press and the Hefneresque tales of sex and of course his former band Hefner brings a certain notoriety, so when I get a chance to have a chat with Ant, I need to clarify the differences between Hefner, and Ant, Hefner, and Ant, as a solo artist. I catch him during a break between, errr, laundry and cooking his son dinner.
“Well, Darren tends to use a lot of characters in his songs” Ant tells me from his home in Malmo, “In Hefner he wrote about a seedier side of life, sex and drinking, whereas I write more from my, own viewpoint and write about love and kisses!” he jokes. Ant describes his music as “acoustic indie folk pop” in the tradition of English folk and the likes of Clifford T Ward. Still, like all the best music, there is always a slight hint of darkness and desperation among the sweetness.
I want to know more about Sweden, and Ant proudly tells me about the renowned social care, and how the school and health care system is by far the best in Europe. I ask him to describe a typical day.
“I get up at 8 if I'm lucky and take my 3 year old son to preschool. Then I do the shopping, do the laundry, cook a meal, strum my guitar for half an hour while my baby boy lies on the floor and listens, put my son to bed, and read him a few stories.”
Shopping and laundry! This hardly sounds like the rock and roll lifestyle associated with most London bands.
“Yes, I admit I slipped into the role of house-husband fairly easily!”
What's the biggest difference between life in the UK and Sweden?
“Well I lived in London for many years, so life over here seems much slower and quieter. And there are more trees. I come over to visit England enough not to miss it too much. “
Are you ever tempted to come back?
“Not yet. Maybe in the future. I have two small boys, the three year old speaks Swedish so we’ll be here for a while to come, but the option is always there. “
We talk a bit more about the great his attempts at learning Swedish (“I talk to myself in Swedish a lot!”), along with the Swedish children's writer Astrid Lindgren (“My son even has a Pipi Långstrump doll!”) and life in general as a stay-at-home father (I also have two children the same age as Ant's) before I suddenly realise this is supposed to be a rock interview, not a story for Good Housekeeping! So back to music. Ummm, what does his son think of his music?
“He likes more children's songs. Although he does like to play my old ukulele . His first song was in Swedish and went along the lines of: ’I am angry at Mamma, I am angry at Pappa”
That sounds like a future emo angst hit to me! How exactly did your new EP come about?
“I had promised Jesus at Acuarela Records an EP many years ago but never really had the songs to give him because my album Footprints Through The Snow had used up all the better songs I had. So I delayed it and delayed it, and eventually realised I needed help to get the thing finished, as I really didn’t have the time at home anymore to record and mix. So I had the idea to get Darren Hayman, Jack and James, and Tjinder from Cornershop to help with the songs and mixes.”
Do you find it hard to write songs?
“No, I've never had a problem writing songs although these days finding the time to finish them off is the problem.”
We go on to talk a little about music, and he talks about his admiration for the English singer songwriter Clifford T Ward.,He doesn't find much modern music appealing, aside from a few treasures like Lavender Diamond but he doesn't get to see many new bands these days. As for himself, he tells me he has never been much of a gigger, and at the moment has no plans to take to the road due to his family commitments. Although, he still plays the odd show here and there, he hopes “T o start touring again in a few years time, with a whole new set of songs. Perhaps I'll get the boys to be the backing band!” he laughs.
As the interview draws to a close and Ant rushes off to pick up his son from preschool, It seems to me Ant has everything he needs right now in his life, and this shines through in the carefree collection of songs to be found on his records, especially on the Country Roads EP, a faultless 20 minutes of sun-soaked lo fi lullaby's which Rockfeedback happily gave 5 stars. Mr. Antony Harding, the drummer from Hefner, has left the country. He is married with two small children, and amongst the trees of Sweden has found the freedom to write some of the most memorable pop tunes you're likely to hear this year. Fat Kelly and the other Hefner characters will surely salute his efforts.
Artists in this article: Ant,