Charlotte Hatherley at The Flower Pot

Charlotte Hatherley at The Flower Pot

03 August, 2009
by: Gina Louise

I forever fall victim to the naive assumption that not only does everyone know the music I love, but that they love it also. So imagine my surprise as I rock up to The Flower Pot at 7 o'clock, ready for a fight to the death to get priority viewing of former Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, and there is no one there (bar the staff) but me. As she takes to the stage a few more people saunter in, yet as I have altitude on my side this is no problem, and I watch a rather dishevelled Hatherley walk on stage. With roots, shoulder pads and attitude, she looks like the offspring of Cindy Lauper and Sid Vicious; I can tell this is going to be good. She rocks her way through a disappointingly short set, and as the crowd remains fairly abstemious I manage to grab a quick chat with her afterwards.

This is her third gig in preparation for her latest album, which she tells me is a lot rockier than the first two. I immediately see what she means; the innocent and childlike voice that bounces all over her first album has been replaced with a harsher, more mature sounding attack of rock, the cute pop-rock songs from the past replaced with guitar driven tunes. "I played a couple from my last album so people can see the progression between them" she explains, and I knowledgeably name the song that I believe her to be talking about, only to find I am a whole album behind. Never again will I underestimate the importance of research.

After a little giggle and a bit of banter I am forgiven and we go on to talk about her choice to go solo. "I love being in a band and I love doing the whole solo thing, but unfortunately it's a bit hard to do both! I found myself spread a bit thin and needed to concentrate on one thing at a time,"  she muses, "my headspace is a bit crazy at the moment."

Far from learning from hardships past, Hatherly seems doomed to repeat them - she is currently playing guitar for Bat For Lashes as well as launching her own album for release in September. She leaves in a couple of days to tour America with the indie-folk band, but the guitarist has the pratical approach of an old roadie, "I'm putting my solo stuff on hold till I get back and have time for it" she shrugs. When asked how she met Natasha Khan, she tells me it was through a mutual friend: "Natasha used to play really weird and wonderful music but didn't have any backing drums or guitars, so a guy I knew from my Ash days recommended me".

So, it seems that not content with being guitarist for a world famous band, having a successful solo career and now touring America, Charlotte Hatherley has more up her big '80s sleeve. At times during her set her vocals are a little incoherent, and she often resorts to a rather phatic idiolect full of oohs and ahhs, but somehow it all adds to her rocky charm. Her new material, though a little repetitive, is lifted by her live performance, enough so to make me want to hunt out my back catalogue of Hatherley goodies.

The Flower Pot is probably our new favourite Camden venue with a free show on every night. Keep an eye by clicking the link and checking out our venue page. Charlotte Hatherly's new album Cinnabar City is due for release in September, and until that she'll be a regular on Bat for Lashes tour. Check out her website for more details.

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Gina Louise