The Daily Tar Heel
October 26, 1999
English Singer-Songwriter Robyn Hitchcock Performs At The Cat's Cradle Tonight With Tim Keegan And Olivia Tremor Control
Robyn Hitchcock At Cradle Tonight
by Ginny Yu
One of the tenets of Rock stardom is to always remain in an adolescent mindset. But veteran singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock has broken that rule.
"You can't sustain adolescent self-pity forever," Hitchcock said. "I thought it was a time to celebrate things, rather than listening to my internal rain."
Hitchcock first emerged as a hard rocker in the English band The Soft Boys in the late-'70s, and then reappeared solo as the Folk-singing darling of college radio in the mid-'80s.
Hitchcock has retained his Folk sound, but now keeps touring company with youthful indie rockers like Sebadoh, Olivia Tremor Control and The Flaming Lips.
The new album, Jewels For Sophia, rocks harder and happier than his more somber previous solo releases and has garnered nationwide critical acclaim, but stays in the Folk Rock spectrum. Hitchcock said that Jewels For Sophia was a deliberate departure from his last two albums.
"I listened to my last two albums and thought, 'Christ, this sounds morose!'" Hitchcock said. "Each record I make is a reaction to another one, and I wanted to do something I haven't done for a while."
What drives Hitchcock to write songs is the need to express the shock of his existence, he said. His other inspiration is his relationship with his girlfriend.
While the album expresses his personal impressions, Hitchcock said Jewels doesn't represent his social consciousness.
"The album certainly reflects how I feel in my landscape, but not my feelings on things such as NATO and multinational corporations," Hitchcock said. "I wish I could combine my political thoughts in my songwriting."
Instead, Hitchcock's past work includes surreal, quirky songs about insects, amphibians, death and men with lightbulb heads.
Though his imagery is consistently odd, his persona has evolved over the years, from a decadent Rock star to a folksinger. But, Hitchcock said, he no longer fits any of those images.
"I'm just a psychedelic senior citizen now," Hitchcock said. "I realize that Rock's no longer young anymore, but I'm still suspicious of people over 40 with a guitar," he said, tongue-in-cheek.
Hitchcock is also leery of popular music of the '90s, typified by acts like Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock. "People tell me, 'Don't go there, Robyn,'" Hitchcock said. "It's all done for money and will be gone in a year or two."
But even more dubious to the 46-year-old Hitchcock is the phenomenon of older Rock bands.
"Men want to hunt in packs when they're younger," Hitchcock said. "It's natural to be in a band when you're in your twenties, all right when you're in your thirties, but if you're over 50, it should be illegal with a heavy fine."
But for all of the maturity and age Hitchcock confesses, vestiges of that hot-blooded Soft Boy remain.
"I live the descendant of the Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle," he said. "I do a lot of sitting around and drinking. I live with [my girlfriend] and our cat, and there are lots of guitars around the place."
Though his lifestyle might be mellowing, the fervor with which Hitchcock's fans worship him remains passionate . A quick Internet search brings forth a slew of Hitchcock Websites. Hitchcock admits that he has had a couple of "rabid" stalkers in the past. And a fan by the name of Jonathan Demme made a film, called Storefront Hitchcock, of a 1998 live performance.
Hitchcock will stop by Cat's Cradle tonight in support of Jewels For Sophia. After he finishes his national tour, he plans to complete a novel, due out in 2001. An album of outtakes from Jewels will be released in January.
And like The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, Hitchcock, too, has a symbol: a black and white striped candlestick with an apple on top. Hitchcock explained the reason for the symbol that pervades his official Website.
"The stripes connote a lighthouse, which is reasonably phallic," Hitchcock said. "It's got that pleasant jutting-up in some way, without being too obvious."
There's some naughty adolescent spirit in him yet.
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