From the off, you can't help but warm to HELEN BOULDING. I mean, it’s not often a poor hack calls a budding pop star only for the pop star to apologise for the fact she’s otherwise engaged for a few minutes (loading her own gear, fact fans!) and would I mind calling back? Then, when I do, she’s delighted that it wasn’t too much trouble. And is clearly amazed and thrilled someone would want to bother to call her about her work.
Of course, initially you’d say to yourself, ‘well, that’s all well and good, but who on Earth IS Helen Boulding anyway?’ Good question: except that if you look hard enough at your CD sleeve credits, you should already know. After all, her songs have graced records by artists as diverse as Marcella Detroit, Annie Lennox, Natalie Imbruglia and, er, Charlotte Church, so check out those writing credits in the small print.
More recently, though, Boulding has taken the plunge into solo-artist-dom that she’s been intending to make for some time and over the past six months opened her account with the acclaimed “Housework” EP and the classy single “I Don’t Know What I Want”, which has been kicking around radios of late. It’s down to this last release that W&H have interrupted her loading her gear with her guitarist, post-radio session in Manchester. All in a day’s work, right, Helen?
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” says Helen, still disarmingly breezy. “The only trouble is the record company’s itinerary is a little unlikely…I mean, they seem to think I can get from Manchester to Hull in about half an hour.”
Still, it’s a learning curve Helen is enjoying and one she’s embarked upon after a fascinating early career as a songwriter. But let’s start at the beginning: as a native of currently none-more buzzing Sheffield, was it the city’s earlier trailblazers such as The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and ABC that originally nudged Helen into a musical career?
“To be honest, I think it was more Sheffield’s energy,” Helen considers.
“It’s always been and remains a really friendly place. It’s such a small city that everyone knows each other and there is a real warmth and a feeling that anything’s possible. The whole music industry’s all compacted into two streets in the city, so it’s too small for social diversity, but musical experimentation has always been encouraged locally, so it’s really healthy and remains so.”
Inevitably, talk soon turns to the city’s new famous sons, The Arctic Monkeys. What does Helen feel about them and also the likes of Milburn and Little Man Tate who are already bursting through in their wake?
“Oh, I love them,” Helen enthuses. “I totally love that the Arctic Monkeys are getting phrases like “Mardy Bum” out there, it’s brilliant, because it’s totally their own thing and they’ve not deviated from the way they really are one bit in getting as big as they are. They’re really wicked: really vibrant and exciting.”
Of course this guilt-by-association thing is always liable to rub off in Pop. Do you feel any of the attention might just rub off on other Sheffield artists like yourself?
“I dunno,” she mulls, “Hey, I’d love it if it did!”
Helen is being far too modest, because as to her own career it’s difficult to know where to start. For one thing, she’s been involved in major soundtrack work, with the likes of producer/ ex-Cure bloke Phil Thornalley. This is even before we come to the likes of Annie Lennox, Nat Imbruglia etc.
“Ah, well I did the “Housework” EP with Phil (Thornalley),” corrects Helen, “but yes, there has been a certain amount of soundtrack-related work. I did some soundtrack work with Don Carmedy recently, also “Citizen Verdict”, the Jerry Springer thing. The song I wrote for Charlotte Church was actually six years ago, long before she became a ‘pop’ artist. It was a very early song of mine, though she didn’t do it back then. Instead, a young girl called Becky Taylor did it with an orchestra. Oh, and also three years back I wrote “Maybe That’s What It Takes” for Alex Parkes.”
Bloody hell. Helen reams this off like she’s making a list for the shops: beans, bread, a loaf and several major hits before lunch. Certainly madam: would you like a carrier bag with those?
Crikey, and we’ve not even got to the likes of Ms.Detroit or Ms. Imbruglia as yet, where you’ve been co-writing with people like Pete Vertesse. Actually, I must confess this is an area I know little about: the songwriter network. How does one get embroiled in all this? Do you hawk your wares around or – somehow – do they get to approach you?
“It really all happened by accident originally,” says Helen, still seemingly a little bemused by it all.
“I always wanted to be an artist when I was young, but my Mum thought I should finish my A-levels and go to University, which I did. During that time, I’d started writing songs and got quite a few finished. I sent some off to record companies and amazingly they called me back. I started earning some cash from it and gradually I seemed to get into the thick of it.”
Just like that?
“Well, over a period of time,” Helen stresses, “but basically that’s how it happened. And, in the position I’m in now it’s proved invaluable, because being on the other side of the fence you also get to see all the mistakes the performers make for yourself and can suss it out before you start making records under your own steam. I mean, one thing I learned very quickly is that there’s no point trying to fake something, humans always notice fakes straight away. It sounds naff and a cliché, but it IS really important to be yourself and have the confidence to do your own thing.”
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OK, but as a respected co-songwriter with a burgeoning track record, do you personally rate any songwriting teams especially yourself?
“Ooh, well certainly Goffin and King are big names for me,” replies Helen.
“Also Leiber and Stoller. Billy Steinberg, who wrote loads of hits in the 1980s like “An Eternal Flame” and “Like A Virgin” …and Difford & Tilbrook of course.”
A-ha. I was wondering if Chris and Glenn would get a mention, not least because they’re both very much in Helen’s orbit. She’s been touring with Glenn Tilbrook and co-writing with Chris Difford.
I recently read Jim Drury’s great “Song By Song” book about Squeeze. Glenn and Chris seem so different. Is that the case in real life?
“Yeah, yeah, I was pissing myself reading that book too,” guffaws Helen.
“And yes, they’re like Yin and Yang those two,” she says affectionately.
“Glenn’s really young and extroverted…I mean he wears skate trainers! And Chris is totally the opposite, he’s really dapper with his side-parting and he’s really introverted, really shy. He’s a classic taciturn guy who makes the most remarkable observations in his lyrics. They’re both brilliant and I love them both to bits, but they’re SO different.”
Of course Chris co-wrote the lovely “Hazel Eyes” (B-side to “I Don’t Know What I Want”) with you and none other than Rick Wright from Pink Floyd. This is getting TOO surreal now. How the heck did that collaboration come about?
“Well, Chris does these weekend writers’ trips. You got down to this lovely old mansion in Devon and he puts 3 of you together to write from scratch. It’s a kind of draw lots thing…and of course I end up with not only Chris himself, but also Rick Wright! Can you imagine? Two huge heroes of mine and me in one room! I was terrified and felt I just had to have an idea of some kind when I came in as we only had the one day together. Anyway, there was a Baby Martin acoustic in my room and I started playing around with a melody on that. When I came in, I played it for Chris and he loved it. The next thing is he starts writing, then Rick came in on piano and it all fell into place, it was remarkable.”
Yeah, that must have been quite a feeling.
“Oh yeah, I was just buzzing. And what was even better was that in the evening everyone gets together and plays what they’ve written for the others and Chris saved ours for last. Playing it together was just something else!”
Amazing. And while we’re on the subject of influential, maverick characters, it’s worth remembering Helen has hooked up with another one to make her debut album: Youth. To me he’s always Killing Joke’s bassist, but of course he’s been behind huge records by the likes of Crowded House, Embrace, The Verve and more famous names than we could shake large bags of sticks at. What does he bring to the table for you?
“He’s just brilliant, “ says Helen. “He doesn’t so much think as feel and that’s why he’s so special. Most producers simply twiddle knobs, but Youth will try literally anything and he’s open to the wackiest of ideas. I have absolute faith in him, he truly does not care one jot about the industry, it’s all about what you feel right at that moment, nothing else matters at all. He made me realise very quickly that you can never think along the lines of ‘I need a hit with this song’. Do that and you’re finished straight away.”
A crucial lesson to learn earlier rather than later, methinks. But Helen, before we let you free to try and make Hull in record time, how do you feel about emerging into the limelight after spending so much time priming other peoples’ hit-making careers? Does ‘Helen Boulding: solo star’ sit comfortably with you?
“Well, I think for me,” says Helen quietly, “it’s all still about writing from the heart for me whatever happens. I’ve spent so long on this journey that I’m confident and exciting about getting out there and sharing these songs with people, making a connection.”
“Ultimately, that’s what this is about,” she finishes. “My music’s my outlet and if I can keep making records then I’m happy. It might sound simplistic, but that’s what it comes down for me. Pure and simple.”
But special too.
(www.helenbouding.com)
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