Nick Heyward rose to fame in the early 80s as singer and songwriter with Haircut 100. The band had top ten hits including 'Fantastic Day' and 'Love Plus One'. Nick left the band to pursue a solo career but has remained a popular artist from the decade. We caught up with Nick at Rewind south.
PHOTOGROUPIE
So how was today's set for you?
NICK HEYWARD
It was good. I enjoyed it. I kind of ran out of puff at the end there. I was like going so fast. I was going "hold back Nicholas, pace yourself."
PHOTOGROUPIE
Especially when the time limit is very tight.
NICK HEYWARD
Exactly yeah, so I had to really go for it. I haven't cycled this year because normally I like to cycle a lot. So I hadn't been doing that. So, I noticed I started to have the nose breathe - like you know, the oxygen advantage. If they can do that for UFC fighters, it can work for people on stage. Just in through the nose and out through the nose. Calm. Because the adrenaline is high.
I've been monitoring my sleep lately by having one of those (points to our iwatches). They are really good. I don't wear it on stage because I thought that they interfered with my mic, but they don't because it cut out halfway through the set anyway. For some reason, my monitor switched off. So I thought it was that, but there you go. Gremlins!
PHOTOGROUPIE
If you noticed, there were some people in the audience going "Nick, Nick." Now, you were a Smash Hits pin-up back in the day. But how did that feel at the time for you?
NICK HEYWARD
It was something that Les, Graham and I wanted. You know, first, you had the Beatles and then at that particular time, Depeche Mode, had become pin-ups. Some punk bands were starting to do it too, I mean, XTC and Talking Heads and Blondie were all in Girl magazine. My girlfriend at the time used to lie in bed looking at like, punk bands and I remember thinking, "oh, that's good. So if you're in a band, that's what you do."
So when we signed to Arista, we met with Judy Totten, our press officer, who asked if we wanted to do Oh Boy and Girl magazine. We said yes because we'd seen our favourite bands like XTC and Talking Heads in them. Depeche Mode had just done it and gone like that (indicates massive). So we're following in their footsteps. But we didn't think it was gonna be the Haircut Mania, that it was that summer. That was unexpected.
PHOTOGROUPIE
The music is still popular 40 years later. Did you expect it to last that long?
NICK HEYWARD
I had no idea. You don't when you're younger. I mean, you're living in the past the future mostly when you're younger. The present-day comes later on in life when you mature. But I had no idea, no idea of anything that's happened.
I thought it was gonna be a better world than this though. You watch the same things happening in society, it's gone in a cycle. In the 70s when we had Rock Against Racism, I didn't think that racism was going to come back. I thought it was gone. I thought it was a stage we'd gone through and we got rid of it.
I was from South London, and I got to see Count Basie and Ray Charles and Oscar Peterson with my father growing up. My dad really respected American musicians and they just so happened to be of colour. So I just thought these were gods, these were wizards. But then there's a mutual respect that just goes on in the musician world, there's a kind of equality that just goes on.
As much as there is a sort of ego as well as status and hierarchy and things where people think there's a difference between the Sex Pistols or Black Lace: one's great, one's amazing, one's cool, one's not. And then, as you get older, you realise that as the ego falls away you realise everybody's actually just trying to get somewhere. Nobody chooses the way they go and we can't all be super cool. And then, you're just glad to be here and breathing!
PHOTOGROUPIE
Do you have an iconic 80s moment you can share?
NICK HEYWARD
There were so many they were coming thick and fast. I couldn't believe they were happening. But then you know, the big one was Top of the Pops. It was mind-blowing to be on that programme. And it was nothing like the experience. It was a big place and there were only about 10 people making it look busy, they used to move the audience around.
And it was cold. It was November I think, as well. So that's why we wore jumpers because it was so cold. It was our publisher, Brian, who said, keep the jumpers on.
PHOTOGROUPIE
At one time you had to mime on TOTP too.
NICK HEYWARD
Yes, it was all miming. You weren't allowed to play, which I thought was great. I get to mime like David Bowie, but I couldn't mime for toffee, I must say.
PHOTOGROUPIE
What's next?
NICK HEYWARD
Haircut 100 tour in October and November - our first for 40 years. And then we're making an album as well at the moment, so that's that's what I'm doing. I was doing an album but it's been put on the back burner because it's so exciting to be touring for the first time in 40 years. So that's just brilliant. The dream we had when we were young, we're still getting together and doing it. So that feels lovely.