Say It With Garage Flowers

 

London’s kings of cosmic country, The Hanging Stars, are back with a brand-new album, Just A Day, only this time around, they’ve reined in the psychedelic Americana sounds, and taken a back-to-basics approach, with former Teenage Fanclub member, Gerry Love, on production duties. 

Unlike some of their previous albums, there are no horns or pedal steel, or diversions into Spaghetti Western soundtracks or ‘Balearic baggy’ – Just A Day is essentially a ‘band in a room’ record.

It’s also the band’s sixth album – their seventh if you include Dreams, last year’s excellent collaboration with folk legend, Bonnie Dobson – and their third to be recorded at Edwyn Collins’s Clashnarrow Studios in the Scottish Highlands.

The group describe the studio as “a sort of mixture between Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and the BBC’s Repair Shop.”

With Love at the helm, and their longtime collaborator, Sean Read (Dexys) as co-producer and engineer, The Hanging Stars recorded a large part of the album in a single week in February 2025, using Collins’s vintage gear, including the Gretsch Blackhawk guitar he played in his Orange Juice days, and the Barnes and Mullins fuzz box heard on hit single, ‘A Girl Like You.’

‘Unlike some of their previous albums, there are no horns or pedal steel, or diversions into Spaghetti Western soundtracks or ‘Balearic baggy’ – Just A Day is essentially a ‘band in a room’ record’

The result is a focused record with a renewed vigour and energy that embraces influences including the jangly guitar pop of The Byrds, Big Star, Teenage Fanclub and R.E.M, ’60s folk, The Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys, the ’70s New York sounds of the Feelies and Television, and the strung-out country soul of Spiritualized.

In an exclusive interview over a pint in a pub near London’s Denmark Street – AKA “Tin Pan Alley” – Richard Olson, the frontman of The Hanging Stars, and the band’s chief songwriter, tells Say It With Garage Flowers why they had to rethink things, how the band has developed over the past few years and why he no longer suffers from imposter syndrome.

“If we’d done the album without Gerry, I think it would’ve been a very different record,” he says.

 

Q&A

I’ve interviewed you a few times over the years, but the first time was in 2016, to talk about the debut album by The Hanging Stars, Over the Silvery Lake, which came out that year, so it’s been a decade since that record. How does that feel?

Rich Olson: We live in such different times now. We just graft on… You have to stick to your guns as a band – to try and jump around won’t work.

You’re prolific. If you include last year’s album with Bonnie Dobson, Dreams, and the new record, Just A Day, that’s seven albums in 10 years…

We just really like being busy, you know what I mean? It feels like we’re constantly chasing the next high. It’s like, ‘Oh God, I’ve got all these ideas, and I just want to put them down’. And then you’re waiting to make it happen – to find the dates when you can record. We’ve been busy, man. What can I say? It’s been quite a trip, and it’s not over.

Let’s talk about the new album and get some background on it. Since we last spoke, the band has had some lineup changes. Your pedal steel player, Joe Harvey-Whyte, has left and your drummer, Paulie Cobra, who played on the new record, is on sabbatical from playing live. Charlie Salvidge, who was in TOY, is now sitting in on drums…

The Hanging Stars needs to be a floating concept, and I think that everybody that’s been in The Hanging Stars are in The Hanging Stars, if you see what I mean. I love the fact that we develop in that way and that you don’t know what’s coming next. It’s quite natural and organic, and I love that we don’t repeat ourselves and that everyone who has been in the band is still part of it. Paulie needed a break and that’s fine. It’s a lot to do – you have to dedicate a lot of your life to it.

And you still have to work in day jobs too…

People who sell out Shepherd’s Bush Empire need to have day jobs. That’s how it works. We’ve known Charlie for quite a while and we needed someone who could step in and be a part of it, otherwise you have to get a session player in, and that costs money for every rehearsal.

‘We’ve been busy, man. What can I say? It’s been quite a trip, and it’s not over’

In the press material for the new record, your guitarist, Patrick Ralla, says: “We needed to rethink things. A new, leaner approach: bass, drums, guitars and four-part harmonies. It certainly worked for The Byrds, Big Star and Teenage Fanclub.” Can you tell me more about that? How did the lineup change lead to you going back to basics?

The pedal steel took up a lot of room – it does that does by its nature, but Joe’s a great player… It just came to an end, and we had to force ourselves to rethink how we did things. In some ways it’s been nice… the space between the notes.

We needed to take a step back and listen to the songs – not play all over them but leave room. If you listen to the new record, there’s more air on it.

It feels like a ‘band in a room’ record…

There are no trumpets.

Or Spaghetti Western soundtracks…

There are a few synth things. A lot of it [the new approach] was Gerry Love. He was brilliant at helping us arrange the songs and coming up with ideas. He wrote the riff for ‘All Your Yesterdays,’ which is the first song. If you’re lucky enough to have Gerry on board, you can figure out where you’re going to aim.

 

Have you known Gerry for quite a while?

Yeah – he’s always been supportive. He’s a genuinely lovely fella. We approached him [about the new record], and he said, ‘Listen – you don’t need me’, but we pushed him a bit because we felt that we so needed an outside voice and an outside pair of ears. You can get quite tired of yourself.

You worked with your long-term collaborator, Sean Read, on this album as well, but I guess you needed someone who wasn’t part of your gang, too…

Exactly. Sean is part of The Hanging Stars. It was lovely to have someone with fresh ears come in. There were no dramatic changes, by any means, but Gerry listened in a clear way, and said, ‘Drop that,’ ‘Don’t complicate that bit’, or ‘Cut that bit – you don’t need it’.

‘Working with Gerry Love was a hugely positive experience, and we were lucky – it’s not something that he does’

And he makes a mean vegan curry, too, so I understand…

Yeah – it’s brilliant. I’ll get you the recipe. Working with Gerry was a hugely positive experience, and we were lucky – it’s not something that he does.

For this album, you went back to Edwyn Collins’s studio, Clashnarrow, in the Scottish Highlands. This is the third record you’ve made there…

If you have that opportunity, which we do, from being in the Edwyn camp, it’s stupid to say no. We played with him on his UK tour last year, which was an incredible experience, playing at places like the Royal Festival Hall, the Theatre Royal in Glasgow and the Albert Hall in Manchester.

So, you went to Clashnarrow in February last year…

Yes. We had it for a week.

Was it chilly there at that time of year?

We had some warm winds blowing… It’s beautiful and amazing there, but it was a lot of work because we had very little time and we wanted to use it wisely. We’d never been as prepared before as we were for this album – we pre-produced it for about three months before. We all met up on dark and dingy Tuesdays in Hackney, but it was surprising how many things we started changing when we got to the studio.

Let’s talk about some of the songs on the new record. You mentioned ‘All Your Yesterdays’ earlier. It’s quite a low-key way to open the album  – gorgeous and folky, with some chiming guitar and droning organ. With the opening lines, you invite the listener to: ‘Set sail on an ocean wave with the answers that you found in a wishing well…’

I’m pleased with the lyrics to that song. It’s all about the now – how fluid everything is and how it can slip away in a moment. I think that song sets the tone for the record. We’ve been spending less time in the desert and more time down Soho Square. There are a few different ways you can interpret that.

‘The Glasshouse’ has that jangly 12-string sound that you’re known for – the Big Star and The Byrds thing – but you’ve also embraced influences like ‘70s New York bands The Feelies and Television…

That was quite conscious. I’m late to The Feelies but they’re amazing – what a great group. I think we managed to get a little bit of that vibe in that song. It didn’t come out the way I imagined it would, but I’m still very pleased with it, and it features a lot of Gerry Love.

Lyrically, ‘The Glasshouse’ is a meditation on wealth and class…

A lot of the lyrics on the album are about being skint. I don’t know what’s going on, man… In my day job I work with extreme wealth, but I can’t talk about it for professional reasons.

‘Sister of the Sun’, which came out as the first single from the album, is beautiful and blissed-out, with some shimmering guitar work, and some lovely four-part harmonies…

That song is very much the stepping stone from the last record.

Yes – it’s more cosmic and psychedelic than the other songs on the new album…

Exactly. ‘Sister of the Sun’ had been kicking around for ages. I’d never finished it and we’d never had the chance to put it down.

‘Think I’ll Be Alright’ has a country-rock feel…

Jim Morrison from The Rockingbirds plays fiddle on it. We wanted that kind of Velvet Underground-type thing.

There’s a Velvet Underground feel to ‘(Keep On) Making Me Wait’ too – fuzz rock with some bouncy Beach Boys harmonies…

It’s two chords all the way through. Patrick had that song kicking around for a while. We were toying with it. Was I going to sing it, or would he? I’m glad he sang on it. I don’t think he’s ever delivered a performance like that before. He went in and nailed it in two or three takes.

‘Show Me The Way’ is joyous and upbeat. Your bass player, Paul Milne, wrote it, didn’t he?

I wrote the lyrics. Paul was like, ‘I’ve got a few songs, it’d be great if we could involve one’. Even though I’m the prime songwriter in The Hanging Stars, everyone writes their own instrumental bits. They’re shit-hot players, and that’s what makes it the band, but, yeah, that one stuck out for me. It went through a few stages in the studio, and then suddenly I was like, ‘right – that’s what it’s supposed to be’. It came out as like something from The Velvet Underground album Loaded. We’ve reworked our live set a bit and now we end on ‘Show Me The Way.’

Talking of The Velvet Underground, there’s a song on the new album called ‘Run Run Run…’

That’s completely intentional.

It has some spidery electric guitar and a ‘60s organ sound…

I’m pleased with how that song came out. I wanted to get a creepy Dr. John vibe, with weird percussion. It would’ve been great to get some female backing singers on it, in a wooden shack, but we got my kids to do it. I thought that was creepy enough. They went into Sean’s studio [in London] and they nailed it.

‘I’ve got five or six songs that would be good for the next Hanging Stars record’

‘Time Is Nothing’ has keyboard strings and some wonderful harmonies that create a lush and layered sound. It’s breezy and summer-friendly. On it, you sing: ‘There’s a bright blue sky inside my head / There’s an ocean wide that we can sail…’

It’s got that kind of FM radio, driving into the sunset-type vibe. It was something that I’d been kicking around for a long time that was hard to nail, but Gerry was very fond of that song, and he wrote part of the melody.

Do you have a lot of songs or ideas that you haven’t recorded yet?

So many. I’d say I’ve got five or six songs that would be good for the next Hanging Stars record.

‘Big Red Car’ is my favourite song on the new album…

Thank you – that’s one of my favourites too. I’m pleased with the lyrics – they’re about a good friend of mine that I care for so much. It’s a bit of a love song to him, and it came from a 15-year-old riff I had. It’s got a little bit of that country-soul thing going on.

Definitely. I think Spiritualized or Primal Scream could’ve written ‘Big Red Car’ in the ‘90s…

Totally. I love Spiritualized. They’re a big influence on me. I think Lazer Guided Melodies is a masterpiece.

‘Let It Slide’, from your new album, is jangly,  like Big Star or early R.E.M…

I’ll take that. In an alternate universe it would be a humungous hit, right?

Lyrically, this album doesn’t feel as dark or as sad as some of your other albums. I’m thinking of the title track of your third album, A New Kind of Sky, which dealt with Brexit, and a lot of the songs on 2022’s Hollow Heart...

I’m no political commentator, but it’s impossible not to be affected by what’s going on in the world. Not every song I write is a comment on something that’s happened to me – some of it is shit I make up.

I also feel that because I’ve left my thirties and my early forties behind, and the parties that went with that, which always leaves a hangover that casts a shadow… I’m a little bit more content in my own clothes and shoes. Maybe this is the slippers in front of the fire record… No, it’s not… On the contrary… If we’d done the album without Gerry, I think it would’ve been a very different record.

‘I’m no political commentator, but it’s impossible not to be affected by what’s going on in the world’

He really shone the Gerry light on it. It was nice to be able to give yourself to someone that you trust. It means you can focus so much more on what you’re doing supposed to doing well, instead of constantly thinking about what everybody else is doing. That was positive. The other thing is that we’ve become a very good and able band. Come and see The Hanging Stars because we’re really quite something! We’ve put all the love we had into this record.

And Gerry Love…

(Laughs). The subeditor in you is in full force! I’m thinking about the album… It’s so weird, because it’s coming out soon… With every album, you go through heaven and hell. It’s like, ‘Oh my God, I’m a fraud, this is shit and we could’ve done that better’… and then the next week, you go, ‘Fuck it – this is amazing!’ That’s how it goes, and you get used to that. It’s positive. I don’t suffer from imposter syndrome anymore – not that I ever did that much, but I think it comes to everyone.

‘We were the world’s best kept secret for a very long time’

Suddenly, last year, instead of 50 people coming to see us in Leeds, or wherever it might’ve been, it was 150 or 200. That’s a big change. I was just like, ‘Who the fuck am I not to take these people seriously?’ And that’s a good feeling. Who am I to have imposter syndrome when those people have paid good money to see us? Now, I have to go up there and do what I do best.

A few years ago, there was a huge difference when we played up north. Now we sell out Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool, and I’m grateful for that. We straddle a few scenes, and I want to give a serious shout out to promoters, venue managers, and the folks who come to the shows. There’s a great community out there for people with very good record collections, and I appreciate that we get to touch base with those folks. We were the world’s best kept secret for a very long time.

What’s happened to the group lately is that we’re focused and Gerry helped us with that. When you’re talking about work ethic, he’s a perfectionist, and we’re not… It was a healthy thing to dive into that, and that’s why there’s more air on this record.

The last song on the album, ‘Just A Day’, which is also the title track, has arpeggiated, Southern soul guitar lines, like R.E.M.’s ‘Everybody Hurts’…

It’s that soul thing, and it’s a little bit early Spiritualized as well. It was almost forgotten about for a long time, and then Patrick phoned me up one day and said, ‘Listen, I’ve got an idea for that song’… I was like, ‘Which song is that? Ah, OK’…  So, he sent me the idea, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty fucking good’…

It feels like a lament for the day just gone, and in it, you sing: ‘Let the clouds be your guide – let the sun and the moon decide…’

It’s mainly about the here and now, and how easily it can all slip away. That’s something that I’ve lived with for a very long time, for private reasons, and, as you get older, and you see the world, which is an absolutely terrifying place at the moment, you think, ‘Oh, my God – we’ve got so little time’. Maybe that song is our little push for people to embrace the now and seize the day.

Just A Day is out on June 19 (Loose). You can preorder it here.

www.thehangingstars.com