Guy Garvey says he looked back to his “rock n’ roll years” when writing parts of his new album Audio Vertigo, drawing on “destructive,” “tumultuous,” and “toxic” relationships from his past for inspiration.
Elbow’s lead singer tells Sky News: “Nobody wants to hear about how proud of my second hand Toyota RAV4 I am. It’s like I’m going to have to write about some of the more rock n’ roll years”.
Image: Pic: PA
Suffering for your art is a well-known trope, and having just turned 50 and with two and a half decades in the industry, Garvey knows well that “reflections on mistakes are so much more fun to listen to”.
His past pains have clearly done the trick, with their 10th studio LP earning the Mercury, Brit and Ivor Novello award-winning band – made up of Garvey, Pete Turner and Craig and Mark Potter – their fourth official number one album.
It also topped the vinyl album chart and was the most-purchased physical LP of the past seven days in independent UK record shops.
Garvey calls their achievement “amazing,” adding: “I never used to worry about such things. This time it feels different. I really wanted to make it.”
So how did he go about digging out what he dubs his “celebration of misadventures”?
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Garvey explains: “I’m in a very, very happy marriage. So, I’ve drawn on some perhaps more tumultuous relationships from the past.
“There’s two songs in particular, The Picture and Poker Face, that I’ve kind of put a few things together, not just my relationships, but [also] toxic relationships that people close to me have had.
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“And it’s I suppose it’s a little observation slash parable, the toxic relationship, because I think sometimes two people can be wonderful people, it’s just that chemistry brings the worst out in each other.
“It’s the closest to the brink of madness I’ve ever been, I think, to be in a destructive relationship. And thankfully, it’s been many, many years. But it’s good. It’s fertile ground for song writing, all of that.”
‘It’s been pretty frantic’
Garvey has been happily married to actress Rachel Stirling – daughter of acting icon Diana Rigg – for eight years, and the couple share one son, Jack.
Image: (L-R) Garvey and his wife Rachel Stirling in 2021. Pic: Reuters
Garvey’s written about “the gentle highs and lows of domesticity” in some of his past work, and as all those juggling family life with work will concede, it’s almost impossible to keep the two worlds from colliding at points.
An angst-inducing schedule clash that proves the point is the fact Stirling’s new play, The Divine Mrs S, opened on the same day Elbow’s record came out.
Garvey admits, “it’s been pretty frantic,” adding, “Jack’s been passed from pillar to post a little bit between the two of us.
“We made sure that one of us is home at all times. But, that’s also down to the rest of Elbow being gentleman about it. There’s been quite a few rehearsals where I’ve been on tape”.
Matching sequinned dressing gowns?
Balking somewhat at being labelled a celebrity couple (Garvey laughingly shrugs it off, saying “I’ve never actually heard somebody describe us as a showbiz family,”) he says they are definitely not the types to be wearing “matching sequinned dressing gowns”.
He also acknowledges the very real change of gear needed within any relationship when kids come into the equation.
Garvey says: “It’s one of the decisions we made when we said, ‘Shall we have a family?’ I mean, Rachel said, ‘Shall we have a family?’
“I took some convincing. She was very convincing.
“But a lot of it was like, ‘Well, what about work?’ And the phrase was, ‘We’ll make it work’, you know?
“And of course, the priority is the lad’s happiness and well-being. And he’s actually inspired so much of the work we both do. And he’s really proud of us both already at seven.”
One song on the album, From The River, he describes as “a love letter to my son” and “our aspirations for him”.
‘Gnarly, grimy and from the heart’
With the album noted as a departure from the band’s normal style, Garvey says they decided to move away from “reflectively writing about the worries of the world,” and to offer “something a bit more fun”.
Image: Elbow receive their official number one album award for Audio Vertigo. Pic: Official Charts
Met with praise from critics, it’s been hailed “landmark” (Mojo) and their best since their 2008 Mercury Prize-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid (NME) – so does Garvey read his own press?
He admits: “Yes, against my better judgement, I do.”
He describes the collection as “gnarly, confrontational, a bit from the heart and a bit grimy, in the old sense of the word”.
With streaming now the go-to way to listen to music, has Elbow changed the way they put out their music in response?
“Streaming is marvellous… All the world’s music in your pocket… But as I said in my deposition to the Select Committee a couple of years ago on the economics of streaming, the money isn’t getting to the artist and that’s wrong…
“At the minute, it’s loaded way too heavily in favour of the business model, [but] the business model must change to protect music. Spotify are guilty. And I am guilty of having a Spotify account.”
‘Albums aren’t going anywhere’
And in a week that Sheryl Crow described making albums as a “waste of time and money” because people do not listen to them in full, does Garvey think she might have a point?
Image: The band with their Mercury Prize in 2008. Pic: PA
“We stubbornly stick to the fact that we’re an album band and have been from the beginning,” Garvey says.
“For some outfits, the finished product is a show. For us, it’s an album”.
He goes on: “I want to be changed by a listening experience. I want my musicians to take me by the hand, album to album, and lead me creatively to where they’re going next. You can’t do that in playlists and individual songs”.
He says his old family car still has a CD player so he’s bought all the records he owns on CD, and he plays them in the back of the car on the school run, and gives him the CD sleeve of tracks to read on the way.
Garvey is adamant that reports of the death of the album are greatly exaggerated: “The album as an art form isn’t going anywhere. Everybody thought the book was going to disappear on account of digital technology. It hasn’t and it won’t, and neither will the album.”
Never afraid of getting political, Garvey explains: “All art tends to reflect the society it’s made in. It’s also a litmus test of its health as well. I think we’re under a real threat. The rise of autocratic government is terrifying…
“I can understand why language is getting angry, absolutely. For every issue to become partisan, it’s just so wrong. It shouldn’t be partisan to object to mass slaughter.
“And also, if Putin’s not stopped, he’s a green light for all the rest of the world’s dictators, and then we’re really in trouble.”
Touring and Glastonbury
In May, the band will embark on a huge UK arena tour, performing in Brighton (which is already sold out), London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, and the new Co-op Live Arena in Manchester.
In a pleasing piece of symmetry, Garvey’s mum worked for Co-op supermarket when she was a girl, to which Garvey says, “Yeah, Shirley was very proud when she found out.”
Image: Elbow performing at Glastonbury Festival in 2017. Pic: PA
They have played at Glastonbury around 10 times according to Garvey, with at least four of those appearances on the coveted Pyramid Stage.
He says the band have “no plans so far” to perform there this year, but adds: “If we don’t play this year, hopefully they’ll invite us next year…
“Culturally, it’s the best music festival in the world. And in terms of our history with it, [Elbow’s] timeline is pinned out by our Glastonbury performances.”
The annual controversy around who is (and isn’t) on the bill – perhaps most notably in 2008 when hip hop star Jay-Z’s performance divided festival fans – is a “testimony” Garvey says “to how popular” the event is.
He explains: “Two female headliners, that’s amazing. There’s always a new frontier. There’s always a new thing to consider. And I’ll always trust the Eavis family [Michael and his daughter Emily who run the Worthy Farm event] to deliver us a party that the world envies year on year”.
So, with a number one album, and a wife working evenings for the foreseeable future, what’s he up to this Easter?
Garvey says with a wide smile that he’s visiting friends with his son, where they plan “to have a massive Easter egg hunt and drink too much wine”.
Like Glastonbury – Garvey knows how to kick back, have fun – and of course – keep putting out music that will resonate for years to come.
Despite The Who’s Quadrophenia being set over 60 years ago, Pete Townshend’s themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
The album is having a renaissance as Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia A Mod ballet is being brought to life via dance at Sadler’s Wells East, and Sky News has an exclusive first look.
As Townshend puts it, the album he wrote is “perfect” for the stage.
Image: Pete Townshend
“My wife Rachel did the orchestration for me, and as soon as I heard it I said to her it would make a fabulous ballet and we never really let that go,” he tells Sky News.
“Heavy percussion, concussive sequences. They’re explosive moments. They’re also romantic movement moments.”
If you identify with the demographics of Millennial, Gen Y or Gen Z, you might not be familiar with The Who and Mod culture.
But in post-war Britain the Mods were a cultural phenomenon characterised by fashion, music, and of course, scooters. The young rebels were seen as a counter-culture to the establishment and The Who, with Roger Daltry’s lead vocals and Pete Townshend’s writing, were the soundtrack.
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Quadrophenia the album is widely regarded as an essay on the British adolescent experience at the time, focusing on the life of fictional protagonist Jimmy – a young Mod struggling with his sanity, self-doubt, and alienation.
Townshend sets the rock opera in 1965 but thinks its themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
He says: “The phobias and the restrictions and the unwritten laws about how young men should behave. The ground that they broke, that we broke because I was a part of it.
“Men were letting go of [the] wartime-related, uniform-related stance that if I wear this kind of outfit it makes me look like a man.”
Image: Paris Fitzpatrick and Pete Townshend. Pic: Johan Persson
This struggle of modern masculinity and identity appears to be echoing today as manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, incel culture, and Netflix’s Adolescence make headlines.
For dancer Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy, the story resonates.
Image: Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy in the ballet
“I think there’s a connection massively and I think there may even be a little more revival in some way,” he tells Sky News.
“I love that myself. I love non-conforming to gender norms and typical masculinity; I think it’s great to challenge things.”
Despite the album being written before he was born, the dancer says he was familiar with the genre already.
“I actually did an art GCSE project about Mods and rockers and Quadrophenia,” he says.
“I think we’ll be able to bring it to new audiences and hopefully, maybe people will be inspired to to learn more about their music and the whole cultural movement of the early 60s.”
In 1979, the album was adapted into a film directed by Franc Roddam starring Ray Winstone and Sting but Townshend admits because the film missed key points he is “not a big fan”.
“What it turned out to be in the movie was a story about culture, about social scenario and less about really the specifics of mental illness and how that affects young people,” he adds, also complimenting Roddam’s writing for the film.
Perhaps a testament to Pete Townshend’s creativity, Quadrophenia started as an album, was successfully adapted to film and now it will hit the stage as a contemporary ballet.
It appears that over six decades later Mod culture is still cool and their issues still relatable.
Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 28 May to 1 June 2025, Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 June 2025 and the Mayflower, Southampton from 18 to 21 June 2025 before having its official opening at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London on 24 June running to 13 July 2025 and then visiting The Lowry, Salford from 15 to 19 July 2025.
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
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Ashna Hurynag discusses Russell Brand’s charges
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
The comedian has denied the accusations and said he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.
He added in a video on X: “Of course, I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.
Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.
Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.
Image: Tom Cruise said ‘I wish you well on the next journey’. Pic: AP
Image: Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
“I wish you well on the next journey.”
The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.
Image: Tom Cruise at Caesars Palace on Thursday. Pic: AP
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.
He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.
Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.
The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.