Guy Garvey: Elbow frontman on destructive relationships from his past and juggling ‘frantic’ family life in his present
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”.
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”?
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.
“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.
(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”.
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?
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.”
‘We’re under real threat’
As for a recent study which found song lyrics have become angrier over last 40 years, Garvey is not surprised.
Elbow. Pic: Peter Neill
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.”
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.”
He also says there’s “something really special about this year’s line-up,” which for the first time features two women in the top slots.
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.
Entertainment
‘I felt really scared and I felt alone’ – Wicked star Jonathan Bailey on growing up gay in school
“I felt scared and I felt alone and I felt entirely limited at various points in my life”, actor Jonathan Bailey says of growing up gay in school.
While promoting Wicked: For Good, the actor donated one of his interview slots to talk about the charity he is a patron of: Just Like Us, which works with LGBT+ youth in schools.
“That’s something that I would have really benefited from when I was young,” he said, talking exclusively to Sky News about his charitable work.
In surveys of thousands of UK pupils, Just Like Us found that LGBT participants aged 11 to 18 were twice as likely to suffer anxiety, depression and to be bullied, and that only half felt safe at school on a daily basis.
“I experienced all of that,” he said. “It became clear quite early on that something that was very specific and clear to me about who I was, it wasn’t safe and it wasn’t celebrated.”
Whether as Lord Anthony in Bridgerton, being crowned sexiest man alive and as the Winkie Prince Fiyero in Wicked: For Good, Bailey has broken through an outdated stereotype.
Historically, it was considered a career risk to be out – a heterosexual romantic lead’s career was at risk if his sexuality was public.
For the Winkie prince actor, education can play a role in defying limitations.
While promoting Wicked: For Good, Bailey talked about a charity that works with LGBT+ youth in schools.. File pic: Just Like Us
“This is beyond sexuality,” he said, “it’s race, it’s class, it is where you’re from, we are all given limiting narratives that we have to break free of.
“I thought not only was I not going to be able to play these sorts of parts because of my sexuality, but that I wouldn’t be able to do Shakespeare because I didn’t go to drama school.
“They’re the sort of stories that we need to be reminded of is that actually standing up and being safe enough to be able to say who you really are, and to be vulnerable at that age… these formative years, is inspiring to everyone in the classroom.”
But classrooms in the UK are facing tightening budgets due to “spiralling costs” that threaten to outstrip the growth in school funding.
Citing budget and time pressures on teachers, Just Like Us has made its talks free in schools. Does the actor think the government should be doing more?
He said: “I’m a very proud brother of an incredible teacher who works in the state system, and I know how much she cares about her school, her pupils.
“The resources are being crunched, and the problem is that it will be the arts and it will be really important conversations that Just Like Us bring into the schools and these… things that are going to go, and that’s just really sad.
“But I’m not the person to come up with solutions other than I can do my bit.”
Bailey, Cynthia Erivo and Bowen Yang are among Wicked’s LGBT cast, and in Wicked: For Good, openly gay actor Colman Domingo joins them as the voice of the Cowardly Lion.
But not everyone is encouraging the onscreen representation: A “warning” by conservative group One Million Moms said that the Jon M Chu-directed films are “normalising the LGBTQ lifestyle” to children and takes aim at the cast.
The alert urges people to boycott the sequel “even if you have seen Wicked: Part One”.
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When asked about the pushback, Bailey is resolute: “I don’t even acknowledge… the thing that’s important to me is how do I chat to little Johnny in all this.
“I’m thrilled to be living in a time where I can play the Winkie Prince and where Just Like Us is doing the extraordinary work that they’re doing.”
Entertainment
Donald Trump confirms he will sue the BBC over Panorama edit – despite broadcaster’s apology
Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech on Panorama.
The US president confirmed he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster while on Air Force One overnight on Saturday.
“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he told reporters.
“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
Mr Trump then told reporters he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend, and claimed “the people of the UK are very angry about what happened… because it shows the BBC is fake news”.
The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that an internal memo raised concerns about the BBC’s editing of a speech made by Mr Trump on 6 January 2021, just before a mob rioted at the US Capitol building, on the news programme.
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BBC crisis: How did it happen?
The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the president’s speech to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell” in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.
Following a backlash, both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned from their roles.
‘No basis for defamation claim’
On Thursday, the broadcaster officially apologised to the president and added that it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.
A spokesperson said that “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it apologised, retracted the clip, and compensated him.
The US president said he would sue the broadcaster for between $1bn and $5bn. File pic: PA
Legal challenges
But legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.
The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.
Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.
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Sky’s Katie Spencer on what BBC bosses told staff on call over Trump row
Newsnight allegations
The BBC has said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph, that its Newsnight show also selectively edited footage of the same speech in a report broadcast in June 2022.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”
Video footage has shown the moment singer and actress Ariana Grande was accosted by a fan at a film premiere.
Ms Grande was in Singapore for the debut of Wicked: For Good when the incident unfolded on Thursday.
The video captured the moment the fan scaled the barricade and pushed past photographers towards Ms Grande.
Pic: tacotrvck_vb/X/via REUTERS
He then threw his arms around her, before co-star Cynthia Erivo intervened and security swoops in to stop him.
The man, now identified as Johnson Wen, 26, is reportedly a notorious red carpet crasher.
Wen, who has since been charged with being a public nuisance, goes by the nickname Pyjama Man, and gloated as he shared footage of the intrusion online.
“Dear Ariana Grande, Thank You for letting me Jump on the Yellow Carpet with You,” he wrote on Instagram.
Pic: tacotrvck_vb/X/via REUTERS
In video stories posted to the site beforehand, he was seen at the Universal Studios venue, revealing his intentions.
In one, he said: “I feel like I’m in a dream, that’s my best friend, Ariana Grande, and I’m gonna meet her. I’ve been dreaming about that.”
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The Australian has ambushed several performers on stage, according to reports, including Katy Perry and The Chainsmokers at concerts in Sydney, and The Weeknd in Melbourne.
It has been reported that Wen intends to plead guilty and that he could face a fine of more than £1,000.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo at the London premiere for Wicked: For Good
Ms Grande took a moment to gather herself in the aftermath of the intrusion, visibly shocked by the incident.
She didn’t address the incident on her own Instagram, but shared some photos with the caption “thank you, Singapore”, adding “we love you”.
The singer battled post-traumatic stress disorder after her 2017 concert in Manchester was bombed, leaving 22 people dead.
She told Vogue in 2018: “It’s hard to talk about because so many people have suffered such severe, tremendous loss. But, yeah, it’s a real thing.
“I know those families and my fans, and everyone there experienced a tremendous amount of it as well. Time is the biggest thing.
“I feel like I shouldn’t even be talking about my own experience – like I shouldn’t even say anything. I don’t think I’ll ever know how to talk about it and not cry.”
In the same interview she also addressed her own anxiety, saying she has “always” had it.
Ms Grande plays Galinda Upland in Wicked: For Good, the character who becomes Glinda the Good Witch. Ms Erivo plays Elphaba, the character who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.
The film is released in UK cinemas on 21 November.
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