Mr Hudson & The Library

United Kingdom | by Ben Murray | 12 August 2007

Few had heard of Mr Hudson & The Library this time last year. But such is the obscurity of so many Big Chill acts they have actually emerged as one of the bigger names on this year's bill. Describing themselves somewhat tongue in cheek as "English r'n'b", what's more certain is the lineage they follow - The Police, The Specials, Madness - making them one of the more mainstream acts in the Malvern hills this weekend. Especially with Mika cried off.

Favourites on the festival scene this summer with a packed schedule, the band have already warmed up crowds at The Great Escape, Electric Gardens and Glastonbury with their sun-swamped mix of reggae, ska and jazz. As the rays blaze backstage, just prior to their set on the Castle Stage on the opening day of The Big Chill, we caught up with the enigmatic Mr Hudson to get the lowdown on his Library...

VF: You've already played Glastonbury this year, where you played seven times – isn't a bit boring only playing here once?
Mr Hudson: "I don't think they'd let us play more than once…"

VF: Why did you play so many times at Glasto?
Mr Hudson: "Why not? We're making up for lost time really. None of us had ever been before…but it was a bit of a nightmare playing seven times."

VF: Which was the best gig?
Mr Hudson: "The Jazz Stage, definitely."

VF: You also do a bit of producing, Dizzee Rascal and so on…
Mr Hudson: "Yeah, I love it."

VF: So why did you decide to be in a band? Wouldn't be easier to sit in a studio?
Mr Hudson: "I just want to do everything; I'd be bored if I was living the life most musicians do. I like to have plenty of irons in the fire."

VF: So what other irons do you have in the fire?
Mr Hudson: "I've been working with Nattie and a girl called Coco, her band is called I Blame Coco, so I've been helping out with that – just doing lots of different things. Ultimately I'm just a guy who writes songs and sings them but I'd get bored…so I like allowing myself to get distracted by stuff, if that means working on stuff with Sway, Lethal B, Dizzee or writing songs for people then there's worse ways to be."

VF: What gives you the biggest buzz?
Mr Hudson: "It has to be playing live. We finished our last tour at the Electric Ballroom in Camden and it was sold out. To be doing that tour and to go around the UK - show by show it was heating up as the album had just come out, people were singing along and we were having stage invasions in Cardiff. I ended up crowd surfing for the first time in Camden and we're already thinking about how our next tour in October can be more of a production."

VF: Exciting times. Are you playing any other festivals?
Mr Hudson: "There's not too many left now are there… we're playing V, Electric Garden and Bestival."

VF: Where did the name come from and why did you want to play in libraries?
Mr Hudson: "We used to rehearse in my front room and it's got loads of books in it. It was a joke originally but the name stuck."

VF: So the library tour was a natural progression? Can you get many people in a library?
Mr Hudson: "It depends, probably around 150. You get all age groups as well – people coming with their Mum and Dad and so on. It was really different and a nice atmosphere, people really appreciated it."

VF: Did you have a favourite library?
Mr Hudson: "My favourite was Scarborough…"

VF: Did you have to play any really crappy municipal libraries?
Mr Hudson: "Not really, whatever library we went to we were treated really nicely."

VF: Was it a really local thing, with the regular customers from the library coming down?
Mr Hudson: "It varied but only people who really wanted to be involved in it came down. There's a lot of libraries in the UK and we only played 15 of them so by virtue of them being involved they were motivated to make it a good night – particularly in Walsall and the Isle of Wight."

VF: There can't be many bands going to places like that…
Mr Hudson: "But they have good libraries!"

More on Mr Hudson & The Library here.