Richard Hawley says Arctic Monkeys shout out at Mercury Prize was “extremely positive for me”
Richard Hawley has reflected upon the comments made about him by Arctic Monkeys when they won the Mercury Prize in 2006 and admitted it was “extremely positive” for his career.
The Sheffield band were handed the prize for their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Arctic Monkeys beat off competition from fellow nominees Muse, Editors, Thom Yorke, Hot Chip and Hawley, who was nominated for his Cole’s Corner LP. During the band’s speech, frontman Alex Turner told the audience: “Somebody call 999. Richard Hawley’s been robbed.”
Hawley has now discussed the speech and explained how Turner’s remark is an example of their shared Sheffield humour. “The Monkeys are from High Green – that’s like where I was brought up; it’s got decent working-class families and people. A strong base to form anything from,” he told MOJO.
The singer-songwriter continued: “The Sheffield sense of humour is quite self-effacing. You take the piss out yourself, and quick, because you know some other fucker’s going to do it pretty soon. When Al said that quote when they won the Mercury Prize [in 2006: ‘Someone call 999 – Richard Hawley’s been robbed’], that was very Sheffield.”
He added: “You’ve saved yourself looking like a bighead, and bigheads aren’t liked. Al was being incredibly generous – it was like me winning without winning. I don’t think he thought about the consequences of it, but the consequences were extremely positive for me. So cheers Al.”
Arctic Monkeys recently released their seventh album The Car and are currently on their first stadium tour across the United Kingdom. They will also headline Glastonbury alongside Guns N’ Roses and Elton John.
In a four-and-a-half-star review of The Car, Far Out wrote: “Thematically, it’s a lot of cover shoots, travel-size Champagne flutes, and patent leather dancing shoes. In short, it’s a whirlwind of imagery that can bewilder, but more often than not, it dazzles.”
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