Hugh Cornwell in Conversation with Rob McGowan

If Peaches is your favourite Stranglers song, Hugh Cornwell has some advice for you: don’t bother coming to his acoustic shows. You won’t hear it.

He told me that himself when he joined me on Drivetime on MIX56 this week, and he meant every word.

Hugh was the frontman and main songwriter of The Stranglers through their golden years, and he’s now out on the road with Never Say Goodbye, his final solo acoustic tour.

It’s just Hugh, a guitar and a microphone, and it’s heading our way later this month, with shows at The Atkinson in Southport on Wednesday 18 November and the Lowther Pavilion in Lytham on Saturday 28 November.

Just Hugh, a Guitar and Nerves of Steel

We spoke the day after his opening night, and Hugh admitted it had reminded him exactly what he’d taken on. It’s his first solo acoustic tour in years, and it’s harder work than people think.

“People forget that with an electric guitar you’re helped by an amplifier,” he said. “With an acoustic guitar, you’ve just got to thrash it, and it’s physically very demanding.”

There’s nowhere to hide either. “You really are under the microscope, and you’ve got to have nerves of steel to get away with it.” He finds it satisfying doing it all on his own, but he’s clear that playing with a band is more fun, which is why this is the last time he’ll do it solo.

Why Peaches Stays at Home

Picking a set list for an acoustic tour isn’t just a case of playing the hits. Hugh says songs from The Stranglers and his own catalogue either work with one voice and one guitar or they don’t.

Peaches doesn’t. “It sounds really boring just with a guitar and voice,” he said. “You need the dynamics of a band.”

But some songs surprise him. He recently tried one acoustically that he’d only ever played with the band, and against all the odds it worked. It went down a storm on the opening night because nobody was expecting it.

Which song? “I’m not gonna spill the beans.” So you’ll have to go and find out for yourself.

There are a few more obscure ones in the set too, not because they’re obscure, but because they happen to work really well.

A First Taste of Succubus

Hugh’s also playing three songs from his new album, Succubus, which is out next year. None of them were written anywhere near an acoustic guitar. They came out of messing about in the studio, and there are no acoustic guitars on the album at all.

Oddly, the new songs were the ones he was least worried about on opening night. “I played them better than anything else in the evening,” he said, which he takes as a good sign for the album.

As for the title: “It’s one of those words that’s good to say, and it sounds naughty as well, but it isn’t.”

It does sound naughty, doesn’t it?

Someone also pointed out to him that Succubus and Rattus Norvegicus, The Stranglers’ debut album, are both Latin words ending in “-us”.

He says it’s pure coincidence, but it’s a nice one, because 15 April next year marks 50 years since Rattus Norvegicus came out. Has he got plans for the anniversary? “Yes, I have plans, and they will be announced.” Watch this space.

Ask Hugh Anything

Each show ends with an open Q&A, with mics passed round the audience. Hugh had never done it before the tour started, and on the first night it went on so long his sound man had to tell him to wrap it up.

“I don’t think people do that enough,” he said. “There’s not enough connection between people that do things and people that watch them do things.”

If you’ve had a burning question about The Stranglers for the best part of 50 years, this is your chance.

From Sweden to The Stranglers, on Film

Hugh has acted, written books and hosted a podcast, and there’s more to come. He wants to write more books (“I won’t be ballet dancing, though”), and there’s a film on the way next year telling the story of what happened before The Stranglers.

It goes back to his time in Sweden with Hans Wärmling and Johnny Sox, a band he describes as “a rockabilly Ramones band in the wilds of Swedish countryside”, and how that turned into The Stranglers.

Hugh says everything in it is true, and it’s something he’s never done before.

See Hugh Cornwell Live

Hugh Cornwell’s Never Say Goodbye final solo acoustic tour comes to The Atkinson in Southport on Wednesday 18 November and the Lowther Pavilion in Lytham on Saturday 28 November.

It’s an intimate evening of songs and stories, plus that open Q&A. As this is the last time he’ll do it on his own, I wouldn’t leave it too late.

• Tickets are available from The Atkinson and the Lowther Pavilion

Listen Again:  Hugh Cornwell in conversation with Rob McGowan on MIX56