The American
From Harry’s Bar to a Greek Island –
Gordon Haskell Hionides T
alking to Gordon Haskell Hionides about his new album, One Day Soon, on the phone is zen-like. Time slows down and you concentrate on the ebb and flow of the conversation, like waves on a beach. The buzz of the office and the hectic pace of life in the UK seem to fade… Gordon, after the album Harry’s Bar and the single How Wonderful You Are were massive hits in 2002, you’ve been off the radar. Where are you now? I’m living in Greece, I’ve had a couple of swims so far today. What made you want to live in Greece? I was born in Dorset, went to London in 1966, eventually ended up back in Dorset, then came to Greece three years ago. The England that I knew was no longer the England that I saw out of my window. Too many cameras, too many people watching me… I’m a bit shy. This island (Skopelos, in the Aegean) is amazing for the clarity of your mind. It’s has a beautiful turquoise sea, and I’ve got the most staggering view so even if you have a lazy day, you could never say you were wasting a minute because you’re looking at all this. I work better, in a nutshell, so this is my permanent base, but I will come back to play. I didn’t expect to write again, the oppression in England was actually drying me up, writer’s block if you like. It was only by getting away and standing back, that I was able to write.
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You’ve changed your name from Gordon Haskell, added the Hionides – what’s your family background? My father was a Greek American. He went to Oxford University, wrote the Greek-American dictionary and ended up in Athens as Professor of History at the American College. He fought for the Greek Air Force, the RAF, and finally the American Air Force. A wonderful man. He didn’t marry my mother. She was from Dorset, a war widow, suffering incredible trauma after losing her husband in Peenemunde in the V2 rocket bombing raid. She had two children by him, and a Wing Commander’s pension. Harry, my father, was a penniless genius. There was no contest financially, if she’d married him she would have lost the pension and the children would have starved. War stories. All these side issues go into your writing. War affects so many people for years afterwards. Sometimes I think my father was a spy. He worked for the New York Times, suddenly turned up in the Argentine, then happened to mention that he’d talked to Maclean (one of the Cambridge Five, British Communists who spied for the USSR). I blossomed when I came here and I have to credit my Greekness to it, so I’ve tagged my real surname onto my stage name, or born name, as a sign that I feel whole now, I’ve reached the end of my journey and I’ve found who I am. One Day Soon is the best work that I’ve ever done, so it’s rather appropriate. In Greece you always use your
father’s name in any situation, whether you’re born out of wedlock or not, which is rather nice. You’ve left, or refused to join, more great bands than most people. How come? Most people would have seen a good future with those bands, but I have no regrets, I’ve got my own career and doing it my way if you like. I knew that in 1970 when I quit a huge international group like King Crimson, I could have been one of those that got rich playing stadiums. Whilst a lot of the press is derogatory, to me I stuck by my principles. I did what I wanted to do and moved on. Robert Fripp didn’t get on with you musically, although you were schoolmates. Is it true it’s because you liked classics like Nat King Cole and Ray Charles songs? Absolutely true... But I made it up with him when I wrote my autobiography. I’ve spent a long time working out the psyche of people in an attempt to understand mankind. I spent 30 years trying to work out Robert Fripp. And when I did come to write the book, I understood him more. We weren’t that different, just opposite ends of the spectrum. We were both as intransigent in our own way. He had as many demons as anybody. We all do when we’re 22, 23, we all think we know it all. I’m delighted that I did what I did and that he’s had a great career. I have