Hamish Hawk on his Ivor Cutler tribute at Edinburgh Book Festival: 'It's the most personal thing I've ever done'

If ever a musician was a good fit for a book festival, Hamish Hawk is that man – an assiduous lyricist who is smart, playful, erudite and, by his own admission, prone to “self-seriousness”. Inspired by fellow pop storytellers such as Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker, Hawk creates vignettes, suggests worlds and scripts scenes through his music, which has been particularly acclaimed across three post-pandemic albums, Heavy Elevator, Angel Numbers and A Firmer Hand.

Unsurprisingly, as an Edinburgh native, he has been a regular attender of the Edinburgh International Book Festival over the years. “It’s hallowed ground,” he says. “It feels like a special part of the August schedule and it’s managed to maintain its own reputation amidst how the Fringe has grown. I’m immensely proud of the Book Festival, if I can say that as an Edinburgh citizen.”

Hamish Hawk

He surely can. And it is his Edinburgh background that he will draw on for his debut appearance as part of the Music, Poetry and Performance strand. Life in a Scotch Sitting Room, Vol.0 is a special EIBF commission, which pays more than titular homage to Ivor Cutler’s cult album, Life In a Scotch Sitting Room, Vol.2. It is Hawk’s tribute and personal response to Cutler’s wry, fabulist account of his Glaswegian childhood, originally released in 1978.

“He is one of the single most inspiring writers of words in my life,” says Hawk, “and he has been since I was about 16 or 17 when I discovered his work. I would say it was like a lightning flash but that’s not really Ivor Cutler style. I didn’t know what I was dealing with and I think that continues really.”

WATCH: The Scotsman Sessions #216: Hamish Hawk

Cutler has been inadequately described as a poet, a humorist, a storyteller and songwriter, and far more accurately as unique. He released a string of oddball albums from the late Fifties, was a regular performer on late night BBC TV in the Seventies and Eighties, accompanying himself on harmonium, and famously appeared as bus conductor Buster Bloodvessel in The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour film.

Yet Hawk is not alone in considering Cutler to be criminally underrated. Even though John Lennon, Billy Connolly, KT Tunstall, John Peel and even Bertrand Russell were or are all declared acolytes, Cutler remains a cult figure. He has inspired plays and tribute concerts, but capturing his singular spirit is a tall order. Hawk is game.

Scottish poet and comic raconteur Ivor Cutler (1923 - 2006), 15th October 1974. (Photo by Angela Deane-Drummond/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“I don’t see Ivor Cutler as a surrealist writer,” he says. “He’s not the sort of guy who injects wackiness for the sake of it. He’s not trying to untether you and put you in the space of ‘I don’t know where I am with this’. He’s almost hyperreal. He ushers you in with a sense of comfort and then he can really take you to worlds you didn’t know you were going to. He’s always willed me to experiment, have fun and poke holes in things.”

Hawk’s tribute will be more of a chamber piece, “landing like a big lump of absurdity in the middle of the Book Festival programme”, according to its creator. With backing from his regular musical collaborators, Andrew Pearson and Stefan Maurice, Hawk will invoke two Scotch sitting rooms – Cutler’s idiosyncratic version of his childhood home in Govan and Hawk’s family home in Fairmilehead – splicing Cutler’s words and vision with new dialogue and songs written about his own (happy) upbringing. His mum, dad and older brother and sister (“I really was the baby of the family,” he says) will be conjured as characters alongside more abstract entities.

“Ivor Cutler fictionalised his family history and shot it through with this light and creates a story that is no less true to his life,” says Hawk. “It isn’t what factually happened but it’s as tangible as if it had been videotaped. I’m doing the same with my upbringing, taking conversations that we had, creating stories from old photographs where I’m not sure what’s going on.

Hamish Hawk

"It’s going to be a bit of a patchwork and, in true Cutlerian sense, it takes you on unexpected journeys. Some of the moments in the show are absolutely factually accurate and most are absolutely not but they feel immensely true to me. It’s very much in my image but with the twinkle from Ivor Cutler’s eyes.”

“The last record I put out [2024’s A Firmer Hand] was warts and all and vulnerable but this is the most personal thing I’ve ever done. It’s my childhood, so it’s very important to keep it safe. It’s an innocent time and a beautiful time in my life. I’m very grateful for there to have been so much love in my family when we were growing up.”

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A special time requires a special soundtrack. For the performance, Hawk will have access to Cutler’s own harmonium, on loan from its current owner, Donald Shaw of Capercaillie. Hawk is giddy with trepidation at the thought of laying hands on this holy relic. As well as evoking Cutler’s signature sound, it will give Hawk some auditory respite from his usual indie rock assault. Cutler was a longtime member of the Noise Abatement Society and would often shield his ears from the sound of his audience clapping. Hawk might not take it that far but he is happy to endorse one of Cutler’s legendary aphorisms.

“Save the eardrum!’ he laughs. “You don’t hear that enough. There’s an attitude with Ivor Cutler that is playful but sincere. It’s experimental but it’s not silly. The reason I chose him for this, that I couldn’t escape him, is that I think there is something in Ivor Cutler for everyone. It’s amazing how far he can lead you into the avant-garde without making you feel like you are losing your footing. His music is incredibly comforting and there is so much stillness and peace. I think there is a lot for someone to gain from hearing Ivor Cutler for the first time. He’s one of those special artists. When you discover him it feels like the thing you’ve been looking for.”

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Hamish Hawk: Life in a Scotch Sitting Room Vol.0 is at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 16 and 17 August at 9pm