RED GUITARS ‘Ho Ho Hum’ video exclusive, band interview, Bandcamp charity donation details

THE first new music since 1986 from Hull’s seminal indie outfit RED GUITARS is now available as a free download – with the band suggesting a voluntary donation to refugee support organisations ‘Breaking Barriers,’ HERE and the ‘Refugee Council,’ HERE

Written by guitarist Hallam Lewis, the single ‘Ho Ho Hum’ is a reflective observation on the struggles of migration for refugees, intertwined with his own recent experience of relocating from his home in South Africa to the UK when Red Guitars reformed in their original line-up in 2022.

The song is accompanied by a video, the content of which some viewers may find upsetting.

“Sadly, we live in a time when people seem to be positively encouraged, at least from some quarters, to think of refugees and asylum seekers as a dehumanised menace from ‘over there’ who are on a self-seeking jolly of some kind – not real people desperately running for their lives, forced to leave their homes, families, friends and way of life behind,” said Hallam.

“This climate of apparent indifference – the ‘Ho Hum’ of the title – to a very real plight is what suggested the song to me, and it evolved out of a piece of music – the main, opening guitar riff – that I’d had knocking about for some time, and was very fond of, and would often pick up and play in an idle moment.

“Funnily enough I’d given it the working title of ‘Ho Hum’ quite early on, but it turned out to work very nicely in context, I think it was because the riff already had a flavour of marching on or ‘carrying on regardless,’ which matched up well with the idea of travelling on persistently, despite many obstacles and indifference from others.

“The idea to turn the song into one about the struggles of migration occurred to me one day whilst out walking the dog in Cape Town, where I was born, and returned to live from 2006 until 2023. The opening lines, ‘We love and we leave where we come from, it’s deep in our breathing skin,’ popped into my head, and much of the rest unfolded pretty quickly, though not without a good deal of tweaking, crafting and reassessment.”

For Red Guitars bassist Lou Duffy-Howard, the decision to support both the ‘Breaking Barriers’ and ‘Refugee Council’ charities was an easy one to make.

“I have worked with refugees in Hull over many years, initially when my husband Rich and I used to organise events and an annual free festival in a city park back in 1999,” she said.

“We met and played music together with Kurdish, Afgan, Syrian and African musicians who sought refuge here. After that we both worked for projects in the city which helped refugees to integrate into life here and into work. Many people came with great skills but had left all their paperwork and qualification certificates behind in their rush to escape.

“Rich and I went on to deliver a ‘Heritage Lottery’ project about how it was for people coming here from war torn countries to find safety and start a new life. The stories people told us were heartbreaking and frightening. But some were heartwarming and uplifting. We played music together with the Kurdish friends we made and found music was the key to breaking language and culture barriers and feeling welcome in a new land.”

Guitarist John Rowley added, “Now more than ever seemed like a good time for Red Guitars to put out their first new material in forty years. Something to not just highlight the plight of these desperate people, but to try to raise some money for the charities involved in helping people find a new home and employment so that they can have what we all expect from our lives.

“‘Ho Ho Hum’ is a gift to our fans and can be download for free from our Bandcamp site. However, we ask that everyone donates a sum of money, no matter how small, to the ‘Refugee Council’ or ‘Breaking Barriers’ charities.

“While the ‘Refugee Council’ is known worldwide for supporting and empowering people who have fled conflict, violence and persecution in order to rebuild their lives here in the UK, the charity ‘Breaking Barriers’ works at the other end of their journey helping to find suitable and meaningful employment in this country for them and their families.

“All proceeds from this single will go directly to helping people establish a decent happy life while contributing to the wealth and diversity of this country. Even if it’s just the cost of a coffee, please consider supporting this – and just as importantly, send it to your friends, and get the word out. Anything is everything to people who have nothing.”

And echoing the thoughts of many in these uncertain times, drummer Matt Higgins had a simple message for all.

“Let’s all just be a bit kinder to each other. Is that so much to ask?” he said. “Too often countries see refugees as a ‘problem,’ but it’s about time we adopted a bit more empathy, realise how lucky we are, and that millions of innocent people around the world have had their lives turned upside down by the warmongers, the dictators and the self-seekers who just want power, control and money.”

Finally, Lewis added, “I think the feeling of being at the whims of faceless bureaucracy when in a position of powerlessness is one many of us can relate to, and in turn this can help us relate to and imagine ourselves suffering the plight that asylum seekers and refugees have to deal with. There is so much in the news and media that tends to dehumanise and distance people in such a situation, so it felt like a good topic to attempt, in a small way, to ‘universalise’. 

“I’d had recent personal experience dealing with such impassive indifference, bordering on hostility and corruption, when dealing on many occasions with the Department of Home Affairs in South Africa, but I obviously would not for a moment wish to draw any equivalence between this and the truly horrendous experience that it must be to be a genuine refugee, homeless and displaced by war or other momentous events.”

DONATION LINKS/INFO

Breaking Barriers: HERE

Refugee Council: HERE

Red Guitars Bandcamp ‘Ho Ho Hum’: HERE

Red Guitars:  HERE

(Main photo (c) Richard Duffy-Howard)