Paul Hardcastle

Exclusive interview! One of the UK’s biggest ever selling musicians unveils his brand new album


Hey Paul, welcome to DMC towers sir, with a brand new album ’19 Below Zero’ swinging our way next month. Before we talk about the new long player, let’s have a look back at an extraordinary career…

The band Hawkwind first brought your attention to music and synthesisers, were your parents musical at all?

“Yes my dad was a musician, he played trumpet and he was also a dancer. My mum was a dancer, she was actually in the Tiller Girls and you could see her on Sunday night at the London Palladium.”



So you’re working in this hi-fi shop on the KIngs Road in London listening to the radio. And you think to yourself, I could make that. What happened next?

“Well I decided to swap my video camera for a friend’s synthesiser and I basically taught myself how to play. It was a Korg 700 S which was monophonic meaning you can only play one note at time and so I used to have to bounce notes to make a chord and my recordings used to sound like they were recorded in the fish and chip shop – there was so much hiss, but it got me in to the band direct drive.”

Tell us the story of how being asked by Michael Hurl to record the theme music to Top Of The Pops happened…

“I had just finished performing ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ at Top of the Pops when a guy came up and said ‘Hi, I’m Michael Hurl the Top Of The Pops Producer and think you would be the right person to do a new theme.  Would you like to do it?’. Well I nearly bit his hand off ha ha! He said ‘I need it as quick as possible though’. Two days later I sent him ‘The Wizard’. It was the first thing I recorded on my Synclavier and was the first record made with no tape at all, it was the first hard disk recording machine in the world. And I had the first one!!!”

How did you approach the job of writing the theme music for the most famous weekly music of all time? Did you know you had written something with ‘The Wizzard’ that would last the test of time?

“I just started out with no pre-conceptions and because I had this new great piece of kit, I must say I found it easy. It was great to meet Geoffrey Bayledon (Cat Weazle} who came to my house in Wanstead to record the spoken vocals, after all he was a Wizard ha-ha! I didn’t have a clue that it would run for so long, it’s actually one of my tracks that’s on the 80s remixer iPhone and iPad App.”

The guy who wrote the theme music before you was the late and great Phil Lynott. Most people when they get married expect a toaster or a nice picture frame as a gift from their friends…

“That’s something that always makes me smile. I was over at Phil’s house doing a photo shoot with him for promotion and just happened to say ‘wow that’s cool’ – it was a Rockola Jukebox! Two days later there was a knock at the door and lo and behold it was two of Phil’s roadies saying they had a gift from Phill!!! It was the jukebox. I was over the moon and shocked at the same time. I still miss that cheeky laugh he had, I do a radio show on Time fm and I always play Phil. RIP mate.”

Even though ‘Rainforest’ missed the UK Top 40 by one place, it certainly made it’s mark in the States and stuck two fingers up at the people who said that instrumentals wouldn’t work. What was that phone call like when you found out the good news from America…?

“Well I had an idea the track was going to do quite well when I received a copy of the New York Post where it was about people who will be well known real soon – and it had my picture in the story! I think a month later I had just knocked Madonna from the top spot on the 12″ Sales Chart, I was once again happy and shocked ha-ha. And yes…I did tell a few people to keep quiet in the future.”

How hard a job was it to get ’19’ released with your label and who in the end saw the light of today to go with it?

“Chrysalis were unsure about ’19’. They all said it would never get airplay and that no one wanted to hear about war! It was two people who thought the track could be huge, that was Ken Grunbaum who was Head of Promotion…and Simon Fuller. Simon asked if he could become my manager and I thought yeah why not. So he left Chrysalis and five weeks later we were on top of the world as ’19’ hit the top spot in 13 countries and became international hit of the year.”

For you, was it just a pop record or had you your own views on the war?

“I was quite taken aback at the fact the kids were so young (19) and I remember thinking how I would have felt being shoved into a jungle at that age to fight a war where you didn’t even see the enemy until it was too late. I was happy clubbing and doing all the things a young lad should be doing, I’m still amazed it did so well as a pop record, but then again, at least I had the guts to tell it like it was.”

It went to number one in 13 countries. Did life change overnight for you – did you have to move house or anything?

“Ha ha yes, I did move house. Things did get a bit weird – people knocking at your door at four in the morning and you don’t have a clue who they were, sometimes with a record in their hand saying ‘here Paul sign this for me please’. lol.”

What happened a couple of years ago with the new version, we expected big things from it with what is going on around the world?

“We re-released ’19’ a few years ago but unfortunately we got the timing very wrong. I had so much publicity to do on the week of release but it coincided with the General Election and no one would talk about it for almost 3 weeks. So all the TV and radio was dispersed over a five week period instead of one week. i.e. The One Show, London Tonight, Sky News etc. etc.”

You obviously recognised that the American market was for you with the success of ‘Rainforest and have sold millions of records with your Hardcastle and Jazzmasters projects. Have you ever had to do any promotion over the years over there…

“I have done a lot of promotion in America over the past 15 years, but lots of my fans always have said is that I don’t make albums with filler tracks and that they buy them without even hearing them because I have built up a trust with them. So now I don’t need to do that much promo which is great – wow, maybe I’m just getting lazy ha ha.”

What has been your proudest moment to date with your career in America?

“Well I have had a few! I still hold the record for longest No. 1 on the NAC chart (New Adult Contemporary) – it was ‘Walking To Freedom’ in 1995 and stayed at the top for 16 weeks. The album ‘Jazzmasters 2’ stayed in the Billboard Chart for over a year too.”

What would be in your all-time Smooth Jazz Top 5?

‘Dreamwalk’ Peter White
‘Mumba’ Richard Elliot
‘Brazilia’ Wayman Tisdale
‘Exotica’ Paul Taylor
‘Chasing The Sun’ Ryan Farish


This year saw you release the ‘Perceptions of Pacha’, an album for the most famous club in the world whilst your daughter Max Hardcastle is making a name for herself all around the world DJing and singing. How important has Ibiza been to you over the years and what did you think of Max’s choice of career?

“I think it’s great that I was asked to do an album for Pacha, it shuts up a few synical people who say I’m not able to make dance music anymore because I have been away from it for too long. Well there is the proof I can! The album has had great feedback and I may just do another one ha-ha! I think Maxine being a DJ and also a singer is great, it keeps her busy and she doesn’t have all her eggs in one basket.”



When was the last time you went to see her play, what do you think of her music, I know you still have your toe in the dance music water as the tunage on the Pacha album showed us…

“Last time I saw Maxine play was at Pacha in London. She plays more underground stuff, I like some of it and some I don’t. I  guess I’m a bit more commercial now, although I have done a few final ’19’ remixes which are not so commercial.”

How did the Pacha release come about?

“Pacha came about when Paul Jnr was playing sax at some of the clubs and bars in Ibiza, he met Steve Hulme who runs the label and he asked If I could get in touch with him, I did and also sent him a few tracks to listen to. He then asked if I could do a whole album as he loved what I had done , so I did and that’s ‘Perceptions of Pacha’.”

Which brings us to the new album, ’19 Below Zero’, which as the title suggests is quite chilled, or as your press people say, ‘a kaleidoscope double album of ethereal beats, hypnotic rhythms and sensuous soundscapes of warm electronic artistry’! Let’s begin with the mash up of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ and ’19’ – it was your father who put this idea into your head right?

“Yes it was my late Dad’s idea maybe 20 years ago, but I didn’t take any notice at the time. He said ‘Whats Going On’ and ’19’ would make a great mix, so after all that time I decided to give it a go, I’m glad I did – thanks Dad.”


‘Summer Love’ features the vocals of Max, we are no stranger to her voice due to her collaborations with Wes Clarke on several Hed Kandi compilations. Music must have been all around the house growing up and careers in music sort of inevitable for your children. I seem to remember you giving up on the saxophone once and one one of your son’s immediately picking it up…

“Yeah, I only bought the sax on the way home from a meeting as I had just been given the gig to do the score for The Spice Girls movie and it needed a small bit of sax. So I thought I’l play it myself! I had never touched a sax before but I had two weeks to do it and I managed to get what was needed from the sax, but then I thought if I learn this as well, I will just become a hermit and never see anyone else so I gave it to Paul Jnr. He’s now real good, he’s played on a few of my albums and on ‘Touch And Go’ which was a single that made it to No.1 on the contemporary Billboard Chart in America.”


The album also features a ‘morning mix’ of ’19’ by Radio 1/Bestival dude Rob Da Bank. How did that happen?

“I like the stuff Rob plays on his Radio One show and I thought it would be cool to have him do a ’19’ remix in his own style for me, he was excited to do it and I’m glad he did.”

The album features new and unreleased mixes of your best known material. What finished article are you especially proud of one there?

“I have to say the Marvin Gaye tracks. It took me a year to get permission to use Marvin’s voice and I’m glad I didn’t give up.”

It’s your birthday. Dead or alive, who are the five famous people you invite to dinner and who do you ask to sing you Happy Birthday?

“Dave Gilmour, Marvin Gaye, Ronald Isley, Natalie Cole, James Taylor – and Marvin should sing Happy Birthday.”

What song that is currently in the charts can’t you get out of your head?

“Centipede.”

And finally, what’s the next studio job in your diary that is seeking your attention?

“Hardcastle 7, but that’s almost finished. I have been very prolific over the last 18 months, but I’m not complaining ha-ha…”

Paul Hardcastle’s new album: ’19 Below Zero’ is released on October 15th via Universal.