Hit The North: Hot Press meets Geoff Hatt

Marriage has inspired a name change for Geoff Hatt (nee Gatt) and, if his new album It’s All Going On is anything to go by, a predictably sunny turn, too, in his song-writing.

One of our most distinctive, personable and unpredictable performers, the attentions and customs of the marketplace seem to drift past him like pollen; while the entire world of late has, ironically (and much to Geoff’s amusement), somehow come round to dressing exactly like him. Every record sees him work up a blend of psychedelic pop, pastoral folk and music hall sing-alongs; but every record, too, reveals different facets of his personality.
Domesticity gets a raw deal in rock and roll, but Geoff doesn’t let that bother him. This is a record about lucking out in love and knowing when to appreciate your good fortune.
Recording as Escape Act, Chris Heaney’s craft is — in common with Geoff and most of our best song-writers at the moment — fitted in around the demands of a typically hectic life. All that urgency, though, makes for the type of brilliant pop songs that are splitting at the seams with ideas.
His latest album, Post Adventure on The Moon, is so sharp, smart and endlessly tuneful it could almost be the best local collection of the year.
For someone who has been a frontline combatant for over a decade and a half there is little evidence of shaky morale. If anything, he sounds re-energised and eager for another run over the top.
Media and Arts organisation Northern Visions have been building an incredible archive of interviews, documentaries and live performances (including Geoff and Escape Act) for more than 20 years. On top of that, they’ve also been an invaluable source of training for many of the technical talent who have emerged from the North recently to make careers in TV and Film. NvTv — their broadcasting offshoot — has been operating since 2002 and since September it has been available across Greater Belfast on Freeview. And what a treat it is to suddenly have many of the best of these programmes playing between six and 10pm. I’m sure that when the tender for this slot was first announced ‘community-based programming’ was a recurring motif. So, how fantastic to find that no shit, seriously kid-you-not, NvTv actually takes what could have been a fairly dispiriting remit and uses it (mostly) to broadcast shows and stories that expand our understanding of Belfast and the people who have lived and (for whatever reason) continue to live there. The station’s log of live sessions (with what seems like every significant Northern musician since the turn of the millennium) is hugely impressive, while the ‘Our Generation’ shows — which set out to document the reminiscences of people from throughout the city who, in ways largely ignored by mainstream sources, attempted to introduce new ideas to the city — are justification enough for the channel’s existence.
Northern Vision? You maybe not realise it, but there’s a bit of it about at the moment.