We all have something to add to the backstory of the song …
Hallam Lewis: “The song ‘Ho Ho Hum’ 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.
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, as my wife had to regularly apply for temporary visas in order to reside with me there. 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. Nevertheless, 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’.
In retrospect, I had also read the excellent book ‘What is the What’ by Dave Eggars some years earlier, which tells the story of young people forced by war to leave their village in Sudan and walk for hundreds of miles, only to end up waiting hopelessly in limbo in refugee camps. The book has a warmly compassionate and uplifting side, but also conveys the rootlessness and ‘lostness’ inherent in any kind of migration. I have only realised recently that I was subconsciously drawing on this when I wrote the song.
I also added an extra ‘Ho’ to the title, when the line ‘hoping for room at the inn’ came to me, and I thought we could add in a little aside about the song being a Christmas one.
I have loved working with the band on the new material, and I’m really very happy with the way the song and the recording has continued to evolve and develop to this point. I think it’s sounding great, and I really hope that others will find it as engaging and enjoyable to listen to as I do.”
Matt Higgins: “Too often countries see refugees as a ‘problem’. It’s about time we adopted a bit more empathy and realise that a multi-cultural society enriches us all. I think in the West we sometimes don’t 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. Let’s all just be a bit kinder to each other. Is that so much to ask?”
Lou Duffy-Howard: “The difficulties of asylum seekers and refugees in humanitarian crisis is shocking, especially brought to light in the recent city riots.
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. We met and played music together with Kurdish, Afgan, Syrian and African musicians who had recently 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 that music was the key to breaking language and culture barriers, and feeling welcome in a new land.”
John Rowley: “We live in turbulent and violent times. War, climate change, natural disasters and religious and gender persecution affect the lives of millions of people across the globe. This is the time of the biggest mass movement of people in history. At least 117 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes. Among them are nearly 43 million refugees, around 40 per cent of whom are under the age of 18.
Now more than ever seemed like a good time for Red Guitars to put out their first new material in 40 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.
The song ‘Ho Ho Hum’ is a gift to all our many fans and you can download it for free from our Bandcamp site. However, we ask that you donate a sum of money, no matter how small, to the Refugee Council or Breaking Barriers charities. While the Refugee Council provides direct support and advice on a range of services to asylum seekers and refugees who have fled conflict, violence and persecution in order to rebuild their lives here in the UK, Breaking Barriers is a specialist refugee employment charity which works to find suitable and meaningful work for refugees 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.”
