-- Shaheem Reid
For a sensitive singer/songwriter, Ed Harcourt sure talks trash.
"I f---ing hate boy bands, and I f---ing hate n·metal," Harcourt recently huffed.
He may not come off like your typical British balladeer, but 24-year-old Harcourt -- fresh from a strong showing at last month's South by Southwest music conference ? still boasts some characteristics of your everyday introspective troubadour.
"I'm earnest and I'm sensitive," Harcourt insisted. "What I don't like is people implying that there's only one side."
Harcourt grew up in the remote English village of Lewes, known chiefly for its annual Guy Fawkes Day gathering at which townspeople congregate to burn effigies of Pope Paul V and other historical figures. Harcourt eventually left the nest and formed the pop-punk outfit Snug. "It was amazing," Harcourt said. "We had such good fun, but I was writing songs that were very different and weren't really working out."
The group split, and Harcourt -- struggling to pay the bills as a solo act -- took a variety of odd jobs, including prep work in an upscale French restaurant. His time away from the kitchen was spent at home, writing -- a lot. Harcourt emerged with close to 400 songs, prompting his girlfriend to push him into industry waters.
"She was like, 'You've got all these songs. Why don't you get a manager and release them?' " Harcourt recalled. "I was like, 'Well, I don't really care anymore,' because I was jaded."
Jaded no longer, Harcourt signed with Capitol Records two years ago and finally saw his major label debut, Here Be Monsters, hit the U.S. last month. "It's the Beatles meets Tom Waits, I guess. That's what a lot of people say."
Harcourt's album has been in stores in the U.K. since last summer, giving the Englishman plenty of time to get used to at least a small amount of notoriety.
"The first time I heard a song [of mine] on the radio, it was just a surreal moment," Harcourt said. "But now I'm just used to it. I fit into the shoes of a rock 'n' roll star, you know."
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