Interview: Emmerdale Star Jeff Hordley: ‘If I Wasn’t an Actor I’d Loved To Have Done Something With Music’


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Manchester born music fan Jeff Hordley. best known as Emmerdale bad boy Cain Dingle, took some time out lately to chat to Live4ever about which music and bands have inspired him through the years. From checking out his Dad’s record collection as a kid to growing a ‘Mozzer’ haircut, Jeff bore witness to the fledgling careers of future stars such as the Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses, and even turned his hand to DJing around Manchester clubs before his acting career took off.

Really pleased to have you in Jeff to talk about your favorite music for Live4ever. How big has music been in your life?

Definitely my first passion, if I wasn’t an actor I would’ve loved to have been doing something with music.

Was music on the cards then as a career?

No not really, but I hung out with a group of mates in my teens sharing a house and they were in a band so I was always around that scene and music was on all the time.

Born in 1970, Crumpsal, Manchester, you would have been about 18 when, let’s call it the ‘Madchester’ scene, blew up. Were you one of them down the Hacienda every Saturday night picking up on the new vibe in town?

I did yeah. I was frequenting the Hacienda around then and even remember seeing the Stone Roses before the album went out, and they had that cult following in Manchester. It was at Legends in Warrington and it was before they’d actually played the Hac, you know quite early on when they’d released ‘Elephant Stone’ before the album had come out.

I remember Ian Brown just leaning over the small stage staring at people, leering at them all very monkey like even then, with Reni, Squire and Mani all there playing away and putting on a top show, really were good times.
I also recall seeing James as a three-piece at the Astoria when I was 18, and remember this mad funky band on stage supporting them with a mad looking dancer and it turned out to be Bez. It was when the Mondays were playing their first album, ‘Squirrel & G Man 24 Hour Party People…’ and it was like “what the **** is this?” you know, great night. So I do remember it all and I’m glad I was there to see it all at its birth rather than in its ascent.



What was your route to finding what you liked music wise?

My Dad influenced me massively when I was growing up. He had a great record collection like The Beach Boys and The Beatles, and stuff like Blondie.
Around 1995- 2003 I used to DJ at the South Club in Manchester with Phil Beckett and we had some great nights there with people like John Peel. The music we played there was so eclectic; loads of reggae and it all comes back to being younger you know, hearing tunes on the radio and liking them but not really knowing why, and years later still feeling the same about them. like Althea & Donna ‘Uptown Top Ranking’, songs that stay with you from a kid and I liked it then and I like it now.

Did you try and look like any of your musical heroes as a teen?

Er, well not really, though I did have a Morrissey haircut but it didn’t suit my head, so that lasted about 6 months. But I used to have my hair pretty long most of the time, you know the same thing the Roses would have, a bit like the San Francisco hairdos those 60s bands had, that type of thing.

You mention playing South and DJing on a regular basis, so was it ever an option rather earning money acting?

Actually there was a time when I’d graduated from Drama school in Manchester in 1996 where I’d done three years and in your early years as an actor you really need to have a second income, a second way of earning because jobs don’t just flow in. It’s a very tough profession so I was playing every weekend and the phone was ringing probably a little bit more for DJing work than acting.

And what was your bag, what did you play?

All sorts; 60s, Garage music, a bit of reggae, a bit of Northern Soul, plus some funk in there as well, and an overall Manchester influence, as the city is a massive melting pot of great music which I’ve always loved. That’s what South, or rather the Rock & Roll Bar, was all about then, just playing all the great music & tunes.

Earlier this year, in an interview with Nicky Evans for Live4ever, your friend and fellow actor, cited you as one of his sources for new music, so are you always on the look out for new tunes and bands?

Constantly. there’s a brilliant venue in Leeds called the Brudenell Social Club and I’m there a lot watching up-and-coming bands, and a lot of US bands as well. I like it and find it’s not the venue that looks to those new fangled NME bands, more a connoisseur taste in music and less industry driven. Some great gigs coming up like The Pretty Things which will be great so its a good mix of old & new.

There’s also couple of people at work, not actors but behind set like in the wardrobe department, who are good for turning me on to new sounds and bands. The music press, like Uncut and Mojo as well – see what they’re recommending, and of course the record shops and having a good browse through finding bands and artists you’ve never heard before.

Aren’t you friends with certain artists and bands, Mani is a friend isn’t he?

Yes I am, from the days of Manchester in the early 90s and places like the Hacienda. In fact I was over in Manchester a few weeks ago and saw a band called Little Barrie and Mani was at the gig as the guitarist in Little Barrie is the same guitarist as in Primal Scream. The same with the Primal Scream tour of ‘Screamadelica’, when they came to Leeds to play I went to the gig because he sorted a few tickets out and it was an amazing night. Mani is just a guy I’ve known through the years because of music and the scene you know, really great guy.

…and how was that Scream gig?

Amazing, really was, sounded so fresh yet took you back as well, top night.

You’ve just mentioned a couple of gigs but any other stand out shows you’ve seen lately?

The Little Barrie gig was great and I’ll tell you who I saw not long back – John Grant, who was absolutely fantastic. I saw him in a church in Leeds and his album was one of the most listened to albums of mine last year and I really like that folky confessional type stuff.

One gig I have to mention is The Flaming Lips show I went to not long back which was a fantastic show. Wayne Coyne crowd surfing in a big plastic ball with masses of balloons being dropped all over the crowd while they go through their set, visually fantastic and just an amazing gig.

If I could ask you as a music lover, what annoys you about the industry today?

You know what, I’d say it’s that pop world mentality. Like at the moment the thing is folky bands, which is all good, but after a while the industry sort of has a conveyor belt of these acts coming out at a rate, just obviously manufactured and quite annoying, the same with Pop Idol and so on, got to say I’m not a fan of any of it to be honest.

I recall a story about Ronnie O’Sullivan being mistaken for Liam Gallagher and being asked for an autograph – I think you’ve got the look of a guy in a band, has that ever happened to you?

Er no, thing is I’ve had my hair cut now, though I did have that Manchester hairdo for a bit. I had it shaved off because I came back to the Farm with my character slightly changed, and so did the hair. Short back and sides for me all the way now because I recently had it cut for a part I played in a play of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, but I’m happy with it shorter now, I can always grow it when I’m older, go for one of them ageing hippie looks.

(Carl Stanley)


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