Go-Kart Mozart - Biography
By Eric Brightwell
Go-Kart Mozart is the current solo project of Lawrence (ex-Felt, ex-Denim). Though he lives a life of impoverished monk-like austerity and makes decidedly leftfield music, Lawrence still harbors the unlikely dream of pop stardom, taking inspiration from what he refers to as “the middle-of-the-road underground.”
Throughout the ‘80s, Lawrence, (born Lawrence Heyward in Water Orton, August 12, 1961) valiantly if vainly strove to achieve commercial success with his jangly indie outfit, Felt. In the ‘90s, he made another crack at the charts with the glam and novelty pop act, Denim. After Denim folded, longtime friend and Creation Records founder Alan McGee expressed his desire for Lawrence to stop writing songs like “Lorra Laughs, Cilla” (a track off Denim’s third, unreleased album about Cilla Black) and write an heartfelt opus along the lines of Lou Reed’s Berlin. Instead, (after briefly entertaining the idea of tapping into the vast fortunes in the American Christian rock scene) Lawrence took the alternately annoying and catchy direction of latter-day Denim even further as Go-Kart Mozart – the name coming from a line of Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light.”
Go-Kart Mozart debuted with Instant Wigwam and Igloo Mixture (1999-West Midlands Records). Although released on his own imprint, the album was ironically distributed by Cherry Red; ironic because on Denim’s debut Lawrence sang “Talent show in a village hall/Look out here comes Cherry Red/They'll sign you up for 50 quid/You'll be making records in a shed.” But that was when Lawrence’s dreams of stardom seemed most likely, with bands like Pulp and The Auteurs gaining success with related noises. However, after Denim’s final album, Denim Take Over, was permanently shelved, Lawrence’s attitude had probably changed and Go-Kart Mozart’s debut, although not recorded in a shed, was recorded at various home studios in London.
The results, though not commercially successful, were brilliant and varied. Between “Mandrax for Mink Cats” and “Fluff on the Mallow” (the cornily enjoyable bookends) the songs display a wide variety of references, tone and subject matter. “We’re Selfish and Lazy and Greedy” is as brilliant and direct as anything song to ever chart. “Here is a Song” is a Brechtian take on Elton John. On the delirious and demented electro-shanty, “Sailor Boy,” Lawrence cheerily sings of being sodomized by Jean Genet. He manages to contrast and combine the banality of soda slogans with direct comments about Rwandan genocide in “Drinking Um Bongo.” Frequent targets of Lawrence’s bile, Oasis, are again the subjects of his withering “Wear Your Foghat with Pride.” The only songs that are hard to listen to are two nearly identical, excruciating, atonal cod acid pieces, “City Synthesis” and “Plug-In City,” possibly oblique references to Alan McGee’s late ‘80s fixation on bad house music that tormented Lawrence at all hours when the two lived together.
With Go-Kart Mozart, Lawrence seemed to be experiencing an explosive period of creativity. The liner notes of the debut even included “lyrics for songs we didn't have time to record,” suggested musical and literary purchases and, most helpfully, suggested names for new bands: Cynthetic Ceiling, Taz Wrapper, Alf Tomkinson's Bycicle Party, KKN, Len Bright And His Folding Paper , Canada Briggs And Her Problems Down There, Rocket Cottage and Babi Yar. However, after this feverish burst, Lawrence’s ideas seem to have slowed down once again. He took six years to follow-up with Tearing Up the Album Charts (2005-West Midlands Records). Whilst it was never less-than listenable, much of the album lacked the freshness of the debut. “Glorious Chorus” was another simultaneously self-reflexive, silly and beautiful number in the vein of “Here is a Song.” “On a Building Site” is good for a while as is “Fuzzy Duck”. “England & Wales” sounds a bit like the superior Sique Sigue Sputnik inspired “Drinkin’ Um Bongo” from the debut. Most worryingly, the highlights, “City Centre” and “Transgressions,” are leftover tracks from Denim’s unreleased swan song. The infamous “Lorra Laughs, Cilla,” finally surfaces with a new title, “At The DDU.”
Although Lawrence had once claimed in an interview that he believes that his creativity comes from his very real hunger, by the release of his follow-up he admitted to being lonely and on the market for “an extremely rich girl.” In the place the debut’s extra material, by the follow-up Lawrence was advertising for musicians. “Whizz kid guitarist urgently required - London based - must be unemployed - bored - desperate to make your mark - unmarried no children - preferably trained in classic or folk - willing to work on other people's material - must be at loose end and able to rehearse constantly - play rhythm as good as Steve Jones and pick like Paul Simon - desire to escape the mundane - if you feel your life has come to a stand still [sic] and there doesn't seem any point any more then you could just be the one.”
The year after Tearing Up the Album Charts failed to live up to the promise of the title, UNCUT awarded Lawrence the title of “one of the stars fame forgot.” That August, Lawrence reportedly began working on another Go-Kart Mozart album. Although nothing has proven forthcoming, against all odds Lawrence’s profile has begun to slowly rise as of late. That autumn, Go-Kart Mozart played to a crowd in Gothenburg, Sweden who ably sang along to his lyrics. In 2007, Will Hodkinson’s book Song Man, about his attempts to write a perfect song, featured a chapter where he sought advice from Lawrence. In 2008, filmmaker Paul Kelly shot a documentary about him entitled, Lawrence of Belgravia. In 2009, Go-Kart Mozart opened for St. Etienne at the Bloomsbury Ballroom, and Lawrence was featured in Vice magazine. A few months after being tracked down by indie sensations Girls, Lawrence seemingly continues to accrue cultural capital amongst members of Generation Text. In March 2010, Go-Kart Mozart are scheduled to play their first show in Spain.
