Street Level Superstar, A Year With Lawrence by Will Hodgkinson

Street Level Superstar, A Year With Lawrence by Will Hodgkinson

Published by Nine Eight Books. Out Now

To write Street Level Superstar, A Year With Lawrence, author Will Hodgkinson spent a year with Lawrence, looking at the past and present of the eccentric cult figure.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

Although separated by many years, character traits, and layers of class, the above quote from Winston Churchill neatly sums up Lawrence, leader of Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart/Mozart Estate.

For the past five decades, Lawrence has been writing songs and hoping for the big breakthrough hit that would transform his fortune and his standing. The hit has, so far at least, eluded him. After reading Street Level Superstar, I am unsure whether his persistence is due to an admirable refusal to surrender or a stubborn streak that has cost Lawrence relationships, money and health.

Street Level Superstar, A Year With Lawrence is a deep insight into the psyche of one of Britain’s most eccentric frontmen. Author Will Hodgkinson spent a full year with Lawrence (no surname), time spent mostly walking the streets of London. These journeys were ostensibly for Lawrence to look for inspiration for his lyrics, but it is easy to suspect that they are also the only kind of entertainment Lawrence can a) afford and b) put up with.

It is an effective way of getting Lawrence to open up and the book is an engaging mixture of his comments on what they see around them on their walks and a chronological wander through the back alleys and cul-de-sacs of Lawrence’s career. As they walk, Hodgkinson teases out Lawrence’s story, their conversations reading as informal and chatty.

At times, Lawrence comes across as a much more affable Mark E Smith, in that he is never afraid to venture an odd opinion that can provide a unique take on the world around him. He is also remarkably candid, never seeming to care about image or credibility.

There is a tragicomic element to Lawrence’s musings. On his youthful reading of Tolkien, Lawrence says “Even then I was inclined towards something challenging, so I got these massive books. I didn’t actually read them of course. Couldn’t understand a word” and a small piece of our heart breaks even as a smile forms on our mouth.

This conflict of emotions is triggered again when Lawrence talks of his decision not to have any further relationships; “I like my own company. The sex part, you forget about it after a while. And I wasn’t, what do you call it, testosterone-heavy. I was a two-minute wonder. They’re not missing much.”

Lawrence is a mass of neuroses, phobias and obsessions and Hodgkinson documents these in Lawrence’s own words. His relationship with food is particularly fraught, seeming to exist solely on very milky tea and specific brands of liquorice. Initially, I wondered if there was a name for what Lawrence is going through, a syndrome or something, but as the book went on, I suspected that Lawrence probably suffers from multiple conditions, rather than just one definitive disorder.

His single-minded focus on having a hit has resulted in a man who lives alone in a rented council flat and whose life has a great pathos. His neuroses are so strong that he has forsworn relationships and struggles with food. The two together mean that Lawrence is more or less condemned to a life of poverty, loneliness and neglect.

There are however things to be admired from Lawrence’s refusal to call time on his search for fame. He reveals an impressive creative urge when he says “I am a songwriter, it is what I must do. However long I have to sit in this room with no money, no matter how many times the police break down my door to check I’m still alive, I cannot admit I’m not an artist.”

Glimpses into Lawrence’s mindset are offered throughout the book, such as when he relates to a character in Hunger by Knut Hamsen, saying “he’s an artist. He’d rather starve to death than do something as banal as get a job.” However, it is not possible to come to the end of Street Level Superstar without feeling affection for its subject.

Lawrence is equal parts pitiable and admirable. He is articulate and open about his life, which makes him the perfect subject for a book such as this, where he has the chance to talk freely with a little direction from Hodgkinson. There are plenty of people who would not benefit from this approach, people who would not come across well when their rambling discourse was noted down over the course of many months, but Lawrence is funny, self-deprecating and open enough to be likeable where others could be grating.

Hodgkinson also speaks to other key players in Lawrence’s life, such as band members and ex-girlfriends. Perhaps the most significant relationship was with Michaela, who noticed a streak of self-sabotage in Lawrence, possibly stopping himself from achieving success in case he was disappointed by it, as happened with his relationships. As a result of Lawrence’s refusal to play live or promote his records Michaela describes him as being “so self limiting that the only person who stopped him was himself”, adding that “he wanted something so much that he destroyed his life over it, while at the same time ensuring he could never actually get what he thought he wanted.”

While there may not have been many high points in Lawrence’s life, low points occur all too often. Lawrence becomes homeless, admitted to a psychiatric initiation and addicted to heroin, a subject he seems to expand on the least. Hodgkinson is sensitive enough not to press on the points too much, his admiration for his subject is evident throughout Street Level Superstar.

Street Level Superstar has a happy ending of sorts. One thread that runs through the book is searching for a suitable venue to display a sculpture of Lawrence’s head. Eventually, after many promising leads fizzle out or are abandoned, the head is displayed. A crowd turn out for the unveiling, including Lawrence’s peers such as Pete Astor, Bobby Gillespie and Miki Berenyi, along with others who have fallen into Lawrence’s orbit.

Hodgkinson realises that “for all his claims of being a lonely guy, these people were his friends…who liked him, perhaps even loved him.”

On the strength of Street Level Superstar, they won’t be the only people who feel like that about him.

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Street Level Superstar can be bought here. 

Words by Banjo, you can find his Louder Than War archive here