Richard Dawson – The Glass Trunk

We first saw Richard Dawson perform at Tusk Festival in Newcastle. He was also the compere there. He got quite wasted the night before and so when he was introducing people, he was just this absolute comic genius that wasn't quite together, and that was really endearing. But then he played a set, and similarly to Khyam, he just completely captured everyone's hearts. It was such a raw, emotional set, when he opens his mouth, he opens his heart. I've never heard anyone performing that way while also being able to be this comic genius in between songs.

We invited him then to come and play at Supersonic in 2012. That was the first biggish thing that he'd ever performed at, and he really thanked us for giving him that opportunity. But he stole everyone's hearts when he performed because it was before he had the band. It was very stripped back, just him and his guitar and his voice. He's quite a nervous person so to be on stage in front of a much bigger audience than you're used to and you've got nothing to hide behind, it's a really brave thing to do. People were crying in the audience when they heard him perform.

He also played one of our Supersonic Kids’ gigs. He said that was one of the most terrifying musical experiences of his life. Performing to 200 kids. He was singing ‘Poor Old Horse’, which is a song about a horse that's taken to the knackers yard and all these kids were singing back to him, “poor old horse”. The kids absolutely loved it, but it was just this surreal moment of kids singing about a horse that's been taken off to slaughter with happy little Saturday faces.

Richard has been one of our guest curators. He curated The Delight Is Right for us for Supersonic and then this year he'll be performing. He's made a new record with the Finnish band Circle who he was a big fan of, so they've created a relationship and are doing this collaborative project. We're really excited to have them come and play at Supersonic this year.