by JOHNSON CUMMINS

When Hugh Cornwell left the stage after a sold-out Stranglers show in London in 1990, it concluded his last performance with the band he led for 17 years. Talking to Cornwell over the phone from his home in the U.K., it’s hard to connect his well-mannered voice with the gruff, instantly recognizable vocals that etched out classics like “Golden Brown,” “Peaches,” “Skin Deep” and “Nice and Sleazy.”

Cornwell seems quite comfortable with his past and, although never taking a nostalgic slant, he has detailed his Stranglers years in the autobiographical book A Multitude of Sins, and the inspiration behind Stranglers lyrics with another recent book, Stranglers: Song by Song. Cornwell has even stuffed half his set list with reworked versions of the Stranglers’ staples.

“I think those songs have really stood the test of time and I feel proud to play them,” says Cornwell. “I’m playing in a trio now, so that gives us freedom to change the old Stranglers songs a little bit with new arrangements. They really take on new life. I start off with a few Stranglers songs, and then a couple of mine, and about halfway through the show, most people can’t tell the difference.”

Though Cornwell is enjoying a successful solo career, it doesn’t seem that interest in his previous band and their glory years is waning. “Golden Brown” was voted one of the 25 best Brit songs of all time, “Peaches” has appeared in the film Snatch and a Nike commercial, and critics continue to hail the Stranglers as one of the most important bands of our time. Aside from a few revisionist music scribes merely brushing them off as a “punk band,” the Stranglers proved to be a lot more. Sure, they had the attitude and they were at the right place at the right time, but instead of aping the Ramones like the Clash and the Sex Pistols, they were burying themselves in Love’s complex album Forever Changes. (Incidentally, the Stranglers were the support act on the Ramones’ legendary first U.K. visit).

Unfortunately, the current version of the Stranglers, sans Cornwell, seems to just tarnish the past, but Cornwell insists that he wishes them nothing but luck. “I have no problems with them keeping the name—when I left the band, I really didn’t want it. They are really hard workers and I respect that. I just wish they would advertize that I am not in the band anymore so people don’t expect the old band, because it’s not.”

While hardly riding the coattails of his past success, Cornwell maintains certain Stranglers connections, having chosen to work again with the mixer of “Golden Brown,” legendary producer Tony Visconti, on his new record Beyond Elysian Fields.

“I had such a good time doing that record, and Tony really brings out the best in me. It was like no time had passed and we just picked up from where we left off. I am living with so much creative freedom right now and you can really hear that on the new record.”

With the Novaks and Rob Reynolds at Café Campus on Wednesday, June 15, 8 p.m., $16.50

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