Watch English Teacher and Richard Hawley cover Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ at BBC 6 Music Festival 2025

nme.com:

English Teacher and Richard Hawley teamed up to cover Joy Division‘s ‘Transmission’. Check it out below.The moment happened at the BBC 6 Music Festival in Manchester last night (March 28), midway through English Teacher’s set.Vocalist Lily Fontaine welcomed the fellow Yorkshire musician to the stage, saying he’s “a pillar of the Sheffield music scene, and he has the best jacket collection I’ve ever seen.”Fontaine then suggested they do a cover, to which Hawley quipped, “Yeah, we’ll do a cover.

We have to crack on though ’cause I’ve got a bus to catch.”They then launched into Joy Division’s 1979 single, with the two sharing vocal duties.

Check it out below.English Teacher’s Doug Frost explained that the collaboration came about after Hawley gave him his number after they supported him on tour. “Whilst English Teacher were in Tokyo, I texted him to ask him to appear for our show, and then he called me whilst I was in bed, and he was in bed with his dogs,” Frost explained. “Then we chatted for about an hour!”Richard Hawley said: “The collaboration I thought came about because my children said, ‘Oh, there’s this really cool band who are much, much younger than you, that you could also be a father of, due to the age difference, and they really like what you do’.

But actually the truth is, Doug sent me a text [I said] ‘yeah alright’.Reflecting on the performance, Fontaine said: “I think it were fun, I were grinning at the end,” to which Hawley added: “Well, not to get too serious but they’re from Leeds, I’m from Sheffield and we’ve played a Manchester classic.