Misk.; and the Convention Interview, Conclusion

[IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu]

>I would expect these comments from Ameri-phobes like IED or people who
>don't know anything about music like Mike Krantz, but not an SPK
>band member. If I had done the interview I would not have let those
>remarks limp past unchallenged. Kinda makes you want to puke, doesn't it?
>
>-- Bill

Hey, Bill, why pick on IED again? He wouldn't have made
ANY of those remarks of SPK's. And why so surprised that
they sound like jerks? "Machine Age Voodoo" gave evidence
of their collective intelligence a long time ago, and no
amount of subsequent improvement could erase the fundamental
stupidity they displayed on that record.

>1) There is no valid industrial music made anymore.

What the hell is "valid", anyway? Why would you think IED would
say such a thing?

>2) The most relevant industrial music made recently is Janet Jackson's "Nasty"

Well, it may not be "industrial", but it does have a good rhythm and
sound.

>3) Guitars are primitive and out-of-date and you can't do anything
>interesting with them.

IED would NEVER say such a thing. The only thing that makes ANY
medium -- whether visual or musical -- obsolete is the person
using it. Kate Bush could probably make an interesting recording
using nothing but one of those old late-seventies "syn-drums" that
used to clutter up disco records like Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell".

Now it's KT interview time again, folks!

Incidentally, IED omitted a small part of the original
Convention interview in part 2, and he'll try
to bring it to you in a future posting. For the present,
however, let's finish up with the last section, so we can
get on to even more interesting and recent interviews asap.

           The Convention Interview, Part Four (conclusion)

M: Is this something you want to get more into, videos?

KT: Absolutely. I'm starting to get uncomfortable with the word
'video' now, in that I feel that film is actually the medium that
really attracts me, and video was something that was great, but
really convenient rather than ideal, and I hope very much to only
work in film in the future.

M: You're a very successful singer-songwriter, someone who has been
away from the business for three years. You then come back and
have had a number one album. Then again can I ask you how you react
to that, with people saying, "Whatever happened to Kate Bush?"?
Is that a bonus?

KT: Yeah, it's really good, isn't it! It's great!

M: Was it unexpected?

KT: Yes, a lovely surprise, and what's really good is that I felt
that what really does matter to people is good music, music that has
thought and care put into it and not neccessarily an image or a
fashion -- the so-called 'fickle public'. I would very much like to
think that if you want to put a lot of work into something and mean
it, that's what people are attracted to, not the image and all that
stuff that is superfluous to the work.

M: What about the acting side? Is it something you'd like to get into?

KT: Funnily enough, it's not, really. Until quite recently it's not
something I ever really desired. There's no doubt that if I was
offered a part by a director who I admired, that I'm sure I'd do it,
but it doesn't actually interest me in terms of giving up music to
take up a career in acting. It doesn't attract me at all, but
would certainly do if it was one of my favourite directors -- and if
Donald Sutherland was in it!

M: What sort of role would you like to play if the offer was made?

KT: No idea. I certainly wouldn't want to play the part of a rock
singer. It would have to be to do it for the challenge of the acting.
If the part was strong and I felt I could convey it well, then
I certainly would be up for trying it. It's fascinating, the whole
process of making films, of suddenly showing feelings that you
hadn't been feeling, say, five minutes before. The whole process is
extraordinary, fascinating.

M: Can I just take you back to the song "Cloudbusting"? Something
that really impressed me with the song, and the way in which it was
tied in with the video was the rhythm track. It always seemed to
fit so beautifully. When you were planning the video was it something
you had in mind?

KT: One thing that was interesting was that we had so much to say
in the story visually that we extended the audio track to allow a
little more room for things to be said; I think that the story
is very strong. And in a way it's just creating images both visually
and audially that say the same thing. And I felt we did.

M: You say that you would like to get more into video  -- film --
short films. In what role? Would you like to direct them, or take
part in them?

KT: I've ABSOLUTELY no idea, and I do sometimes have to sit and
listen to all those voices in me that seem to want to do too many
different things sometimes. I mean I really do like the idea of
directing, but I don't think it's practical for me to direct AND
be IN something. When I'm performing visually I very much would like
to work with the director, because I think it's too difficult to
do it all; but the idea of directing is actually a little too far
in the future, but is perhaps more attractive than actually performing
in front of the camera.

<N.B.: Kate said this in November, 1985. Within the following twelve
months she had already directed AND performed in three more promotional
films of her own; it's interesting to see the way she first describes
taking that next step towards total artistic control -- as something
that would be too difficult, when in fact, it must have been something
that she was seriously considering at the time.>

M: I've heard that one of your songs, "Running Up That Hill", is
doing really well in the States at the moment. Does this mean
that Kate Bush is off to America to help push it along?

KT: Yes, it could mean that. <Again, this is a deliberately
un-revealing answer. Kate left for America within one week after
making this interview.> If it's doing well, it's a strong
possibility.

M: The other thing I must ask you about is touring. The last tour
was tremendous. There again, all your own ideas, and the stage
presence was fantastic, and I;m sure one other thing all you fans
must be asking is when are you going to do another one?

KT: This point in time is really a DECISION as to what to do next,
whether it's a tour or what I'd really like to do next, if I could,
which is to put the whole of The Ninth Wave onto film <scratched>,
but I don't know how feasible or practical that is, with timings
and whatever. So at the BEGINNING of next year, I first have to
decide what comes next, but I don't think there's time for both.

M: How far have you got in putting The Ninth Wave into film form?

KT: Not very far, because since the album was finished there's
just been so much work surrounding the singles that came out,
the videos and the promotion, that I've really had no serious
time to think about it.

M: But a tour is on the cards?

KT: Well, I wouldn't say that it was on the cards, no. I would just
say that it is a possibility, and something I would still very
much like to do, but whether at this point in time, I can't say.

M: One final thing. I notice on the album there's a gentleman called
John Carder Bush -- your brother? -- on "Jig of Life", which has a very
Irish feel about it. It really stands out, for me, from the rest of
the album, because of the rhythm track and the feel. Take me through
that song.

KT: That was very much inspired by Paddy Bush, my other brother, who
had found this piece of music and said, "You've just got to listen
to this, it's brilliant and you'll love it!" He played it to me,
and instantly I knew I wanted to use it. It was then a matter of
working out a song around the format. Paddy was really the initial
inspiration. The song's about the future person visiting the person
who's in the water at the moment, and saying "Look, don't drown,
don't die, because if you do I'm not going to be able to live my
part of your life. I'm not going to be able to have the kids you're
going to have in ten years' time. I'm not going to be able to move
to that nice little place by the sea. So don't; live, you've got to
stay above. If not for me, then at least for yourself or your
children that are to come." I suppose the suggestion of the fiddle
as the Devil's music is not unintended: the idea of a spirit
being conjured from the future; that uncanny, uncomfortable
feeling of two times meeting. And it's very much meant to be
the first delivery of hope on that side of the album. There
have been some very sad, disturbing experiences for the person
up to this point, and although it's hardly NOT disturbing, it's
meant to be a comfort: it's the future coming to the
rescue of the present.

M: On that note, Kate, thank you very much indeed.