Another old Kate Bush interview

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]

                          Kate's Fairy Tale

     <The following interview by Mary Ann Ellis appeared in "Record
Mirror" magazine in February 1978. It is one of the earliest pieces
ever written about Kate Bush. In it Kate makes several statements
which she will later amend or repudiate altogether, and she has not
yet trained herself to exclude all negative feelings and opinions from
her conversation. Edited by Andrew Marvick.>

     Little girl lost in the huge plush armchair, tiny and bright in
day-glo pink trousers, red socks, sky-high heels. A puckish,
attractive face peeps out from beneath masses of shaggy earth-red
hair.
     She's friendly, smiles a lot, even an occasional giggle. Drinks
copious amounts of tea and insists as she lights another extra-mild
that she's trying to give up smoking. Little girl expletives like
"amazing", "great" and "golly" punctuate her conversation.
     Just a little nervous, a shade hesitant. But then she is only
nineteen. This "she" is Kate Bush, singer/songwriter. She's just
released her first album containing thirteen self-penned songs
including her current hit single, the quavering, wavering "Wuthering
Heights".
     Although Kate has been developing a relationship with the piano
since she was a child, her musical talents were once channeled in
another direction.
     Just after she left school at the age of sixteen she went to see
Lindsay Kemp in a performance of the mime venue "Flowers".  "I
remember it so well. I thought that if one person could actually
produce the music themselves and give him- or herself physically at
the same time, then you'd get double energy coming from one person.
It could only be stronger, and I thought, 'Golly, that's what I want
to do.'"
     Kate trained in mime and modern dance with Lindsay for a short
period until he went off to Australia. Then she started going to dance
classes at The Dance Centre in London's Covent Garden.
     "I loved that," she says with real enthusiasm. "It's the only
place you can go and learn to dance withough qualifications, which I
didn't have. You pay by lesson, and even though I was sixteen and had
never danced before, I did make great progress."
     At the same time, back at the piano, Kate was still singing and
writing songs.
     "The next bit's real fairy tale stuff. One day, along comes this
friend of my brother's. He worked in the record business himself, and
thought he might be able to help me make some contacts. Well, he knew
Pink Floyd from Cambridge and he asked Dave Gilmour to hear me.
     "I was absolutely terrified at the prospect of meeting him, but
he was so sweet and kind, so human. Well, I did a few songs for him
and he decided that the best thing for me to do would be to go into a
studio and make a proper demonstration tape with arrangements and a
producer. Subsequently Dave put up the money for me to go into the
studios and cut three tracks, two of which are included on the album.
And it was that tape which got me the EMI contract."
     <If this is indeed all that Kate said, it's interesting that she
deliberately simplified the various stages that led to her signing
with EMI (see chronology).>
     She stops and gestures vaguely. Her eyes light up simultaneously
with a cigarette as another cup of tea arrives.
     "That was all two years ago now. Since then I've been singing,
playing and writing until we made the album last summer. Originally it
was to be released last autumn but it kept getting delayed. I'm glad
we waited till 1978, though. It kind of signifies it all starting with
the new year for me."
     That fascinating single; I tell her I like it a lot. She grins.
Apparently Dusty Springfield likes it a lot, too. Her grin widens into
disbelief. "Really? I'm glad. That's amazing." Miles of smile. She
twiddles nervously with one of her dangling silvery earrings and
produces another extra-mild.
     "When I first read "Wuthering Heights" I thought the story was so
strong. This young girl in an era when the female role was so
inferior, and she was coming out with this passionate, heavy stuff.
Great subject-matter for a song.
     "I loved writing it. It was a real challenge to precis the whole
mood of a book into such a short piece of prose. Also, when I was a
child I was always called Cathy, not Kate, and I just found myself
able to relate to her as a character. It's so important to put youself
in the role of the person in a song.  There's no half measures. When I
sing that song I am Cathy."
     Her face collapses back into smiles.
     "Gosh, I sound so intense. "Wuthering Heights" is so important to
me. It had to be the single. To me it was the only one. I had to fight
off a few other people's opinions, but in the end they agreed with me.
     "I was amazed at the response, though, truly overwhelmed."
     If you haven't heard the single yet, talk amongst yourselves for
a few minutes more. Kate's amazing vocals on both it and the album are
schizophrenic. A melange of low/high, deep/soft,
passionate/indifferent notes. Inevitably people will compare her to
other female vocalists such as Linda Lewis and Joan Armatrading, who
share similar extremes in their vocal ranges.
     "Yes, people keep saying this to me," says Kate thoughtfully.  "I
guess I can sing pretty high."
     "Wuthering Heights" apart, the majority of songs on the album can
be categorised as love songs. "But you're so young, dear." Not my
comment, but an attitude guaranteed to make Kate bristle.
     "I'm nineteen, but so what? I've had experiences, too. A lot of
my songs are about my own traumas. The best time for writing is when
you're going though a heavy time. You have an enormous amount of
energy. The best way to deal with it is not to bottle it up or take it
out on someone else, but to channel it into your writing.
     "You get ideas for songs from all sorts of situations. I just
start playing the piano and the chords start telling me something.
Lyrics for me just seem to go with the tune, very much hand in hand.
Some lyrics take a long time to come, others just come out like..."
She gestures wildly with her hands. "...like...diarrhoea."
     Being nineteen and attractive must make it harder for a woman to
succeed in rock'n'roll. By succeed I mean to be taken seriously and
not just be regarded as a sex object/symbol/body.
     "I want it to stand on the weight of my work, not what I look
like.  I realise people are going to capitalise on it. It annoys me,
though.  Why should people want to know about my sex life? It's
completely irrelevant to what I'm doing. I give them everything they
need to know about me in my songs, because they are personal songs.
     "Being regarded as a sex object just gets in the way most of the
time unless it's relevant to the role I'm playing in the song.  Guys
get it, of course, but only those that seem to ask for it. Girls seem
to get it whether they want to be regarded in that way or not. To
overplay it is wrong. It can't possibly last."
     Kate has just returned from recording a show in Germany.
     "A fascinating experience," she enthuses, tweaking an earring.
Nervous habits die hard. "The show was filmed in Cologne--a great
place. The actual studio was an old tram shed with an enormous stage.
I did two songs. One with my newly formed band and the other I mimed
to backing tapes. For "Wuthering Heights" we had backdrops which
helped to set the scene. All these black rolling hills with lightning
bolts painted in, and in the middle of it all this dirty great big
volcano."
     Volcano?
     "Yes," she giggles. "Still, they did their best. Obviously
they're not that familiar with the scenery on the Yorkshire moors."
     The extra-milds make another appearance. The teacup is drained.
Suddenly there's an explosion of music from the next room. We both
jump, then laugh. Then silence again.
     "It's a bit like home. There's always noise and things going on
in the next room all the time. My parents have been marvellous. They
haven't got too excited about my success, but they're very pleased for
me. You have to remember they've been around when I was up in my
little room screaming my head off and plonking away at the piano.
That seems such a long time ago now.
     "I'm really not sure how I'm going to develop from now, what
direction my writing will take."
     Any more songs based on books in the offing?
     "Do you know, it's never occurred to me. I'd like to write
another song connected to a book if the story was strong enough.  It's
not important, though. I just want to carry on exploring. I like to
write music about subjects I haven't touched before. That's my
favourite thing."