Another old Kate Bush interview

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick
 Subject: Another old Kate Bush interview

     <This interview was conducted by Deanne Pearson in
May 1980 for _Smash_Hits_, which was then what it is now--
a rather silly fan-magazine directed at children of about
thirteen to seventeen. The tone of the interview reflects
this, and may not be a very accurate record of the actual
conversation. There are still some points of interest, however.>

                       _The_Me_Inside_

           Kate Bush lets Deanne Pearson in on her secrets.

     Is that really Kate Bush walking across the cafeteria of
EMI's Abbey Road Studios? I have to look twice to make sure.
     She's much smaller than I imagined, and dressed casually
in jeans, colourful blouse and cardigan. Wearing little make-up,
she looks about fourteen years old but she moves with all the
grace and confidence of a trained dancer and experienced
performer--which of course she is.
     Smiling warmly, she sits down with an orange juice
and lemonade. She rarely drinks alcohol, she tells me,
and thinks most people who do just lack confidence. I put down
my lager and order a coke.
     The Abbey Road Studios are famous in connection with the
Beatles, in particular their _Abbey_Road_
album. In the foyer a large picture of Paul McCartney welcomes
visitors. Next to it, and just as prominent, is a picture of
Kate Bush.
     The studios are like a second home to Kate at the moment.
She's been working virtually non-stop here for the last few
months--apart from some session work with Peter Gabriel
and Roy Harper (for his album _The_Unknown_Soldier_).
     Kate is working on her third album, which is now scheduled
for end-of-June release. When asked about it, however, she is
understandably hesitant.
     "It's difficult to talk about the album without you actually
hearing it," she explains, in a voice so quiet I worry the tape
recorder won't pick it up. "I suppose it's more like the first
album, _The_Kick_Inside_, though, than the second, _Lionheart_,
in that the songs are telling stories.
     "I like to see things with a positive direction, because
it makes it so much easier to communicate with the audience
or listener. When you see people actually listening to the
songs and getting into them, it makes you realise how important
it is that the songs should actually be saying something."
     The lyrics on her two previous albums are mainly
concerned with love, sex and relationships. Simple and common
subject matter, I suggest, safe and uncontroversial.
<Incest not controversial? Explicit descriptions of coitus not
controversial? OK...>
     Kate rightly points out, however, that her lyrics do
go into the psychology of relationships, and analyse what
lies under that superficial banner of "love", which--no matter
how common a theme--is still very important to a lot of people.
     Her new album, however, is exploring different avenues.
     "There are a lot of different songs," she says. "There's
no specific theme, but they're saying a lot about freedom,
which is very important to me." Which is why Kate is also
producing the album herself this time, helped by John Kelly,
who produced _The_Kick_Inside_ and _Lionheart_. <False. Andrew
Powell produced _The_Kick_Insied_, and Kelly was assisted
by Kate on the production of _Lionheart_.>
     "It means I have more control over my album, which is
going to make it more rounded, more complete--more me, I hope."
     Her latest, fifth, single is very different from anything
Kate has done before, and different from anything on the album,
she says. _Breathing_ is a dramatic statement about the very real
dangers of a possible nuclear disaster in our world.
     "It's about a baby still in the mother's womb, at a
time of nuclear fallout, but it's more of a spiritual being,"
Kate explains, gesticulating with her hands, drawing a picture
in the air to demonstrate.
     "It has all its senses: sight, smell, touch, taste and
hearing; and it knows what is going on outside the mother's
womb. And yet it wants desperately to carry on living, as we
all do, of course.
     "Nuclear fallout is something we're all aware of, and
worried about happening in our lives, and it's something we
should all take time to think about. We're all innocent, none
of us deserves to be blown up."
     The hopelessness and pointlessness of nuclear fallout is
conveyed also in the haunting, ominous melody which swirls
forlornly around Kate's familiar crying vocals. The lyrics
are short but to the point, while in the background an
officious-sounding broadcast instructs its nation what to do.
     It seems strange to hear Kate singing about politics,
something I associate more with fighting, militant bands
such as the Clash and the Stranglers.
     Kate is so slight and demure, an extremely artistic
person whose aims seem more concerned with entertaining
people by taking them away from the outside world and its
problems, even if only for an hour or two.
     Hers seems a comfortable, almost fairytale success story.
Discovered by EMI Records at the age of sixteen, she was
sponsored for a couple of years, writing, during which time
she continued learning to dance, perform and project herself.
     "I think from the outside it does look as if it's been very
easy for me--if you believe what the media say. But in fact
it hasn't. Everyone thinks--knows, because it's true--that you
need that lucky break, but what really counts is the determination
that has to be there in the beginning.
     "Basically it all comes down to personality. You have to be very
strong to get where you want in this business. I mean, some people
have been going ages, like Elkie Brooks. She's amazing (n.b.: the
only time in an hour's conversation that Kate uses that word).
     "Elkie's been knocked down so many times, and yet she always
gets up and fights back. It's the same with me. Because I
want to keep going, I can. I don't deny that I've been lucky, though."
     The determination, just as important as the talent, has
always been there, probably even before Kate learnt to play
the piano at the age of eight.
     "Instead of going out to play with other children I used to
play the piano--it was my way of talking, of expressing myself."
     Kate admits she was a fairly solitary child who didn't
have many friends, and I wonder if she still is a bit of a loner.
It seems rather an odd question when picturing the self-assured
performer onstage--but what about offstage, away from it all?
Is she much of a socialite?
     "No, I don't go to parties much. The last one must have
been, ooh, Christmas, I suppose. When I get home I tend to
sleep--especially at the moment, because I've been working too
hard; or I clean up--wash-up and hoover. I find that very therapeutic.
When I've got a lot on my mind I like to get away to
something totally non-taxing.
     "I see friends whenever possible, too, and watch television,
because that's something you can just switch off when you've had
enough."
     She laughs at having to relate such run-of-the-mill
things to prove she's "normal".
     "I'm not a star," she says adamantly. "My name is, but
not me. I'm still just me."
     Kate has been criticised for being too pretentious onstage--for
not being herself. Patiently she explains what she thinks the
critics have missed.
     "When I am onstage, I'm performing, yes, and yes, I'm
projecting. And to do these things well, I have to be big--"
(she stretches her small, slender frame upright to demonstrate)
"--and bold, and full of confidence. And I am, but--" (and
she plumps down in her seat again), "--it's still little me inside."
     Her performance, she says, is not contrived, it's how
how she feels at the time.
     "I mean, you can't go onstage and simper, and be timid and
shy," she continues. "You've got to be big and strong, and
give your audience everything you've got; reveal your emotions:
be romantic, transport them into another world, so they're in
tune with you.
     "That requires an awful lot of hard work, and an
_almost_ calculated force, I suppose, in that you know what
you're doing. But it does come naturally.
     "Bands that do nothing, that just go out and perform their
basic function, play their latest album, or sing it, or whatever,
and then just walk off, are boring. You have to keep your
audience's attention all the way, to be a success."
     Which is why Kate Bush is a success. Her onstage performance
is an extension of her songs. Through her movements she expresses
the mood of her songs. They can be fast and lively, or angry,
perhaps slow and sad, or maybe romantic.
     Because she is so involved, her audience become involved and
her show becomes an art form in itself. A logical extension to this,
Kate feels, would be to make a concept album and a show to go
with it, so the whole thing becomes a concept in one.
     But that's very much in the future at the moment. <It's
_still_ very much in the future.> As we walk out of the studios
after the interview, she blinks in the sunlight and looks round
in mock amazement at what is left of the day. Working in the studios
till two or three most mornings has been going on a bit too long,
she feels.
     The first think Kate Bush would like to do after completing
the album is take a holiday.

-- transcribed by Andrew Marvick