The _Pop_Star_ interview

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu]

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: The _Pop_Star_ interview

                            The _Pop_Star_ interview

     <This interview was published anonymously in _Pop_Star_
magazine, May 26, 1979. The author's hastily considered opinions
are matched by awkward, ungrammatical writing. Edited (insofar as this
was possible) by Andrew Marvick.>

                               _Fangs_a_Lot_Kate_!

                      Can you see Ms. Bush as a vampire?
                               No neither can she

     It ain't rock'n'roll. And if you've seen Kate Bush
on her sell-out British tour you'll know why. Live, she is about
theatre and dance. And for a theatre-goer--you've probably
seen a lot of it before. Lots of costumes, dance and mime. The lovely
little lady dresses in various leotard-based costumes for her
routines--which include a bar scene in an old tumble-down place
where she turns away ugly molesters and even dressed in an airman's
outfit with a parachute draped over a mock tree for _Lionheart_.
What really makes her, though, is her face and movements. A little
flick of the eyes at the end of the number makes you want to see
more--to know her. And you want her to look at you personally.
You could go on for ever about the rest of the act: when she dresses
as a cowboy shooting everyone down, when she's in a leather
jacket and black leotard with a guy each side spinning chromed
dustbins <The author means dustbin-lids.>, when she looks
at a floating silver ball controlled by a ballet dancer on invisible
wires, she is like a child: young and innocent rather than sexy.
<Other reviewers reached exactly the opposite conclusion, which
only proves that opinions about Kate's sex appeal reveal more
about the beholder than about Kate, her work or her intentions.>
     It ain't rock'n'roll. The music...I'm afraid,
gets same-ish. Her voice gets wearing. It is a show based on her
songs--entertainment. Not what you'd call culture. <Amazing.>
So it's surprising that she doesn't consider herself an
actress. "I'm interested in theatre," asserts Kate.
"Films...I really don't know about. I don't consider
myself an actress. Unless something came up that I felt I could do,
then I wouldn't do it. I have had film offers--like, there's
been a couple of vampire films, and a rock musical. That's
an obvious one because I'm a singer. But I wouldn't have
thought I was a vampire!" No. But there have been some good-looking
vampires. And sometimes her mystique on stage does lend itself to
that sort of feeling--taunting but unattainable. But it's only
taken two years for her to sell out all Britain's biggest
venues--she started playing at a pub in South London's Lewisham.
Now she's got a stage show that is original, exciting and
even shocking. But the young Kate Bush is very modest about the
extravaganza:
     "I think that maybe a lot of people heard that it
was going to be visual, and many of them are into seeing shows
that are different from the normal ones. But it's not really
for me to say why they like me. It's the people who know that.
     "I'm sure there are as many people who hate my voice
as ones who like it, but whatever it is, it's encouraging for
me to know that people want to see me, whether it's to criticise,
or because they really want to see the show. I think that's
a great compliment."
     Sure is. But it's taken a long time for her to take her
show on the road, especially after her vinyl success with _Wuthering_
_Heights_, _Wow_, and her two albums _The_Kick_Inside_ and _Lionheart_.
So why did she wait until now to do the tour?
     "Basically, it's time. When _Wuthering_Heights_ and _The_Kick_
_Inside_ took off at such a level there was a very strong demand for me
to go out and do promotion. I think it's a sensible thing to
do, but I didn't know it would take up a year. And besides,
I spent most of that year recording the second album.
     "One of the reasons I waited was to get the show
right because to go on tour in this way you do need at
least three months's preparation, and I just didn't have
the time before. You know, we were all working for six days a week,
twelve hours a day--and the number of hours gradually grew towards
the end.
     "I really need to be prepared for that sort of thing. Even
for an album, I feel I need that preparation period. I don't
know if this makes me a perfectionist. But I do have ideas that
I don't always reach, so I guess that is what I am."
     There's an argument in that somewhere. That preparation
has paid off. In this country Kate Bush is nothing short of a superstar.
Her _Kick_Inside_ album is still high in the charts, although
_Lionheart_, the second album, hasn't done so well. Isn't that strange?
     "I think it was more surprising to me that the first album
did so well, than that the second album is not doing as well as
the first one. It was really a surprise to me that a lot of people
liked that album, and as far as I'm concerned I'm quite pleased with
how well _Lionheart_ did."
     Maybe it's got something to do with the cover, eh? No, no,
no, no, couldn't be. How could anyone think such a thing?
Just because she looks more sexy on that cover can't have
nything to do with it. <The editor's observation re
"sexiness" in Kate's work apply equally here.>
OK, that's a bit unfair. But seriously, Kate Bush has an image.
And it's a strong one. Off her own back she's developed
a totally individual style both songwise and actwise. She's
been prominent on the music scene for a good eighteen months.
And in many ways it might be better for her to lie low for a bit
before coming back. Does she agree?
     "Yes. I think humans are like cars--when the petrol runs
out, that's it. What worries me is running out of fuel, because
when you're working all the time there is very little chance
to do things like going to the theatre, reading books, or whatever
things inspire you.
     "So it's very important for me to have breaks and
be natural and normal and re-fuel, because without that fuel inside
you can't give anything out. Very often I see people whose
work has totally taken them over, so they can see nothing else
in the world. That frightens me. I am a bit obsessed with my
work--but I'm also concerned about being a human being.
     "I always try and gauge my reactions from people
I've known for years, and if I see that changing, it's
up to me to check where I'm at, because being a human being
is the most important thing.
     "If people don't want to hear my music any more,
I as a personality or celebrity would no longer exist, but I will
always be human. The lifestyle may be different now than it was
two years ago, but I think I'm still the same...although not as
serious, perhaps!"
     Which all really makes good sense. For a twenty-year-old,
she really has got her head screwed on the right way. She
realises her limitations and her strong points. And it's
that professional competence that's done so much for her
success--she can handle it without going off the rails.
     All the same, it can still be a tough life at the top!
There are a lot of commmitments--interviews, radio shows and
photograph sessions, as well as record-company pressures to keep
the hits coming. Has her new-found wealth put many pressures on her?
     "There are probably a lot of pleasures that I'm not
even aware of, that other people feel probably more strongly than
myself. You do feel general pressures sometimes, but I'm
having a real good time at the moment, and I'm doing what I want
to do, and things are running more or less as I wish them to.
     "It's such a fulfilling time of my life at the moment.
The thing about money--being wealthy--I'm not really aware
of, beause I see money as something that should be used and not
thought about much, because it causes an awful lot of hang-ups
in people. It's terrible that money is such a material thing."
As for the future, Kate simply has this to say:
     "I think everyone has to change, because tastes and times
change. Even Cliff Richard, who's been going for years, changed
at times. I'd like to change, but it's also important
to keep the continuity. There is no point in changing just for the
sake of changing. I never know if I'm going to change until I
actually do something. So I just have to wait and see."
     And, it seems, so will we. But you can't help feeling that
it's gonna be good.