The _Music_Journal_ interview

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

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

                 The _Music_Journal_ interview

     <This article was written by Robert Henschen and appeared
in the U.S. magazine _Music_Journal_ in December 1978.
in December 1978. All the quotes from Kate, and some of Henschen's
own observations, are derived from the EMI promotional article
(included above) and from the interview LP produced for radio
promotion purposes in the same year. Edited by Andrew Marvick.>


           _Kate_Bush:_She'll_crush_the_lily_in_your_soul_

     At age sixteen, with some dozen-and-a-half songs already
self-penned, Kate Bush learned that was not yet ready for
music stardom...she had to wait two more years. So, while
continuing to compose unusual tunes on an old honky-tonk
piano, Kate studied mime and modern dance with David Bowie's
former mentor Lindsay Kemp and then at The Dance Centre in
London's Covent Garden.
     She also read, and wrote a song about, Emily Bronte's
classic English novel _Wuthering_Heights_,
subsequently topping the British charts with this her very first
record. _Wuthering_Heights_ made full
use of the Bush voice...a deceptively frail, slightly
bizarre tool of surprising range and unearthly expressiveness.
The song's repeating chorus-hook seemed to transcend the imposing
barrier between catchy pop music and artistic progressiveness.
In short, _Wuthering_Heights_ was a great
song that found Kate playing the role of heroine Cathy
Earnshaw, and the European press promptly made Kate Bush their new
discovery. Holland's recording industry awarded her an Edison
(the equivalent of our Grammy) for Single of the Year, _Music_Week_
magazine called her the Top Female Album Artist, and high praises
are still rolling in.
     "I loved writing it," Kate enthuses regarding the song.
"It was a real challenge to process 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
yourself in the role of the person in a song. There's no half
ways. When I sing that song I _am_ Cathy.
     "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 so inferior,
and she was coming out with this passionate, heavy stuff...Great
subject matter for a song. I wrote the song from Cathy's
standpoint. Cathy wants to take Heathcliff's soul so that
they can be together in their spiritual world."
     Released in the U.S. several months ago, Kate's album _The_Kick_In-
side_ has not achieved overwhelming success in the States as of yet, but
that may soon change. The album has been reissued with a new album
cover, and impressive AOR radio support has been building for
Kate's remarkable music. Almost every cut on the debut record
is equal to, or even better than, _Wuthering_Heights_.
There's an impish quality to Kate's singing on the quasi-reggae _Room_
_For_the_Life_, she almost sounds like a munchkin on _Oh_To_Be_in_Love_,
her voice soaring above the wicked witch's guardsman...And
she reveals more dramatic profiles on the near-jazz _Saxophone_Song_
or the serious, moving _Man_With_the_Child_in_His_Eyes_.
     This latter piece, about the relationship developed between
a young girl and an older man, is a showcase for the singer's
subtle and sensitive imagery. "She sees this man as an all-consuming
figure," explains Kate. "He's wise, yet he retains a
certain innocent quality. The song tells how his eyes give away
his 'inner light'. He's a very real character to the
girl, but nobody else knows whether he really exists."
     Appearances on European television programs like _Top_of_the_Pops_,
_Saturday_Night_at_the_Mill_ and _Tonight_
helped launch Bush, still new to performing, into a sudden
spotlight...and more than a little controversy. Her act is a sensual
combination of dance and dramatic vocal presentations, her body
not exactly hidden in a flesh-colored body stocking, and
some viewers apparently found Kate to be erotically shocking or in
bad taste. Even Kate cringes at the thought of those first,
unpracticed attempts at visual communication. She has since learned
to handle live performing more effectively, touring England to
widespread acclaim. <This is not a reference to her Tour of
Life, but to earlier promotional tours abroad.> Ms. Bush is
something stunningly different to see...as well as hear.
     With or without the sensationalism surrounding her good looks
and offbeat performing style, Kate writes music of incredible depth.
Just as her dawning public image comes up displaying the physical
woman, so do her amazing lyrics bespeak 100% twentieth-century
female. Seldom, if ever, has the feminine standpoint been more
boldly and beautifully stated, and songs like _Room_For_the_Life_,
_Strange_Phenomena_ or _Feel_It_
penetrate directly to new depths of corporeal and spiritual
realization.
     Some of the poetry herein is unexpurgated and erotic; other
portions take an inanimate pose to evoke new feelings from the
listener.
     For instance, Kate creates a flying feeling for _Kite_,
a song that exhibits her songwriting knack for approaching a subject
in some refreshingly original way: "In the song the character
starts to feel that he is rooted to the ground, but there is a force
pulling him up to the sky. A voice calls out, 'Come up and
be a kite,' and he is drawn up to the sky and takes the form
and texture of a kite. Suddenly he's flying 'like a feather
on the wind,' and for a while he enjoys it, but the longing for
home and the security of the ground overtake these feelings."
Just as Kate becomes Cathy Earnshaw in _Wuthering_Heights_
she assumes the role of a young sister in _The_Kick_Inside_ (inspired
by the traditional folk song _Lucy_Wan_)
who, after a tragically incestuous relationship with her own
brother, leaves this incredibly sad and hopeful farewell note.
Intriguing song-poem ideas.
     How did Kate Bush learn to write brilliant songs of such
unnerving emotionalism and intelligence at such an early age?
"I just grew up with music all around me. When I was about
eleven I just started poking around at the piano and started
making up little songs. I never played Beatle songs or anything
like that. I was always just exploring the instrument. Then,
when I was fourteen, I started taking it seriously and I began
to treat the words to the songs as poetry. I'd always been
keen on poetry at school and it was lovely to put the poems
together with the music.
     "I have two older brothers and they were very keen on
musical instruments. One day, along comes this friend of my
brother's <Ricky Hopper>. He worked in the record
business himself, and thought he might be able to make contacts.
Well, he knew Pink Floyd from Cambridge, and he asked Dave Gilmour
down to hear me. Since then, I've been singing, playing and
writing until we made the album." Originally the album was to
be released in late 1977, but it kept getting delayed,
and finally appeared on Harvest in early '78. Now _The_Kick_Inside_
has come out a second time on EMI-America, distributed by Capitol,
and Kate Bush is finally available throughout North America.
     Shortly after her phenomenal success with _Wuthering_Heights_,
Kate celebrated her financial windfall by picking up a $13,000
Steinway baby grand. "I feel as though I've built up a real
relationship with the piano. It's almost like a person. If I
haven't got a particular idea I just sit down and play chords,
and then the chords almost dictate what the song should be about
because they have their own moods." Kate may be working on new
songs for another album, but she seems content to let her career
evolve without outside interference or commercial pressures:
"I'm really not sure how I'm going to develop from
now...what direction my music will take. I just want to carry on
exploring."
     Perhaps _Wuthering_Heights_ could only scale the pop music charts
in her native England, fueled by fervor for the great British novel
...and novelty. Maybe America's Top 40 isn't quite ready for a
singer-poet-pianist this unusual and challenging, even if she has sold
over 250,000 albums in the smallish UK. But we're all going
to find out. Kate Bush is demonstrating the kind of creative
imagination and insight that could have an impact on music now and
for years to come.