Old Kate Bush interviews, cont'd.

[Andrew B Marvick <abm4@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu>]

Interview with Kate Bush conducted by Janice Long for Greater London Radio,
October 1989

   [On the twelfth and thirteenth of October, 1989, Janice Long broadcast her
two-part interview with Kate Bush during her morning shows on Greater London
Radio. The interview had been conducted at Kate's own studio in Welling, in
a very relaxed atmosphere. 
   [IED has not heard this interview himself. He only has a transcript which
appeared in the thirteenth issue of _Cariad_Kate_ (actually now known as
_Never_Forever?_), the Welsh Kate Bush fanzine. Unfortunately, this means
that IED can only present the EDITED version which was published in that
fanzine. To quote the transcriber: "Owing to the length of the interview
and in order to allow the text to flow easier <sic>, a few edits have been
made." IED does not take responsibility for the inevitable distortions
(see for example Kate's obviously post-edited answer to the first question) 
which resulted from ill-considered editing of The Word of God...Edited by
Andrew Marvick, from an original transcription by Robert Brown of 
Colchester, Essex.]

   Why is there such long gaps <sic> between albums being released?
   "I think the problem is, too, that there seems to be a longer gap between
each album progressively--which is a bit frightening for me, too. All I
can say is that after each album is finished and the promotion is done, I
can't just start an album straight away, because otherwise it's just a
continuation of that last album. And the whole thing about writing an 
album is that you want to find something new to say, and at the same time,
try to find out who you are at that point in time. You know, what you 
want to do. What direction you want to move in. So it's very much a
self-exploratory process as well."
   Now, the thing is, people wait with bated breath for the next Kate Bush
album, and they get very excited about it. How do you feel about it? How
do you feel about that--knowing that people are still excited about you?
   "I think that's quite hard for me to take in, really. I just feel so
lucky that I can spend as much time as I need to to make an album, and
that people are actually still waiting to hear what I do. It's very 
exciting for me, and I think sometimes it feels like a big responsibility.
It is really important that I put as much as I can into each album, so
that it is, hopefully, worth waiting for. It's not something I'm terribly
aware of. It's almost too much for me to think about, really--that there
are people who want to hear it after such a long time."
   So what happens? Do EMI breathe down your neck and say, 'Come on, Kate,
the punters are waiting!' Or do you wind down after one album and then 
just get into it gradually yourself?
   "Well, I think the record company know me well enough by now to know 
that really they just have to leave me to it. I'd really like to be able
to make an album quicker. I dream of making an album in eight weeks, but
if I did, it would be something that I wouldn't be happy with. Unfortunately,
it's just a very slow process for me, and I think they realize this. And they  
know there's not really much they can do about it, because I couldn't 
possibly give them an album until it was written and finished."
   What sort of influences do you have when you're making an album? 
Particularly other music?
   "My normal way of working is not to listen to other music when I'm making
albums. I tend to listen to music after I've finished. A good example of
that is after I finished the _Hounds_of_Love_ album. My brother Paddy 
played me a tape of The Trio Bulgarka, and I'd never heard anything like
it. <This is a slight distortion of the facts. Paddy had in fact been 
an enthusiast of Bulgarian vocal folkmusic since the late 1960s, when
he discovered the genre through an album by the Pennywhistlers. Since
Kate was heavily influenced by her brothers' musical tastes at that
period, it is unlikely that she didn't get at least some preliminary
exposure to Bulgarian music at an early age--IED> I was devastated, like
everyone is when they hear it. And by hearing it then, it gave me a lot
of time to listen to them and gradually think that maybe we could work 
together. Bearing them in mind, I actually wrote a track, and then it 
eventually evolved into the process of working together. But it was 
probably three years before I actually got around to doing something 
about it. It just shows you how slow the whole evolving process is."
   You don't follow trends at all, do you? <For those thinking that
the Bulgarian music influence was a trendy one, remember that Kate's
involvement with the Trio Bulgarka actually pre-dated the first 
re-release of Marcel Cellier's recording of Le Mystere on 4AD by 
several months. Neither she nor Paddy could have had any idea that
Bulgarian vocal music would become chic in the West.>
   "I think again, Janice, that it's just as well I don't, because if I
did, by the time the album was out it would be three years out of date!
I don't stand much chance of being hip--unless it comes right round 
again, that is."
   To many, you're something of an enigma.
   "I don't know about enigmas or anything. I just take a long time to
make an album."
   But we never ever read about Kate Bush, you know, hitching up her
skirt and dancing around at the Hippodrome, or--
   (In feigned indignation:) "I should think not!"
   --or Kate Bush being seen at the airport, darting off here and there.
You manage to keep a low profile, don't you?
   "Yes, I guess so. I think that it is very important to me that I get
that break again, between albums. I need a lot of privacy, and just to
be at home. It's such a different world out there, and it's not really
something I've ever wanted to be a part of. Making records and just being
involved in music is really what attracted me to what I do. And it's 
not really me to go to all these clubs. It's not really the kind of thing
I like to do."
   When you actually set about doing an album, are you terribly intense 
about the whole thing and spend all your waking hours writing tracks?
   "Probably not when I first start the album. That's probably a 
relatively relaxed process. But then once I've got into that process a
bit, it all starts where you think, 'God! This is rubbish!' From that
point onwards you're beginning, and it does become very intense. I do
really have a very obsessive attitude about my albums--where once I'm
in there, I don't do anything else. I can't do my other projects because 
it all feels like it's distracting me. And because I know it's going to
take me such a long time, I feel I have to keep this intensity going, 
or I might never ever finish it."
   Do you let other people come in and listen?
   "Yes. It's very important to let others hear it. But more and more it
becomes a problem, because the way I'm working in the studio. Quite often
the song will sound like it's in pieces until it's in a quite developed
stage. The other problem is, if you know you want to change lots of 
things in the tracks, the chances are that if you let people hear it in
an early stage, they will latch onto the whole structure of the song and
they can't allow for any differences later. In some ways the most useful
ones are at a much later stage where the songs are almost finished and they're
easier for people to hear. Then you can hear how people react."
   Do you always write in the studio?
   "Yes, I do now. I play around with ideas at home, but most of the writing
goes on in here, and that's important, too. Because years ago I'd make demos,
and there would be things that I wanted to keep, but of course you can't,
because it's a demo. It's the eternal problem. By having your own studio,
you can get around that. You can actually make the demos the master, and keep
all those little bits that are interesting, but then make the rest sound much
better. I work very closely with Del (Palmer), who engineers for me. So most
of the time it's just the two of us in there. He works a lot on the rhythms
and things, so at least I'm not totally alone in there. Once the song feels
good enough to work on, then you bring musicians in and just sort of layer
upon layer. You sort of create the picture, as it were, and just build up
the sounds that seem to work for what the song is saying. It feels as though
songs have personalities. You can try something on a song and it will just
reject it. It doesn't want it. And yet you can tray that on another song and
it will work so perfectly. They're all so individual."
   What about the tense atmosphere when the album is in its final preparation
stage? Do tempers begin to flare?
   "Yes. I think healthy argument is a very important part of the process, 
really. Creative or otherwise. Because it can be very constructive. The 
problem is actually having a strong enough direction, knowing what you want 
to do."
   How important is it to you that te person listening to your record 
understands what's going through your mind? Or do you mind if they have their
own interpretations?
   "I think it's wonderful if they have their own interpretations. I think 
that's really important, although it matters to me that the lyrics are saying
something, and I spend a lot of time on lyrics. They're very difficult. I
think a lot of the power of lyrics is the sounds. The whole thing is just
a combination of sounds and textures, and definitely different words have a
different feeling that go with them. The way consonants mark things. It's
a very percussive instrument, in a way, words. And I think that's what's very
important, that they feel and sound right."
   You always come up with something very distinctive to the way you look, and
also video-wise, as well.
   "Well, I think that's jolly nice of you to say!"
   I'm just being a creep.
   "Well, I like you being a creep, Janice!"
   It's not as if you just release a record, and then there's no sort of
strong thing to go with it."
   "I don't know, really. I think it's really nice that you should say that,
because I think things like artwork--everything that accompanies the records:
videos...Again, it's, hopefully, trying to stay within some kind of standard
of what you want to say on the album. And I think it's increasingly difficult
to do something interesting in music, and in videos, too. They have become
so cliche-ed. I think a lot of people would like not to make videos. But it's
a pressure that you can't argue with, because everyone does make a video, 
and until everyone stops making videos, you actually lose out by not doing
so, because it's such a good way of getting people to hear the tracks. 
Television is a very big vehicle for music, and you get people to hear your
music that way."
   How instrumental are you when it comes to making a video? Do you have 
quite strong ideas about how your videos are to be seen?
   "Yes, I do, but I think it's because I really love the whole process of
film. I just find it fascinating. Every time I make a video, it gives me an
opportunity to learn about it. Like having your own studio. The amount I've
learnt about that process is tenfold. And with videos, because I got involved
and the people I worked with earlier on really encouraged me, I have learnt
a lot about the process over the years, really."
   Having listened to the tracks quite a few times now, it's clear that there
are no strong political meassages in the music.
   "Well, I think you can cover political isues with the emotion, and for
me, that's what I deal with, really. How things effect people. It's the 
emotional angle that I tend to take, rather than a political one. "Army
Dreamers" is really sort of about a mother losing her son. You write something
because you've been moved by it."
   Can one single thing inspire you to write a song? A personal thing? I'm
not talking about wars now, or international things, world things. But if
something brilliant happens, can that have you darting off into the studio?
   "Yes. I think sometimes it is the littlest things that spark off some of
the biggest ideas. It's the little things in life that matter. You know, the 
old cliche. But there's a lot in that."
   But you belong to a business where it's not really the little things that 
matter. The music business is notorious for being selfish, and everybody
looking after themself. Isn't it difficult to maintain that?
   "I don't really think that I am part of that, really, because I spend 
so much time just working on albums, being at home. Working in the studio. 
It's a very small part of my life, really, that. And I do have to
conscientiously make an effort to keep it at a distance sometimes. But I'm
very lucky that I've been able to get the priorities right, because there's 
always such a lot of pressure to do things when you don't want to do them.
It's really up to you to try and be strong."
   Were you strong when you first signed to EMI?
   "I think in some ways I was at my strongest, because I was completely
charged with the desire to be doing an album for the first time. All I wanted
to do was to make a record. I never really got beyond that on any level."
   So it was making the music and having the music heard. Was it necessarily
fame that you wanted? And loads of money?
   "No. I think it was very much making an album. I just wanted to have ten,
eleven songs that were good enough to go onto an album, because that's what
meant a lot to me. Writing songs. Trying to get that little collection 
together, and get it out to the world."
   Do you become a total recluse in the recording studio, or do you find time
to relax and slow down?
   "I do get very obsessed with it all, and people make quite a fuss, really,
which is truly nice. But it is just an album. There are lots of other things
in life besides working. So many people get wrapped up in their work on so
many levels of life, because there is such a lot of pressure for people to 
follow this high achiever."
   Well, it's the protestant work ethic, and also doing the best. <Huh?--IED>
Being the best? 
   "Yes. And I'm very, very lucky. I continually think I'm so lucky to do
what I like doing, and to have the time to do what I want. But it is still
important to have a good time. That's what it's all about, don't you think?
You've got to have a good time, really."
   What are your priorities, then?
   "Well, I think years ago, really, I wouldn't have looked beyond haing a damn
good album. And now, it's nice for me to have space away from it. I like not
being quit so obsessed as I used to be. There's a bit more time to play with.
Maybe I'm a bit more sociable because I'm not so obsessive. It does get
terribly unhealthy, and it's very selfish, as well--making an album, writing
a book...Any of those things. Ultimately it is a very selfish act, so you 
should be more healthy."
   What do you do, though? Do you watch lots of telly, or do you go to the
theatre?
   "Yes, I love watching telly, because when we spend a lot of time in the
day listening to music, you don't want to get home and listen to records.
I love watching comedy. I really love gardening. I did quite a bit of 
gardening over the last couple of years, which was really good for me. It's
so nice to get outside, too. You get stuck inside all day, so at least I've
been getting out a bit more, and not being so obsessive."
   What sort of comedy are you into?
   "Well, I love all the Comic Strip stuff. Ben Elton's writing is superb. I
think all those people are just so inspiring. It's exciting! There should be
something like that happening in the music business, too. There should be a
real centre of inspired, talented people, putting out stuff that makes you
think, that re-educates people. I think they have done a lot for women with
their comedy. They can be women without being used as some sex object, or
something to be made fun of. Women are actually women in their comedy, and
I admire that."
   I think it's all right for women to be a sex object, if that's what they
want to be. 
   "Absolutely. Yes."
   Are you a feminist?
   "Yuck! God, I hate that word. It's like calling someone a Sadist! I think
it's really unfortunate that that word has been so associated with very 
extreme...extremist persons. Radical behavior. And I think although it 
probably had to be put in a bit at the beginning, I think all women are rather
offended by that term now. What really has power is when you get people like
Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French up there doing something really good, as 
women, being people, just being women. Women just getting on with it and 
doing it, and doing it well. Which I think a lot of women are doing now. And
there's not such an alienating process going on between men and women."
   Do you do a lot of travelling? A lot of the tracks seem to have an 
Eastern influence?
   "A lot of people have said this. I think a lot of the drum rhythms have a
suggestion of the East. But really most of the influences are obviously 
Bulgarian--which I guess has an Eastern flavor, really, doesn't it? And in
some ways we've used the Irish musicians in a slightly more Eastern way
this time. They don't necessarily sound out-and-out Irish, so I guess all
this coming together makes it sound Eastern"
   I read somewhere before that you were into Irish music. Is it traditional
stuff, or what?
   "Yes, it is that. I just love Irish music. It's so emotional, and
passionate. It's very, very happy, and it can be very, very sad. It just
does something to me. I guess it's because it's in my blood, as well.
My mother's Irish, and as soon as I hear the pipes, you know, I feel my blood
surging through my veins. And I think the Bulgarian music has...it moves you.
The sense of melody and everything. It feels like very old music, stuff 
we're not in touch with any more. Probably when music was music, and men
were men (laughing), and the women were very lonely!"
   About "Deeper Understanding": On the way here, the driver kept leaping
because he though his VodaPhone was going. 
   "It's very interesting that you should say that because so many people 
have. If they'd have that track on, people would be talking away and then 
they hear the computer sound, they're completely distracted. And I think 
it reinforces in a way what the whole song is about, which is rather nice.
It's almost like people respond more to a machine talking to them than to
a human. It's like we're all keyed into mechanical information."
   Do you like all of that? Having a studio? Do you get excited about new
gadgetry?
   "Yes. I suppose it always wears off a bit...It's just fantastic. I really
can't believe that we got such a good studio that I can work in and make 
records in. Because I couldn't do it in a commercial studio now. I think it
would be impossible for me, and I'd get so nervous--I'd feel completely out
of my depth. I've got so used to having the privacy, and I can just pop 
in and have a cup of tea."
   There is a possibility that you might tour?
   "Ooooh!"
   Go on Kate, go on, do it!
   "If I do decide to tour, you definitely will (rest of answer lost in 
laughter)..."
   And other than that, now that the album is completed, what are you going
to do? Just sort of wind down?
   "Well, definitely my philosophy is to take things step by step. And having
finished the album, which I'm so relieved about, I'm kind of going through
the promotional work. And I guess a lot depends on how the album is received.
If it's received really warmly, then maybe (long pause)...Well, maybe I'll
be absolutely thrilled. I should be so lucky!"
   Well, you've done it again, girl. Thank you very, very much indeed, Kate
Bush.
   "It's really been nice speaking to you..."
   And you. Thank you.
   "...And keep being creepy!"


-- Andrew Marvick