No Subject

[rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald Hill)]

    87. Night Flight: the unedited interview: a dub (of very poor picture
quality) of the original unedited working-master from the studio taping of
Kate's interview for Night Flight. (Thirty-eight
minutes long.) November 1985.
     So far as I am aware this is the only unedited (not-for-broadcast)
video-taped interview in circulation. It is also the most excruciating of all
Kate Bush video-clips. For more than half an hour Kate sits absolutely still
before an unblinking stationary camera, answering with remarkable patience and
professionalism an interminable series of asinine and shockingly ill-informed
questions from an unseen American bimbo. Several times Kate is asked to repeat
long answers she has just given, simply because the sound technicians had
mis-adjusted the microphones. Finally, after the hopelessly inept
interviewer finally subsides, Kate is further exploited by the boorish
American studio crew, who pressure her into delivering a series of advertising
"spots" for a number of television programmes. As usual, Kate suffers through
all of these indignities with perfect grace.

[Transcribed by Ray Russell, edited by Ronald Hill, above comments by IED. 
Can you catch all the errors and stupidities?]

        I: We'd like to welcome Kate Bush to Night Flight.  Welcome. 

        K: Hi.

        I: Hi.  It's been two years since Dreaming, which a lot of critics
called your masterpiece, and... your current album, Hounds of Love.  What have
you been doing since Dreaming?

        K: I've really been re-organizing my life. I work very intensely when
we are in the studio we never take a year to make an album and there's nothing
else you can do once you're making an album it just completely obsesses your
life. So I wanted to take a break, get to see friends get back into training
that kind of thing, and we moved from the city to the country and built and
equipped our own recording studio, which we recorded all this album in.

        I: Did you um also you ... Hounds of Love is a fuller production and,
then Dreaming, a natural evolution I imagine but, were you ------ assessing
your music at that point, too.  Were you going through a period of
re-assessment?
     
        K: I think you have to re-assess your music after every album.
Otherwise you're just going to write the same thing that you've written on the
last one.  And for me each album should be going somewhere different. 
Otherwise there's not much point in making a new album.  So I think it's
important to take the a break to create a new energy for a new album.  So it's
just not the same thing.
 
        I: On Hounds Of Love a lot of the songs are dance songs and,uh the
single is a hit on the dance charts ...your first in America.... Was that
premeditated, did you aim for that?

                                        K: No I don't think you ever actually
aim for any particular "market" as such, or I certainly don't when I'm writing
a song, you just write a song because you're trying to say something or you've
got a nice musical idea.  And you write the song for the song's sake, not
really in order to conquer the world.

        I: Uh huh.  Were you influenced by any dance hits, though, any other
dance songs?

        K: No.

        I: No?

        K: I don't think so, no.  I don't listen to very much contemporary
music.  I think this album is a, is dealing with me being much more influenced
and excited by rhythm, particularly consistent rhythm and I think as soon as
you've got consistency of rhythm, you're talking about things that are
accessible to dance to, and so, as soon as it's danceable people can relate to
it.

        I: Yes!  Also you use, you still use a lot of traditional instruments
- a digeridoo. Tell me what a digeridoo is first of all.

        K: A digeridoo is um an Australian, Aboriginal instrument.  It's an
old piece of wood, hollowed out through the center, and by blowing through
this long tube, um, with a circular breathing technique, you can create this,
this...it's like a drone that has kind of a circular sound so you can almost
hear the air whipping around the inside of the tube as it comes out the end. 
It's an incredible sound.  It's very earthy - primeval almost.

        I: And you mix a lot of other traditional instruments with very
unusual new music. Is.. I understand that your parents, your family were
uh...yeah??

[Sound tech plays with the mic]

        I: [Off mic] So you don't do much television?

        K: No. [Laughs]

        I: I think the instrumentation on this album is so great, just so
beutiful.

        Sound tech: Kate, give me a theoretical answer here?

        K: Theoretical answer???

        [unknown person]: Well how about the question?

        I:[back on mic] Traditional instruments, do your brothers play
traditional, or was it your parents play traditional English and Irish music,
and that's a tremendous influence on your music?

        K: Yes.  From a very early age um I was surrounded in the house by
traditional music being played by my brothers, and I think as you were saying
when you are very young, it gets in deeper somehow and has probably been one
of the strongest influences of my music.

        I: You don't use your relatives on the album...Do you?

        K: Um, I don't know, I think they definitely have an involvement,
yeah.

        I: From what part of England do you come from?

        K: From Kent.

        I: And where's Kent?

        K: It's just outside London.

        I: So, the way you got into the business was through David Gilmour...
Correct?

        K: Yes. He was really responsible for um, me being signed by the
record company at such an early age.   He put up the money for me to make
three tracks, to master three tracks in the studio and um through those master
recordings I got the recording contract.

        I: How did you meet him, how did that come about?

        K: I was about 15, 16, and we thought it would be really interesting
to see if I could get some of my songs published.  A friend of the family knew
Dave Gilmour, who at that time he was looking for talent, to either be
involved with or produce or encourage and he came down to hear some of my
songs as a part of the scouting process, and I think he was intrigued enough
to, so that it was worth mastering the demos and presenting them to record
companies in that form.

        I: Mmmm.  So was the music of Pink Floyd an influence, too?

        K: I think it has become an influence because I like their music very
much.  But at that time, I was hardly aware of them.  I knew of their name but
I knew very little of their music.

        I: Well I hate to keep harping on this, but I'd really like to find
out where your influences are.  Um,  I know that The Innocents is one of your
favorite movies?

        K: Yes, it is a favourite film of mine.

        I: Right.  And it is one of mine, actually, and I've heard that you
have a lot of negative triggers in your imagination, that's a quote of yours,
right?

        K: I think quotes are very dangerous things.  Because quite often, in
an interview situation, you're saying things just to, to string words
together, half the time.  It's not necessarily something that you mean. I
think you say something you think "Hang on, I don't really mean that" so it's
always um a frustrating process where you're being re-quoted from things you
were saying at other points in time.

        I: But would you say that you have negative, triggers?   Uh, let me
take this um I don't want to put you on the firing line, but Mother Stands For
Comfort?

        K: Yes.

        I: It sounds like it was inspired by the tabloid headlines in a way or
a tabloid story.  Can you tell me where that song came from?

        K: It's really about the power of maternal love and that in the song,
the son has done something criminal, and uh it's irrelevant in a way what he's
done, because it's the mother wanting to harbor her son and keep him safe. 
That's her concern to look after her child, rather than the morality of the
situation.  Her love is much more important to her than what's right or wrong.

     I: Uh, many of your songs also showed that strong tie to family, which
you mentioned, are you still very close to your family?

        K: Yes. We are very close family.

        I: Do they live in Kent?

        K: Yes.

        I: Um, with your last album Dreaming, you used the Fairlight for the
first time?

        K: Uh, no.

        I: No.

        K: No, it was on Never Forever that we used the Fairlight. 

        I: Ahh, sorry.  How did you discover it?

        K: Um, we were working on the third album and there was a guy
basically exhibiting the Fairlight bringing it around to people to show them
and he brought it into the studio because uh they'd thought I'd be interested,
and I was, very.

        I: So did you start tinkling around on it and [laughs]...?

        K: Well as soon as it, it was there it was something I think I've been
looking for for a long time. The ability to sample any sound that you want and
then play that, it's something that songwriters dream of, really.  And it went
straight on to nearly every track on the album.

        I: Have you felt restricted before that, you play piano and you're
self-taught, right?

        K: Yesss, well I don't think you feel restricted,  um it just means
there's a whole new world added to what you had before rather than feeling
restricted and then feeling free, I think.  There's so many things that you
can use, and the whole process of songwriting as it is it's a whole world of
things to choose from.

        I: Also um, you were one of the earliest rock performers, or popular
performers to incorporate dance into your performance.  You studied with
Lindsay Kemp, correct?

        K: Yes.

        I: Did you - was that that after he worked with Bowie too?

        K: Yes, it was.

        I: Did you know did you know about him working with Bowie?

        K: No, I didn't find that out until I'd been training with Lindsay for
a few weeks, and people were talking about Bowie and how he'd been a pupil of
Lindsay's.

        I: So how did you start, how did you find Lindsay Kemp?

        K: Um it was purely coincidence um I was taken to see a show and it
was his performance of Flowers.  And I've never really seen anything quite
like it.  They were using theater and movement to express something quite
fantastic without any words at all.  And I felt the combination of that with
music could be a really interesting way of performing.

        I: At what point in your career was that?

        K: I was still at school and it was a few months after that that I
decided to leave school and to throw myself into the world of music and dance
seemed to be something that was much parallel to it that I felt it was good
for me especially in terms of being a performer, something that I knew nothing
about.

        I: So it must seem sort of natural that Running Up That Hill is a
dance hit, isn't it?

        K: Yes I think it's quite interesting because as a piece of music it's
very much a kind of rhythm that you could dance to in a contemporary way and
the video that we made for it is almost a classical piece of dance, so I think
it's quite an interesting contradiction there.

        I: Your videos are all very minimal, and uh I guess you want to keep
them that way um, do you have a uh theory about video.  Uh about music video?

        K: Explain minimal.

        I: Stark.

        K: Stark?

        I: Bare. 

        K: Bare? [laughs]

        I: Usually you're there by yourself...

        K: Yes.

        I: ...wearing very little..

        K: [Kate either ignores or didn't hear the last line] Um I'd disagree,
I'd say at that, there were early videos where at that time I was very
influenced by dance and theatre, and the vehicle was to use dance because it
wasn't being used at that time it was an unusual way of presenting things. 
But I think um a lot of them really are trying to tell stories and, I'd prefer
to think of them almost as short pieces of film, that are either doing
something visually interesting or telling the story of the song.  Where that's
possible.

        I: Hmm, hmm. Ah as far as film is concerned you also expressed an
interest in film, do you also see yourself getting into film?

        K: Well I think um making promotional clips, especially if you are
working in film, is just like making a very short movie.  And for me I think
that's the way I think it works the best that's when promotional videos work. 
Um I think there's a lot of videos that aren't very interesting around.  And I
have a very big fascination for films and have had for a while I think my
influences  visually have changed from being dance, theatrically based to
being much more cinematically influenced.  Um and I'd very much like to be
involved in films, but I don't know how.

        I: Well I'm sure it's coming.  Um as far as uh your videos do you have
artistic control over those?

        K: Yes, I think it's quite similar to the recording process where with
each video I become more involved.  Uh initially I was involved in the
choreography and um I've become more interested by the technical side of the
whole process.

        I: Uh- as far as American audiences you've had a lot of hits in
England but this is your first American hit.  What would you say the
differences between the American and English audiences?

        K: I don't know.  They're two completely different countries, two
different cultures and I think that influences people incredibly.  I think you
speak the same language but perhaps apart from that we very different,
different worlds.

        I: Uh your vocals when you first started your '78 album- The Kick
Inside, was it?

        K: Yes.

        I: Your vocals were a complete stretch you know up, down, very
experimental and you seem to have brought them, centered them more - was that
a natural evolution? or...

        K: Yes I think it's my voice maturing as well as the songwriting
changing - and at that period of the first album I was very much experimenting
with stretching my voice playing with the songs as an exercise for my voice,
to expand the range and to see what worked and what didn't.  I think in a way
so much of what you do is experimenting, learning and it just goes down on
tape during that process.

        I: When you were experimenting and learning was it hard to control the
process when there were other people involved, being a woman in particular,
was it difficult to um organize the proceedings?

        K: Ah, what proceedings? 

        I: Well recording and getting a band together getting the musicians
together and get them to play with you and to show up on time.

        K: Um I don't think it matters if you're a man or a woman. Organizing
people and events is something that involves different personalities.  And
some people aren't very good at being punctual and others are.  I think I've
been very lucky.  Um I'm doing what I want to do and I think uh I'm just very
honored to be a part of the music scene and to work with the people that I do.

        I: On this album you credit or you thanked Terry Gilliam.

        K: Yes.

        I: What was his contribution, he was on Monty Python, yes?

        K: Yes, he was. I think he's a um in his own right really understood
as a director.  I don't know if you've know his work here but he's had, made
some beautiful films - Time Bandits and a film called Brazil, which I don't
know if it's released here but it's a great move.  And he wasn't actually
involved in the album, but for the videos um, I'm a great fan of his work and
I was very interested in working with him, and he really pointed to an area of
people that I could work, who I didn't know, and who have been involved in the
videos   My experience had been in video, not film, and they are very
different people. It's a very different way of working, and he introduced me
to the film people who I made the last two videos with.

        I: Aha. Interesting. There was another song on Hounds Of Love called
Big Sky where you use a couple back up singers?

        K: UM...

        I: Do you use back up singers on this album?

        K: Uh, no, I don't think on that track no.

        I: Let me see... UM I think SO. 

        K: Do I??????

        I: Uh yeah.

        K: Well Who?

        I: Who were the backup singers on this album?

        K: Um, on that particular prat, um prat [smiles and gets slighly
embarassed look] on that particular track, I don't think there are any singers
apart from my brother who's singing with me on one of the verses, but um, as
far as I can remember,it's just myself doing back up vocals... inn that track.

        I: Hmmmmmmmm. Um your next single from this album, do you have plans
for that?

        K: I've no idea what the next single will be in this country.  In
England, we've already released the second single which was Cloudbusting and
um we probably will release the third early next year. But obviously here,
it's a different kind of time span dso I'm not sure maybe early next year
would be the second single here.

        I: Is there a chance, that it's Cloudbusting, here?

        K: As yet I don't think that's been decided.

        I: Well that is an amazing song.  Well can you explain where that song
came from. Is it a tale of intrigue or...?

        K: Very much a song that was inspired by a book that I found nearly
ten years ago now. I think it's out of print, and it's called A Book Of Dreams
by Peter Reich.  It's a very moving, intimate book.  Very sad, and written
through his eyes as a child, looking at the relationship between his father
and himself.  And through his eyes as a child as the incredible sense of
innocence throughout the book.  And his father was a very respected respected
psychoanalyst, had a great deal of theories on life and life energy.  And um
one of the the things he did was built a machine that could make it rain.  And
together they would go out and make it rain.  It's a very magical sense in the
book for me this sort of encaptulated the wonder of their relationship, and
unfortunately the book leads up to where his father is arrested because his
beliefs are considered somewhat outrageous.  And to the child it's it's coping
from then on without his father.  And the song is really about that adult
looking back at the magic of their relationship, how much they loved it and
how for him now that his father is not there anymore that every time it rains
he thinks about how they were together out there on the machine cloudbusting. 
And it makes him happy he's he's finds a way with coping with it. 

        I: UH-

        S.Tech re-arranging Kate's mike and bow....

[Break in tape.  During the missing section, according to people who were
there, Kate complained about the interviewer not stopping her earlier.  When
she repeats the above answer it lacks the energy of the original. ]

        K: How you doing on that stool? 

        I: Oh, I'm O.K.  How are you? 


        S.Tech: thank you you're on again.

        I: Do you want that question re-asked?

        S.Tech: Please.

        I: O.K. Cloudbusting, uh, can you explain what that song is about, and
what inspired you to write it?

        K: So much based on a book, that um I found about 10 years ago. It's
called A Book Of Dreams uh written by Peter Reich. And it's about the
relationship between himself as a child and his father and what a special
relationship it was. There's an incredible sense of innocence throughout the
book, because it's being written from a child's point of view. And you get a
great sense of the magic of their relationship.  His father was a very greatly
respected psychoanalyst and had a great deal of theories on life energy and
also had a machine that could make it rain,called a cloudbuster, and together
they would go out and go cloudbusting.  The song is really about the magic of
that relationship, the adult looking back at what a good time they had.  And
unfortunately the build up in the book is where the father is arrested because
his beliefs are considered somewhat outrageous, and from that point onwards
it's very difficult for the child to cope without his father.  And the song is
saying that, now that his father's gone instead of the moments when it rains
being sad for him, that a very happy thing it makes him think of his father
in, in a way the rain is the presence of his father with him.

        I: Beautiful, you also mentioned that you don't listen to contemporary
music.

        K: I listen to some, but I don't listen to alot of comptempory music,
something that I think people expect of you really. 

        I:What do you listen to?

        K: I spend so much time listening to my own music when you've been
working on an album you're either listening to cassettes of arrangements, or
rough mixes, or whatever.  Umm I tend to relax by watching things rather than
listening to other peoples' music.  But I love classical music and um ECM, I
don't know if you know the music here, there's a label in Germany that deals
with a kind of jazz rock musicians but it's almost like contemporary classical
music, and um, I think I'm much more into instrumentals now than the sort of
uh pop song, format that you hear on the radio alot  of the time.

        I: And and theater and uh and stage musicals?

        K: I get no time to see those kind of things.  I love going to the
theater and it's very rare for me to get the time to go, um, so when I can I
do but it's just not enough, really.

        I: Uh, I'd like to go back to um ancient history and the David Gilmour
story and talk about a young girl, 15 years old coming from Kent and going
into the music business in London.  What sort of crowd did you fall into, what
was it like then, nineteen seventy...five?

        K: I didn't fall into a "crowd", I wasn't involved with the music
business.  It wasn't until I made my first album that I would say I was really
involved in it.

        I: Was it hard leaving home?

        K: Um, no, it wasn't connected like that.  When I left school, I
started dancing and, I was having to travel from my home up to London, so I
moved out of home into a flat so I could be near where I was working and
stayed like that for I 'spose maybe two years before I made my first album so
it wasn't like I was wrenched straight out of school into the music business. 
I think it would have been very different for me had it been like that.

        I: Were you working, where were you working you, are you-

        K: An open dance school, in London.

        I: Hmmm Uh regarding other influences, books.  What kind of books do
you read?

        K: Again, I don't really read very much I think people tend to presume
that I do. I used to read a lot as a child but I just don't find the time. 
I'm a very slow reader and I'm always so involved in some aspect of the work
that I'm doing that again it's something that I just don't do enough of.

        I: Well, I suppose you pick up enough walking around the streets as
far as what's going to intrigue you and spark your imagination.

        K: Yes I think um people are basically what spark you.

        I: I think so too.  How about um uh a regiment when you're making a
record is there any sort of a - You mentioned that you like to get back in
shape, um - Do you work out, is there a schedule that you keep to?

        K: Dancing I can't keep up.  Whenever I'm making an album I find I
have to stop completely and it's not until I've finished an album that I can
start getting back into training.  So it's a very on and off thing.  Um, and a
schedule is almost impossible to create in a lifestyle where you're moving
from one place to the other.  I suppose the only time I get near for that is
when I'm making an album and then it's five days a week in the studio um quite
a rigid routine.

        I: How long did it take to make this last album?

        K: To write and record, I'd say just under 18 months, and that was
allowing technical and tuning problems in our studio.

        I: Hmm.  We mentioned touring earlier and the fact that you haven't
done it since '79,

        K: Yeah.

        I: Why not?

        K: It was a lot of time and effort, a very big commitment, and it's
getting to the point when nearly all my projects are very big commitments and
I think um, I haven't really wanted to do it since.  I had to wait until the
end of the last album to have enough new material to do a show but um I just
don't think I feel prepared for that commitment.

        I: Mm ahh-O.K. the synthesized voice on walking on Waling on the...
Walking The Witch?

        K: Waking.

        I: Waking The Witch, um where did that synthesized voice come from?

        K: By synthesized voice, do you mean-

        I: is that the Fairlight?

        K: ...the voice that is talking?

        I: yeahhh

        K: It's myself effected, going through a various assortment of
machines.

        I: Uh this album was incredibly ambitious with this did this 18 months
represent the longest time you spent on an album?

        K: No, I think it's about the same amount of time we spent on the last
album.

        I: Which was, as I mentioned earlier, critics said your masterpiece.

        K: Well that's very nice of them to say so.

        I: Uh Roxy, you mentioned although you don't listen to modern music
that you were heavily influenced by Roxy and Sgt. Pepper.  Were there any
other major, major influences like that?

        K: I think they're influences because they're things that I liked I
think anything you really like, you aspire to, and they subconsciously if not
consciously become influences.  Um, I think they're all digested things as
well, become a, lot of things you sort of contemplate and then perhaps
express...  But it sparks you off, but in your own way rather than it being an
imitation which I think is something you definitely have to try and avoid.
    I think Roxy Music are incredibly original.  Brian Ferry is still being
imitated, and probably will be continued to be imitated.  His voice his
singing style, and Roxy Music's approach to songs I think is quite
revolutionary.  I think originals stand out, and I think they were definitely
original, as was David Bowie, he was a great innovator, really in many ways. 
I think there's definitely a few of them.

        I: I'd like to get away from your work for a minute and ask you about
Kate Bush as a person.  What do you like to do for fun?

        K: I think what I do for fun is what I do for my work now, I'm very
lucky in what I used to do as a hobby is now my living and I continuely feel
really lucky. It's the creative side of it that I enjoy. 

        I: Uh Who do you consider a sex symbol?  What male figure do you
consider a sex symbol?

        K: I don't know.  I think people are attractive and I think that's
what appeals to you rather than a sex symbol.  I automatically think of the
physical being of people, and I think it's the energy that a person puts out
as their presence that's what's truly attractive about them.

        I: Are you aware of the energy that you put out yourself?

        K: No, no I don't think so, no.

        I: Okay, uh thank you.

        S.Tech: Stay there. Keep your mike on please.

        I: Should we do I.D.? 

        New Interviewer: Thank you,we're going to do some I.D.s now?   Kate
would you say for me "Hi I'm Kate Bush and watch for my video up next on
Nightflight."

        K: Watch for my video up next [mumbles]...

        I: Hi, I'm Kate Bush watch for my video coming up next on Nightflight!


        K: Ok.  [slightly impatiently] Are we ready????

        I: Ok. 

        K: Hi, this is Kate Bush.  Watch my video coming up next on
Nightflight. 

        I: Great.  

        S. Tech.: Can you do that one again for me please?

        K: Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Why don't you watch my video that's coming up
next on Nightflight? 

        S. Tech: How could anyone say no? [Everybody laughs, Kate smiles]

        I: Ok, "Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Watch for me on Radio 1990."

        K: Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Why don't you watch out for me onnnnnnn.. Radio
1990.  

        S. Tech: I'm glad we have to do that one again, I'm glad. 

        K: How can you watch out for someone...?  Is this a TV program or
radio.  

        I: Yeah, it's for TV. 

        K: Right, I see. 

        S. Tech: Ok, Kate ready. 

        K: Hi, I'm Kate Bush and why don't you watch out for me on radio 1990.
 

        S. Tech: Ok, can we do it once again without the "why don't you". 
Just "watch" 

        K: "Watch."

        S. Tech: [Mumbles something Kate repeats]

        K: Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Watch out for me on radio 1990. 

        I: Ok, and now "Hi I'm Kate Bush.  Watch for my video NEXT on Radio
1990"

        K: Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Watch out for my video next on Radio 1990. 

        I: Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Watch for my video coming up next on Heartlight
City. 

        K: Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Watch out for my video coming up next on
Heartlinnnnnnnnne ... City! 

        S. Tech: Heartlight City. 

        K: Yes. 

        S. Tech: OK? 

        K: Yes.  Hi, I'm Kate Bush.  Why don't you watch out for my video
coming up next on Heartlight City! 

        I: Perfect.  And now the main question of the day [S. Tech Laughs]. 
Hi, I'm Kate Bush and what I like best about a man is..... Or what attracts me
most about a man is......

        K: I'll have to put it that way?? 

        I: Well, no.  You can put it into your own words. 

        K: Right. And you want I say "Hi, I'm Kate Bush...".  

        I: Yeah. 

        K: Hi, I'm Kate Bush and the kind of man I like is a gently spoken
Englishman.  

        S. Tech: Fine. 

        K: Can, I go? 

        S. Tech: Fine. 

        K: Thank you. 

[Kate musses with microphone]


                





UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd ucsd nosc}!crash!pnet01!rhill
ARPA: crash!pnet01!rhill@nosc.mil
INET: rhill@pnet01.cts.com