Stand Up Interview

[GRAHAM.G.R.DOMBKINS@BHPMELMSM.BHP.bhpmel04.telememo.au]

Hi All!

    I finally got around to transcribing that interview. So, here it is for all
who are interested in this kind of thing. [Ron, I REALLY hope that this
interview hasn't been seen before!]

====

Stand Up & Talk
Kate Bush
Limited Edition Interview Picture Disc
run size: 1500
Standup 2

Side A:
[33rpm record single. The has been formed around a B/W picture of Kate lifted
from the WOW video clip. The strange shape allows it to be sloted into a stand
provided, this lets it be displayed 'standing up'.]

Side B:
Stand Up & Talk
Standup 2

Kate Bush

    Limited edition interview picture Disc. Play at 33rmp. A plinth is included
to enable Kate to stand up. To fit, simply fit the flat area of this disc into
the slit on the plinth. Put on a shelf & drool.

The Interview:
---
<Roger> Kate Bush and the Sensual World. Title track from the new album. ...
Let me just say hello, hello Kate!

<Kate> Hello Roger, it's lovely to see you again!

<R> And you too!

<R> You've obviously ... got the difference here between SEN-SU-AL and
SEX-SU-AL, which I probably think that most of us confuse these two words. So
what is the difference as you see it?

<K> Well I think the Sensual World is, um, talking specifically about the
context of that within the song ... And, er, the song is about someone from a
book who steps out from this very black and white two-dee world into the real
world. And, the idea was that the immediate impression was the sensuality of
this world. The fact that you can touch things, that it is so sensual, that,
you know the ... the colours of trees, that the feel of the grass on the feet
... you know the touch of this in the hand. The fact that it -is- such a
sensual world, and um ... I think that for me that's an -incredibly- important
thing about this planet, that we are surround by such sensuality and yet we
tend not to see it like that. But, I sure for someone who'd never experienced
it before it would be a quite devastating thing <chuckle>

<R> Those church bells on the front, -that's- a sensual sound, to me.

<K> I love the sound of church bells. I think they are extraordinary, and ...
such a sound of celebration ... and originally the bells were put there, um ...
because originally the lyrics of the song were taken from the book "Uylsses" by
James Joyce, the words at the end of the book by Molly Bloom. And we couldn't
get permission to use the words. I tried for a -long- time, probably about a
year, and they wouldn't let me use them. So, I had to then actually create
something that sounded like the original words. Had the same rhythm. The same
kind of feel, but obviously not being able to use them, um ... and so it all
kind of turned into this pastiche of it, and that's why the book character,
Molly Bloom, then steps out into the real world and becomes one of us.

<R> When you start out on a project like this, ... years ago, and you've got
all these bits of songs and ideas, do you have any idea ... how it's going to
turn out in the end? Do you have something in your mind?

<K> No. No I don't think I do. And, um, I think just the thought of finishing
the album sometimes feels so far away that, um, I-I-I don't know how it's going
to sound when it's all put together. I have an idea of how it will be in my
head, but it isn't really something I can see from the beginning at all. It's a
long journey! <laughs>

<R> There's no idea of a any, sort of, -big- thought you want to get across or
a feeling that you want it to ... transmit to people as they listen to it?

<K> Do you know, I think if I could be that sure of something like that at the
beginning of an album I don't think it would take me so long to make an album
... she says ha ha ha <laughs> But I think a lot of ... the problem for me is
when I can't just start an album. I want it to be different from the album
before. So I have to try and start from somewhere new, start from scratch. And
it always feels likes its the first album I'm making, and it always feels like
I've never sung before, and never written a song before, and "God, how did I do
this?" you know, "Do I really do this?" And, I suppose gradually ... um ...
after a -tremendous- amount of doubt, I end up starting to get a sense of what
I do want to say. But I definitely don't have this at the beginning. And maybe
the album in a way, ... that whole process of making an album, is perhaps that
for me. It's actually trying to find out what I want to say -now-, and it's
only at the end of the album I think I discover that.

<K> [Kate mumbles something that I can't pick up as Roger goes on to his next
question]

<R> So what have you discovered?

<K> Um ... well ... I think if there's anything thematic on this album, cause
it's not conceptual at all (they're very separate songs), it's maybe saying to
people "Look if you're in a really bad situation, if you feeling really down,
if things are really awful. ... It's ok", you know, "try not to be too unhappy,
maybe try talking to someone", you know, "try getting out a bit", you know ...
Because, you know, you should be happy and it's alright. Maybe it's trying to
be comforting. I mean, -that- ideally, I can't think of anything that would
move me more, then to think that someone might listen to that album and
actually get ... some kind of comfort from it. I mean, -that- would just be
fantastic for me. So hey <laughing> I hope it can help somebody! <laughs>

<R> But as with -most- of your work, you get feeling, as you listen to these
songs, a sort of feeling of ... something ... threatening ... behind it all. A
bit of menus. Something a little ... um ... "things that go bump in the night".
I don't know, is that something that you, um, want to be in there? That people
feel slightly threatened.

<K> Um ... That's a very good question and other people have said to me that
they think this album is very dark. Although, um, for me I think er...
<chuckle> I think it's my happiest album really. <laughs> And I find some of
the tracks quite funny, where other people say they find them .. scary. So, er
... whether I have a dark sense of humour, I don't know. Maybe um ... maybe it
is a subconscious thing that just goes into my music because, I think when I
was writing this album, ... that was perhaps something I was feeling a little.
A sense of ... being a bit scared, you know, maybe it comes out in the music. I
do think it's a very big ... self therapy thing now. The more I work on an
album the more I think it's actually ... almost a process for me to try and
heal myself. Have a look at myself, do you know what I mean? Actually a very
selfish thing in a way. But I think art is. I do think this is what ...
artistic people are trying to do. Is, sort of work through their problems
through their art, you know, look at themselves, confront all these things. Do
you think that is.., <Roger makes affirmative noises> does that sound ok to
you? You..?

<R> Oh yes! Sounds very reasonable. So these are all your problems, on this
record <Kate starts laughing> Which you've now got rid of and you've saddled
the rest of us with.

<K> I think it is with every album. Yes, and maybe because, er ... this album
... is the most personal one yet for me. Yes maybe ... it's more obvious.

<R> The most personal? Why.. How did it.. How did that come about?

<K> Not that the album is written about me. Not that it's autobiographical. But
it is the most direct process I have ever made an album in. Um ... It's in my
own studio. I had a lot of time so not to be under pressure by outside forces
time. Um ... I done most of.. well I recorded the whole album with Del. So it's
just myself and Del, in a very close relationship. Working together very
intensely. And um ... it was hard for me to write this album. To actually write
the songs was very difficult. And um ... for the first time really I went
through a patch where I just couldn't write. I didn't know what I wanted to
say. You know, maybe a little like we touched on a little earlier, just
-didn't- know what I wanted to say. Everything seemed like rubbish! You know,
It had.. It seemed to have no meaning what-so-ever. And um ... somehow, I
managed to get a sense of ... some meaningfulness, and that's why earlier I
said, I think, to me now albums are perhaps a way of helping myself but maybe
helping other people too. To work through my problems maybe will help other
people work through their problems. You know, maybe, um ... that's the
meaningfulness of art is that once you've got over your selfish work, within
it, you can then give it to other people,  and hopefully, you know, it might at
least make them smile or something, you know.

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    I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did typing it all in ;-) Later...

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