^^^^^ Never For Ever Interview Boot PART I ^&^^^^^^^^^

[rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)]

Never For Ever Interview Boot

[Transcribed by Ron Hill, thanks to IED for providing the tape.] 


        This is an interview from the Never For Ever period. [I can't 
find the details on the name, etc.]
        It appears to be set in a restaurant like setting, as it is 
frequently interrupted.


        I: Hm. ..really that Sounds piece, particularly, I mean they 
seem to be taking you more seriously, and your lyrics more seriously, 
and analyzing them more seriously then perhaps frequently happens.

        K: Yes....

        I: I mean is this something that you'd like to happen more?

        K: It's lovely for me, it really is, yeah, because it gives me 
more chance to voice myself as an artist, because I don't really 
consider myself a personality as such and I'd much rather talk about my 
work and what inspires it, rather then myself, you know.  So it is nice 
for me. 

        I: Yes.  Do you think... Do you sort of hope...  I mean is that 
something that disappointed you up to now perhaps that people have 
concentrated on you as a personality.. more then the..
        
        K: No, it hasn't disappointed me 'cause, you know, some people 
say "how do I feel about the way the press has treated me?"  And I 
think that really, in all honesty, they've been so good to me, right 
from the beginning.  Especially the Dailies.. [Interruption] Oh, ok.

        I: And do you think this LP does sort of take your lyrics and 
things into a sort of area...

        K: ...Yeah, I think that...

        I: ...perhaps that should be more seriously considered then 
before?  Or do you think that people maybe be just noticing them more?

        K: Yes, I think probably they're noticing them more, perhaps 
because now I'm becoming a more established artist.  That with the 
third album, you suddenly become just that little more established.  
And I do hope that people are starting to take me more seriously, now 
that they hear that I do write the songs, which a lot of people didn't 
know before now, and that I'm helping in production, this sort of 
thing.  I really think it helps people to take you more seriously.  But 
I've never been disappointed with how the press have treated me, 
because I've always been so surprised at how good they've been, because 
it's so easy for them, you know, to say "oh, let's just not bother with 
this one and say something nasty." It's very easy for them to do that.  
And I really appreciate that they've held back.

        I: What nasty things are you surprised that they haven't said? 

        K: Well it's not nastiness, it's an attitude of putting someone 
down that is becoming very popular in the press.  Probably not so much 
the nationals as the music press.  But there is always an attitude of 
either sensationalism or putting down or a slight distortion just so as 
it's more interesting for the readers, obviously.  And therefore I 
think it does take more time for the journalist, it takes more trouble, 
if they are positive, because it means that they have to look for...

        I: .. something good.

        K: Yeah.

        I: It's always easier to say something nasty about somebody 
then to say something good about them, I must admit...

        K: Yes, it is..

        I: ... I'm always [??? inaudible]

        K: ...yeah right.  And I really appreciate the effort that they 
took, it's really nice.

        I: Hm.  On this particular album, I mean if you... you know, if 
somebody hadn't really heard it as yet, which obviously they wouldn't 
have done if [??? inaudible] what would you sort of point to as 
particularly areas which you feel particularly enthused about. 

        K: Well, I think musically, something I'd like them to notice I 
suppose is that there's more space.  That it's a freer sound, I hope, 
that there is actually more room for the song to come through in it's 
own entity, rather then being full of arrangements, perhaps too full, 
that I'd thought happened a little on the last album.  So that that 
feeling of space makes a big difference for me.  And I suppose the 
songs are going in a slightly different direction.  I wouldn't call 
them so poppy, I'd call them, I don't know, a bit more emotional I 
suppose, a bit stronger.  But I think they are quite clear for people 
to listen to, like the sounds are free of any heavy arrangement, and I 
think probably it's the first time that people will be able to 
understand what I'm saying more clearly.  

        I: Because there isn't so much music going on and what not?

        K: Yes.  And also because of the songs, they're in a much lower 
key, a lot of them.  And there are words that are much easier to get 
across, so I think people will be able to... In fact maybe that is why 
there has been a sudden interest in the lyrics, that may well explain 
it.

        I: Would it be fair to say, I don't know whether it is fair to 
say, but perhaps they're not so sort of wrapped up in fantasy and so 
forth.  Would that be fair to say?

        K: Yes, I'd say that, yes.  I think, especially The Kick Inside 
was very, it had a lot of love songs on it, it was very sort of soft 
and friendly.  And although a couple of songs on it were about quite 
real things, it was always enveloped in this fantasy.  And I think that 
was happening a little on this last album, maybe not quite so much, but 
it was still very much there.  And I think that has left a little bit.  
I think the mystery is really something that happens in arrangements 
and the mix of a song.  If you don't bring things forward then it can 
all sound very mysterious.  And I think we were going for a much more 
real, down to earth sound, something much warmer, which is really what 
I wanted, and I'm really pleased that [??? inaudible]

        I: I mean, you see what I was talking about was sort of being 
taken more seriously if you like.  I think perhaps the average man in 
the street might think of you as producing very nice music and all that 
sort of thing, but perhaps think of you as sort of a sort of pretty 
little singer who sings nice songs full of fantasy [Kate laughs] and 
all that sort of thing...

        K: Yes, that's right. 

        I: ...without listening to the lyrics particularly to the 
lyrics.  I mean would you agree with that at all? 

        K: I wouldn't blame them for doing that, because unless they 
read interviews, which are often lengthy, or they really do listen to 
the music carefully, they're bound to think that.  But I think maybe 
people are starting to see... I mean, I'm changing too, I mean I'm 
starting to grow up in a lot of ways.  In many ways my first album was 
quite, I wouldn't say it was naive because I don't think it was, I just 
think it was young.  And I think it was exciting because it was young.  
But I think now it's starting to mature, and I think that's to do with 
the things I'm learning and the way I can feel myself starting to get a 
bit older and it's nice. 

        I: Do you mean sort of in your everyday life as well? 

        K: Yes, I do.  I suppose what I'm really saying is that as you 
learn things, and that's only through time, you get more control, you 
understand things better, you learn the control of things more, and 
that's probably what I'm doing.

        I: Control of what? 

        K: Ah, for instance, the album.  Control of what goes on it, 
when to stop, when to.. You know, just all these things.  It's all 
control - you can always overdo something, you can always underdo it.  
I think that's something you learn, it is part of growing up, you learn 
the control of one's self.  Yeah.  And it's nice, I really like it. 

        I: Yes.  It seems like some of the subjects on the record are 
quite, well, I mean they're not what one would expect from a little 
girl singer.  I mean, there's the one about kissing the child, or 
something, isn't there, for example?

        K: Yes.

        I: That seems to go into... I mean what is that song about, 
would you say? 

        K: Well, did you ever see the film called The Innocents?  I 
can't think who it was by, but it was not a very significant fifties 
English film about a governess who goes to stay and look after two 
children - a little boy and a little girl.  And they're both possessed 
by the spirits of the gardener and the maid that lived in the house 
before.  And in the film they really deal with the haunting, it's a 
very creepy film, fantastic photography.  But it occurred to me that 
there is under the film this theme of the woman and the little boy, 
that I think probably because of the date of the film it was only sort 
of touched on.  And I saw the film years and years ago, but it always 
struck me as how strange and disturbing the thought of that is, the 
idea of a grown man, or the spirit of the grown man inside a tiny child 
who hasn't had time to have any experience yet.  And so the governess - 
in the song I'm being the governess, so that it's intimate, so that 
people understand what she's feeling - she's really worried, because 
she can't understand what's happening, because she can't understand 
what's happening.  Because she loves the little boy maternally, and yet 
there's a man who comes through his eyes, you know, suggesting... [??? 
inaudible]

        I: I mean, the song doesn't actually suggest, does it, that 
it's the spirit...

        K: Well, no, because she doesn't know, you see...

        I: You see, it could be interpreted as a straight-forward 
sudden, sort of...

        K: Yes, this is what it isn't.  Because she's totally torn 
between what she really feels, which is maternal love, and she's really 
worried that she's starting to actually fancy the little boy, but she's 
not, she loves him.  It's this sort of male, adult energy that's coming 
through that is completely distorting the subject, and it's terrifying 
her because she's not perverted, she's very normal and she just loves 
the little boy for him.   And I find that distortion just so 
fascinating, the idea of putting something that's so obvious into 
something that's totally out of place, because normally children are 
always... they're so pure, even if they do wicked things, it seems so 
natural and pure, you know.  It isn't tarnished with things, you know, 
your regrets, your problems, and suddenly that's all put into this 
little boy, who's not had time to get them himself and who's got this 
really hung up man inside, and I find that very sad, really. 
        I: Now, would you say that there are a lot of sort of sexual 
themes in your songs, hanging about or not? 

        K: Yes, I think there probably are.  And I suppose it's because 
it is one of the very basic natural energies.  And in so many ways it's 
connected with music, not necessarily a sexual energy, but just the 
embracing, the communication of music is very like making love.  You 
know, when you play a piano, it's so united, it's such a beautiful 
thing and in many ways I like to think that music and love are very 
similar.  Like that all embracing freedom and sort of abstract energy.

        I: And the sort of elation and so forth.

        K: Absolutely, yeah.
 
        [PART II Whenever I get 'round to it!]

---
rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
NetRunner's Paradise BBS, San Diego CA