Cloudbusting -- Kate Bush In Her Own Words

1985

There's not a title yet, that's always one of the last things to happen, if not the last thing. And really I think most of the songs are about love. I was feeling very happy when I wrote most of these songs and I wanted to try to get a positive attitude as apposed to the darker, anguished attitude that was a part of some of the tracks on the last album. (1985, March 15, The New Music)

The press finds it very difficult, I mean, to dig up juicy news items on you and they're trying hard all the time. I mean there was a rumor that one of the reasons why you've been away from the scene for quite a long time is that you've risen to eighteen stone!

Yes...

Ridiculous, isn't it? How do they come up with these things?

I think when you don't give people anything they make things up. I think it's very flattering on lots of levels, the fact that people are still concerned about writing about me, the fact that they still remember me and are hanging on to me. It's very flattering. (1985, Profile 6)

If somebody asks you to do a benefit concert, or if you'd been asked to do live aid, would you have done that?

Yes, I would. I don't think there's anyone that would have said no, unless they had to. A really important reason.

Even though you hadn't actually performed live for a long, long time, you would have still done it?

It's hard to say. I wasn't asked, but I would have said yes, I'm sure. (1985, Picture Disk)

Is the album you're working on [ hounds of love] going to be a departure from the dreaming, or is it a continuation of the ideas you developed there?

It's difficult for me to say, really. I think it is different from The Dreaming. When I sit down and write songs for a new album, that's one of the things that's important to me - that it's at least somehow different and hopefully interesting. (1985, Keyboard)

So she's been away, writing, dancing, building a studio, making a slow, involved, neatly epic new album, watching videos, thinking...

There was some re-evaluation, yes. Taking so long a break made me realise what was important - which was my work, much more than being famous. I did think it would be harder coming back. Actually, it's quite exciting coming out to a Brand New World, meeting people, not being locked away... Communication's a really important thing.

The phrase drifts out like a wisp of smoke; She says it to herself as much as to me.

Did you miss it at all?

Actually... no, I didn't. (Blitz, 1985)

Well, I really think things could change for you very profoundly in the autumn [Of 1985].

They are going to! I think everything is going to be different by October or so, yes. Things are really starting to happen and change, already, things are very positive in the record company with this album. But if I can avoid it, I do not want to get caught up in a long drawn-out promotion thing that would keep me away from the creative side of things. Because the longer I work on promotion, then in a way th harder it is for me to get back to doing what I really like doing - recording. We do work in a very isolated way, you know, most of the time it is just three of us in the control-room: the engineer, Del, and myself, say. And then suddenly to go out into the world to do promotion is quite a culture-shock. There are really a lot of people out there, and to walk into a room with perhaps a few hundred people in it and they are all looking at you, it is a very different world! And it is all a bit unreal, it tends to get a bit scary sometimes.

Well, then, will you promise us that you won't keep us waiting another three years for the next album?

I would never like to break a promise. But I would like to say that the next one should be a lot quicker. (1985, Musician)

When you launched the album, you had a laser show at the london planetarium (giggle).

Yes. [Laughing] Were you there?

Yes, I was. Why did you do that?

That was actually an idea of the record company's. They wanted to launch the album, which I was into, and I think it was their idea to use the laserium so that it would be something special. I thought what the guy did was incredibly impressive. I actually didn't realize that lasers could do quite so many different things.

So you were in agreement with it.

Yeah, it seemed like a good idea [Laughs]. (1985, Picture Disk)

Flashes flashed and hacks hacked, and next week the music papers took the piss. One victim was brilliant's youth, there to celebrate his bacon-bass contribution to ``the bigsky's_'' primal undertow. Legless on the free booze, he was easy prey for star-spotting gossipers, who snickered that he'd called del a wally. The brillo man was outraged ("I'll sue!").

For a rare moment kate's hackles bucked: It surprises me that people can put such an incredible amount of energy into such negative stuff. They can be so wicked. I got the impression that that was getting at several people at one go. Definitely a bitch-off. It was very upsetting for del as well. He never even talked to the person who quoted him. You have to accept yourself as a target, but it's really upsetting when they get to people around you, because they don't deserve to get stick.

Del's never come out with me before. People can be very rude - but that singles out an area of this business that people should really start marching against. It's such a shame, because this business is very special, and so many people get hurt and abused.

I do get a bit scared of exposure. That's the thing that frightens me - coming out of work and saying [Cheesy grin] ``Here's the new album!'' It's a bit frightening - how exposed you are suddenly everywhere, being on the side of a bus when it goes past... I hate that! You have to laugh at it to survive. (1985, ZigZag)

...Away from the business for three years. You then come back and have had a number one album. Then again can I ask you how you react to that, with people saying, ``whatever happened to kate bush?'' Is that a bonus?

Yeah, it's really good, isn't it? It is! It's great!

Unexpected?

Yes, a lovely surprise, and what's really good is that I felt that what really does matter to people is music, good music, music that has thought and care put into it and not necessarily an image or a fashion - you know, the so-called ``fickle public'' I would very much like to think that if you want to put a lot of work into something and mean it, that's what people are attracted to, not the image and all that stuff that is superfluous [Pronounces the word ``super-flu'-ous"] - Wait... How do you say it?

Su-per'-fluous!

Yes! Superfluous. (1985, Homeground)

Did you fall off your chair, kate?

Yeah, I was surprised, but it's such a good reward for all that time you spent. You just do the best you can, and if it doesn't work, then fair enough. (1985, ZigZag)

Many congratulations on the success of the album hounds of love and of course the singles which have also been very successful. How are you coping with the success this time around - are you finding it a lot easier than the `` wuthering heights'' days?

Yes and no, I mean it's easier 'cos it's something I've experienced before, so I don't have the trauma of going into things that are totally unknown, but on the other hand I think it's just as hard coming out of such an intense working period which is very private now, ie working in the studio on an album, where maybe we're in the studio constantly for a year, say, and then I come out into the whole world of promotion. and it can be just a bit scary I think, it's a bit daunting coming from such a private existence to such a public one.

Is how you cope with the press, because I know you've talked about them in the past and haven't been too happy with the whole situation of promotion.

I don't... I don't really enjoy promoting. It's something that I do for my work. I feel that, obviously that when you spend a lot of time working on something, it's only right that you come out and let people know that the album's there. I don't feel that ever, hopefully, I'm not promoting myself, but the work. I'm being the saleswoman for the record or the video or whatever it is at the time. (1985, Profile 6)

Has it surprised you that you've had this instant success once again? Were you at all worried that people might have forgotten about kate bush?

I think what you worry about is that people don't like what you've worked on hard. I mean, again, I don't feel it's me that people are responding to directly, it's myself through the expression of music and the work. And I can't tell you how rewarding it is that people do receive this so warmly. (1985, Profile 6)

I think it's brilliant because it's the music that's done [??? Got] nothing to do with image and doing great publicity stunts. I've been quiet for a while and I don't feel an image can sustain that amount of time. (1985, ZigZag)

It is frustrating for me to spend so much time over one thing. It does become tedious, but you know you have to do it. I never know how long those things are going to take. Once it takes over, it has a life of its own.

The main thing for me has been evolving with the production. Now I don't have to compromise with other people, and that's brilliant because you can explore things. It can seem like what you're doing is mad. It's not until a few hours later that it seems like it could work. You need to be in control to get away with that stuff!

That time I took off in '83 was reorganising everything. I've made some of the best decisions in the last two years. That's good, because I really did feel that what mattered was getting the work right. You do wonder sometimes about your intentions. When you come out into the world and they're all laying different things on you - if you spend too long you can get shell-shocked and retreat, wondering who you are.

I have to retreat and go back to the work, because that's what matters. Work just obsesses my life, and everyone around me is dragged into it. It's terrible, really. I don't go out much or socialize - I don't have time. (1985, ZigZag)

I was putting a lot of thought into the video things even before we started recording the album. I wanted to find the right people to work with. That was the only time I got off to plan things. So I did things like find a fantastic new dance teacher called Dyane Grey. We did the choreography together for the last single. All this is very relevant to what we're doing now. The problem is, I'm still trying to work on creative things like videos and twelve-inches and things, but you have to let people know commercially, as well. Everything's gone so well, but it really is little me on the end, trying to keep up with it all. (1985, ZigZag)

A logical step would be a full-scale movie, yes?

It's a choice between two things I'd like to do next as a major project. Either a tour... But what I'd really like to do is put The Ninth Wave into film. That would easily be as time-consuming as a tour. I just don't know if I'd be able to get it off the ground. It's all talk and it might never happen. (1985, ZigZag)

Since the end of the album so much has been happening. The way the music has been received is so rewarding. It has been very busy: promoting the album is important, and has eaten up a lot of time.

The visits to America and Canada were lots of fun. Everyone seemed so positive about this album. It is nice to think people in different parts of the world are listening to ideas you might have had in the bath!

The difference in the attitudes of the journalists was very apparent: a lot of the interviews were conversational, and their enthusiasm endless. We did one in-store appearance in New York [Tower records, 4th and broadway, november 1985] and it was a very moving experience. There were so many people there that they went around the corner of the street. Everyone was so considerate and well behaved that even the New York Police commented on how unusual this was. It was wonderful to meet you all, and we were very taken by your warmth and all the presents you gave - thank you.

The trip to the U.S.A. and Canada was very busy, and coming back to the Convention [November 30] was one of the nicest ways to be welcomed home. It was lovely to see you. I recognised so many smiling faces - I just wish we'd had the time to talk as well as smile at each other. Next time, huh? [Kate actually tried to make the next ``convention"-- a ``video-party'' held in london in october 1986 - a more intimate occasion, but so many people showed up that casual conversation became quite impossible. - ied]

It looks like this album is intending to have maximum mileage in terms of four single releases. It is interesting how ``singles'' now involve much more time and effort - not the a-sides themselves, but the ``accessories'' that now accompany them. A single is not even released now until the video and the twelve-inch are ready; and with the twelve-inch is needed at least a second b-side. Also, if time and ideas allow, all these things should be presentable. I feel a particular obligation, with the artwork of the seven-inch and twelve-inch, that it should at least be interesting; and the same with the video: visuals are important, and with so many images being thrown at people from every side, it can be difficult to come up with ideas. (1986, KBC 19)

I was just wondering how much communication there is between kate and the bush camp and emi america? Maybe specificly concerning mtv not showing the original video of `` running up that hill''

Yes, that's quite interesting. There has now been [??? Some] good communications because we just came back from America. Where the reaction to Kate's music was good, very positive. And Canada too. And I think the high point of that was the personal appearance at Tower Records in New York, which surprised not only us but the record company and the people who run the store. On all levels, because the people went right around the block which they hadn't expected. They'd got a lot of police to police it, when they didn't need to, everybody was very well behaved. And the enthusiasm of the fans and, well you all know this anyway, took them by surprise. And I think it also made them see that there's a much bigger market and that's all their interested in, is making money. They saw a much bigger market potential because there were people from 15 to 50 queuing. And they'd never been able to isolate a Kate Bush fan and in a sense they still couldn't. But you could see with all the signs moving round and round [Laughter] [??? Inaudible]. So I think communications with them are much better, yeah. (1985, Kate Bush Con. Paddy and Jay Interview)

So now, with a remixed seven-inch and twelve-inch of ``Big Sky", we are armed with time, hopefully, to not rush the video; but somehow other things always come up, and it seems no matter how long you have to get something done, time always speeds up at the end of the process, and there you are rushing again! (1986, KBC 19)

What do you think you'll do next?

I don't know, it's a very strange point in time for me here, where I'm in the middle of promoting the album. And we'll be making videos for the next singles next year. And sometime during this period I have to decide what I'm going to do next. There are a few things that attract me equally. Going straight into another album is something that I have a lot of enthusiasm about. And perhaps turning the conceptual side of this album into a film, is an idea I'm toying with. So, I'm not sure, we'll have to see what I'm feeling like at the beginning of next year. (1985, Good Rockin Tonight)

Gaffaweb / Cloudbusting / Story / 1985