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the Reaching Out (Interviews) Table of Contents
Kate on "π"
BBC Radio 2
The Ken Bruce Show
October 31, 2005
Ken Bruce: Not long ago we played "King of the Mountain", Kate Bush's new single, and that of course comes from her long awaited new album "Aerial", her 8th studio album, her first since 1993. It's our album of the week, a track from that each day this week. And what's more, some words from Kate Bush herself, starting with today's track which is about Pi! As in the magical, mathematical number. Why write a track about pi? Kate Bush explains:
Kate: I really like the challenge of singing numbers,
as opposed to words because numbers are so unemotional as a lyric to sing and it
was really fascinating singing that. Trying to sort of, put an emotional element
into singing about...a seven...you know and you really care about that nine. I
find numbers fascinating, the idea that nearly everything can be broken down
into numbers, it is a fascinating thing; and i think also that we are completely
surrounded by numbers now, in a way that we weren't you know even 20, 30 years
ago we're all walking around with mobile phones and numbers on our foreheads
almost; and it's like you know computers...
I suppose, um, I find it fascinating that there are people who actually spend
their lives trying to formulate pi; so the idea of this number, that, in a way
is possibly something that will go on to infinity and yet people are trying to
pin it down and put their mark on and make it theirs in a way I guess also i
think you know you get a bit a lot of connection with mathematism and music
because of patterns and shapes...
Kate on "Mrs. Bartolozzi"
BBC Radio 2
The Ken Bruce Show
November 1, 2005
Ken Bruce: Kate Bush, today's track is called "Mrs.
Bartolozzi" and, it might appear, at first hearing this track, that Kate has
something of a fascination with washing machines. No honestly. Or does she? Can
this track really be about a washing machine?
Kate: I don't know? Is It? Is it about a washing machine? I think
it's a song about Mrs. Bartolozzi.
She's this lady in the song who...does a lot of washing (laughs).
It's not me, but I wouldn't have written the song if I didn't spend a lot of
time doing washing. But, um, it's fictitious.
I suppose, as soon as you have a child, the washing suddenly increases. And uh,
what I like too is that a lot of people think it's funny. I think that's great,
because I think that actually, it's one of the heaviest songs I've ever written!
(laughs)
I like the idea of...
...clothes are...very interesting things, aren't they? Because they say such an
enormous amount about the person that wears them. They have a little bit of that
person all over them, little bits of skin cells and...what you wear says a lot
about who you are, and who you think you are...
So I think clothes, in themselves are very interesting. And then it was the idea
of this woman, who's kind of sitting there looking at all the washing going
around, and she's got this new washing machine, and the idea of these clothes,
sort of tumbling around in the water, and then the water becomes the sea and the
clothes...and the sea...and the washing machine and the kitchen...
I just thought it was an interesting idea to play with.
What I wanted to get was the sense of this journey, where you're sitting in
front of this washing machine, and then almost as if in a daydream, you're
suddenly standing in the sea.
Kate on the word "Aerial" and the album in
general
BBC Radio 2
The Ken Bruce Show
November 2, 2005
Ken Bruce: The album of the week is "Aerial", from Kate Bush, and today's track is entitled "How To Be Invisible". First though, some words from Kate Bush herself on why she's called the album "Aerial", and how pleased she is with the record:
Kate: What I liked about the word was that it's got so
many levels to it. It actually means "of the air", and, you know, also I always
have an image of aerials suggesting height, as well so, it felt like it worked
very well for the second disc.
Uh, now with the sort of theme of birds...
...and also an aerial is something that collects and gives out sound waves, and
we've all got aerials connected to our televisions and our mobile phones.
I just thought it was an interesting word that had lots of puns.
I'm so excited about it coming out. It took so long to make, I just thought I
was never going to finish it. It just took so long to try and piece it all
together, and try and make it work and...so many times, I just thought I wasn't
going to have the energy or the strength to just to try and finish it.
It's a fantastic relief, to have it all done. When I first finished, I felt I
had been let out of good behavior. And it's great because I can do other things,
and the response from other people has been so positive - I'm so excited.
I think I did worry about there being such a long gap, I was worried that...I
suppose, you know, in some ways, without wanting to sound sentimental, I was
worried that people would forget about me. And actually, I think, quite the
reverse.
Kate on "Bertie"
BBC Radio 2
The Ken Bruce Show
November 3, 2005
Ken Bruce: Kate of course has a young son these days,
who's name is Bertie. In fact, today's track is all about him. It's
call..."Bertie", unsurprisingly. Apart from this track though, how much did
having a child influence Kate's writing on the record?
Kate: I think it's all over it. He's such a big part of my life
so, you know, he's a very big part of my work. It's such a great thing, being
able to spend as much time with him as I can. And, you know, he won't be young
for very long. And already he's starting to grow up and I wanted to make sure I
didn't miss out on that, that I spent as much time with his as I could.
So, the idea was that he would come first, and then the record would come next,
which is also one reasons why it's taken a long time (laughs)
It always takes me a long time anyway, but trying to fit that in around the
edges that were left over from the time that I wanted to spend with him.
It's a wonderful thing, having such a lovely son. Really, you know with a song
like that, you could never be special enough from my point of view, and I wanted
to try and give it an arrangement that wasn't terribly obvious, so I went for
the sort of early music...
Kate on "Sunset"
BBC Radio 2
The Ken Bruce Show
November 4, 2005
Ken Bruce: Time now for the final track from this week's album of the week. As you know, as you very well know, is the new album from Kate Bush called Ariel, her first release since The Red Shoes way that was way back in 1993. Today, we're going to play a track from the new album, course aerial, it's called sunset. The first of all though, Kate has some thoughts on why we've had to wait so long for new album from her
Kate: I suppose when I finished the last record, I
really didn't want to go straight back in and make another one. I thought I'd
take a year out... that's what I thought. I think I'm after about a year I
decided really that it was just something I wanted to kind of stay with a bit
longer. I suppose really since I was about 17 or 18. I'd gone and made a record
come out of the studio, promoted it, and gone straight back in to do the next
one. And because they take such a long time, there's the impression that
there's, you know, there's these big gaps where I'm not doing anything. But with
a lot of those records, I was actually working on on them for a long time...and
its it's quite an intense process. And I think it got to the point, at the end
of the last one, where I just thought... I don't want, I don't want to just go
straight in and just do another one. I want to just take a break, and do some
other stuff.
Why does it take so long? The actual writing is normally very quick. With a lot
of them, what I do is go in and just write straight onto tape. So I don't know,
it just sort of comes together. It's a bit different, with piano vocal tracks,
where I would just...that would be written at the piano as opposed to written
onto tape. And then once I've written it I I'd just put on put it onto tape. So
that's a different process, because that's the way I'd always to write, when I
was a little girl really. I used to just sit at the piano and write the songs.
And in a way, it was like I was the tape machine, I guess.
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"The pull and the push of it all..." - Kate Bush
Reaching Out
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Marvick - Hill
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Mapes
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Grepel - Love-Hounds
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