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Date: Thu, 23 May 91 02:10:44 PDT
From: rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald
Hill)
Subject: Profiles in Rock interview by Doug Pringle, December 1980
Profiles In Rock Interview
Profiles in Rock: interview by Doug Pringle, CITY-TV, Toronto (Canada), December 1980.
This programme features a rather substantial videotaped interview with Kate, apparently shot at her family's home. It is split up into small segments, punctuated by several of Kate's official videos. [Transcribed and edited by Ronald Hill]
A - Announcer
I - Interviewer
K - Kate
A: Welcome to Profiles in Rock. Doug Pringle's guest this week is British recording superstar Kate Bush.
K: Music is absolutely the priority for me, and that, um, I must always keep that priority.
A: Kate Bush left school at sixteen and immediately began her recording career. Barely twenty-three years old with platinum records worldwide, Kate's star is only beginning to shine.
I: Is there a special thing about the recording of the first album?
K: Yes, I think there would be with anyone who was recording their first album, if they had be waiting for it for years, which I had. I'd been... That was the one thing I wanted to do, it meant everything. To record an album was just like, God, you know, oh yeah!
I: How did you react to the, quote, sudden success? It must have come as a bit of a surprise at least.
K: Yes. Oh it was an incredible surprise. You know, you think, "Well I'd like it to get in the charts," and it gets in the charts and you think, "Great! It's in the charts!" And next week it's still in the charts and it's going up. And I mean the last thing I thought was, "No, it will never do it...you know - top five - noooo." Top five! And each time you think, "My God, it's just not going to do it." In fact the morning it got there someone I hadn't met for a couple of years rang me up and said, "Congratulations!" and I didn't understand what he was talking about and he said, "Oh, you're now number one," and I just went, "Wow!" [Laughs]
[The Wuthering Heights video is played]
I: What's the story behind Wuthering Heights?
K: Which Wuthering Heights, because ah...
I: Your Wuthering Heights.
K: My Wuthering Heights.
I: Yes.
K: Well that was based around the story Wuthering Heights, which was written by Emily Bronte. And ah, and really what sparked that off was a TV thing I saw as a young child. I just walked into the room and caught the end of this program. And I am sure one of the reasons it stuck so heavily in my mind was because of the spirit of Cathy and as a child I was called Cathy, it later changed to Kate. It was just a matter of exaggerating all my bad areas, because she's a really vile person, she's just so headstrong and passionate and ... crazy, you know? And it was fun to do, and it took a night and a half?
I: Even adding to the more traditional talents that you have is that of video artist. What kind of importance do you attach to the video of the song? It seems to me that it becoming more and more one of the same thing almost, its almost a part of that initial, original creation.
K: Yes, it is getting closer, but I haven't actually managed that yet, where the point I'm actually writing the song I can see it all. And I think the reason is, because um, when I write the song, although I'm visualizing it, its quite a different thing because it's so real. Like if I writing a song about another person, I really try to become that person, so I'd be totally different. When you create the videos you tend to use a more theatrical approach, rather than the real thing. So maybe that's one reason.
They are getting closer. I find it gets easier with most of them to create the visual ideas. Sometimes its harder, it really does depend on the song. Because the song lays down every key move, who you are, what you wear, what color the set is, you know. Its really the song dictates it all.
And I think a great deal of my stimulus now comes from visuals -television. I'm one of the television generation, you know, where, a televisions in my house from, I can't remember where there wasn't one here. And I was always in front of the television, instead of doing my homework. I wasn't off reading books, I was watching television. And cinema, that's still a very big treat for me to go and see a film. So all the stimulus comes rushing in and I pack it away in the back. And it will come out maybe a couple of years later.
I: What's your most successful video to date, in your opinion?
K: From an artistic point of view, definitely Army Dreamers.
[Army Dreamers is played]
K: For me that's the closest that I've got to a little bit of film. And it was very pleasing for me to watch the ideas I'd thought of actually working beautifully. Watching it on the screen. It really was a treat, that one. I think that's the first time ever with anything I've done I can actually sit back and say "I liked that". That's the only thing. Everything else I can sit there going "Oh look at that, that's out of place." So I'm very please with that one, artistacly.
[Part of Egypt is played over pictures from Lionheart]
I: Do you enjoy being famous?
K: I don't think I enjoy being famous. You see famous is on of those words, isn't it, it's so created. Sometimes, it's a buzz, being honest, sometimes it really is a buzz. But alot of the time it embarrasses me, it makes me feel awkward with the people I'm with, because they get embarrassed. But its something I'm learning to accept. They're just saying hello in there own way.
I: How important are material things to you, and do you enjoy having money?
K: I think I've just started enjoying money. It's very useful. But I'd like to think that I don't depend on it. Alot of things I do do, like an album, without money I wouldn't be able to record an album. But I would still be able to write the songs again. But you know there is something great about making an album.
I: Is there one material thing above all others that you don't have right now, that you would like to have?
K: No, nothing material, no.
I: Is there anything else, spiritual or otherwise, that you don't have?
K: Oh yeah! Now that's a completely different area. That's huge. You see the material is so superficial, and it really doesn't matter. What it's good for is comforts. And it can help you sorta get things done quicker, that sort of thing. The other side is the real side, that's the real riches of your life. And I've got a long long way to go there, I mean spiritually, as a person. And a lot of things in my behavior pattern that I would love to change. So that I could...
I: What?
K: Very personal things. I don't really you could even put a label on them, little behavior things that I know I do that are stopping me from doing more things. Like maybe a certain kind of laziness I have about certain things - I think oh no [MAKES LAZY MOTION]. If I could make the effort again in these little areas I could be getting more. Things like that.
[The Babooshka video is shown]
I: What's been the lowest point in your life?
K: In my life! The worst moments are when I've lost people that have meant something to me, when people have died. They're definitely the worst moments. It's probably just the selfish feelings of why you miss a person. You want them to be with you again, you want them more and they're not there. [MAKES OK SIGN] Because probably where they've gone, they're really having a good time. It you want to look at it, death, in a way, should be looked on as the greatest thing that's ever going to happen to you.
[The Hammer Horror Video is shown]
I: How do you see the decade of the 80s?
K: I think a lot is gonna happen. A lot that hasn't happened for maybe thirty, forty years. There's so much building up. And looking at the music business, especially the end of this year, I've never known so many top acts bringing out albums, all of them. And it seemed reflective of how bad a year we'd had. It's almost like all that really bad, negative energy has made all the creative people go, "right, I'm going to channel it and write it down." And it helps, cause if you've got lots of really good music to listen to then it helps you too, you know. You listen to it and think "yeah!!! I can channel it to." So its all up to us, this ten years, it really is. Its up to all the human beings alive, to do what they can, isn't it?
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