interviews

Smash Hits May 1980

Concerning the album Never Forever by Deanne Pearson

Kate is working on her third album which is now scheduled for end of June release. When asked about it, however, she is understandably hesitant.

Kate: "It's difficult to talk about the album without you actually hearing it" in a voice so quiet I worry the tape recorder won't pick it up. "I suppose it's more like the first album, 'The Kick Inside', though, than the second, 'Lionheart', in that the songs are telling stories. "I like to see things with a positive direction, because it makes it so much easier to communicate with the audience or listener. When you see people actually listening to the songs and getting into them, it makes you realise how important it is that they should actually be saying something".

The lyrics on her two previous albums are mainly concerned with love, sex, and relationships. Simple and common subject matter, I suggest, safe and uncontroversial. Kate rightly points out, however, that her lyrics do go into the psychology of the relationships, and analyse what lies under that superficial banner of 'Love', which - no matter how common a theme - is still very important to a lot of people.

Her new album, however, is exploring different avenues. Kate " There are a lot of different songs", she says. "There's no specific theme, but they're saying a lot about freedom, which is very important to me" Which is why Kate is also producing the album herself this time, helped by John Kelly who produced "The Kick Inside" and "Lionheart"

"It means I have more control over my album, which is going to make it more rounded, more complete, more me, I hope" Her latest, fifth single is very different to anything Kate has done before, and different to anything on the album, she says. "Breathing" is a dramatic statement about the very real dangers of a possible nuclear disaster in our world. " It's about a baby still in the mother's womb at the time of nuclear fallout, but it's more of a spiritual being", Kate explains, gesticulating with her hands, drawing a picture in the air to demonstrate. "It has all its senses: sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing, and it knows what is going on outside the mother's womb, and yet it wants desperately to carry on living, as we all do of course. "Nuclear fallout is something we're all aware of, and worried about happening in our lives, and it's something we should all take time to think about. We're all innocent, none of us deserve to be blown up". The hopelessness and pointlessness of nuclear fallout is conveyed also in the haunting, ominous melody, which swirls forlornly around Kate's familiar crying vocals. The lyrics are short but to the point, while in the background an officious-sounding broadcast instructs its nation what to do. It seems strange to hear Kate singing about politics, something I associate more with fighting, militant bands such as the Clash and the Stranglers.

Kate is so slight and demure, an extremely artistic person whose aims seem more concerned with entertaining people by taking them away from the outside world and its problems, even for an hour or two. Hers seems a comfortable, almost fairytale success story, Discovered by EMI Records at the age of 16, she was sponsored for a couple of years writing, during which time she continued learning to dance, perform and project herself. Then she was launched into the world of record, music and entertainment business, with it accompanying bright lights and glamour. And here she is, still in EMI's safe, protective cocoon. Kate laughs at this picture of herself 'I think from the outside it does look as if it's been easy for me - if you believe what the media say. But in fact it hasn't.

Everyone thinks - knows, because it's true that you need that lucky break, but what really counts is the determination that has to be there in the beginning. 'Basically it all comes down to personality, you have to be very strong to get where you want in this business. I mean some people have been going ages, like Elkie Brooks, she's amazing' (n.b. the only time in an hour that Kate uses that word). 'Elkie's been knocked down so many times, and yet she always gets up again and fights back. It's the same with me. Because I want to keep going, I can. I don't deny that I've been lucky though'. The determination, just as important as the talent, has always been there, probably even before Kate learnt to play the piano at the age of eight. 'Instead of going out to play with the other children I used to play the piano - it was my way of talking, of expressing myself.' Kate admits she was a fairly solitary child who didn't have many friends, and I wonder if she still is a bit of a loner. It seems rather an odd question when picturing the self-assured performer onstage, away from it all? Is she much of a socialite? 'No, I don't go to parties much, the last one must have been, ooh, Christmas I suppose. When I get home I tend to sleep, especially at the moment because I've been working so hard, or I clean up, wash-up and hoover. I find that very therapeutic. When I've got a lot on my mind I like to get away to something non-taxing. 'I see friends whenever possible too, and watch television, because that's something you can just switch off when you've had enough.' She laughs at having to relate such run of the mill things to prove she's 'normal'. 'I'm not a star,' she says adamantly. 'My name is, but not me. I'm still just me.'

Kate has been cruised for being too pretentious onstage - for not being herself. Patiently She explains what she thinks the critics have missed. 'When I am onstage, I'm projecting. And to do these things well, I have to be big' (She stretches her small, slender frame upright to demonstrate) 'and bold, and full of confidence. And I am, but' (and she plumps down in the seat again), 'It's still little me inside.' Her performance, she says, is not contrived; it's just how she feels at the time. 'I mean, you can't go onstage and simper, and be timid and shy,' she continues. 'You've got to be big and strong and give your audience everything you've got, reveal your emotions, be romantic, transport them into another world, so they're in tune with you. 'That requires an awful lot of hard work, and an almost calculated force I suppose, in that you know what you are doing. But it does come naturally. 'Bands that do nothing, that just go out and perform their basic function, play their latest album, or sing it, or whatever and then just walk off, are boring. You have to keep your audience's attention all the way - to be a success.'

Which is why Kate Bush is a success. Her onstage performance is an extension of her songs. Through her movements she expresses the mood of her songs. They can be fast and lively, or angry perhaps, slow and sad, or maybe romantic. Because she is so involved, her audience become involved and her show becomes an art form in itself. A logical extension to this, Kate feels, would be to make a concept album and a show to go with it, so the whole thing becomes a concept in one. But that's very much in the future at the moment. As we walk out of the studios after the interview she blinks in the sunlight and looks around in the mock amazement at what is left of the day. Working in the studios till two or three in most mornings has been going on a bit too long she feels. The first thing Kate Bush would like to do after completing the album is take a holiday.