FEATURE:
In Conversation
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush captured in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
Envisaging a Kate Bush Interview Series
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I have discussed Kate Bush…
IN THIS PHOTO: Journalist Tom Doyle
as an interviewee beforehand, and I will continue to explore various sides to her as an interview subject. Whilst she provided a lot of interviews early in her career, there was a bit of a dip after Hounds of Love (1985) and before Aerial (2005). On her most recent album, 50 Words for Snow (2011), there was quite a nice selection of interviews. As is the way with journalists and broadcasters, they were asking very similar questions so, unsurprisingly, we got very similar answers! It is still great hearing Bush talk about her music, as she is so engaging and interesting. I wonder whether we will get to see or hear Bush interviewed again, as there is always talk as to whether another album will arrive. It is back to the MOJO Collectors’ Series edition that arrived last year. I have been fascinated by the magazine and all the different features. Right near the back of the magazine is a piece by Tom Doyle. When Bush’s Remastered albums came out in 2018, Doyle discovered pensées on the making of Bush’s studio albums – they exist on four hours of interview tapes. I always feel that Bush’s words and interviews are as important as her songs. Whilst there have been a few releases in the past where we got to hear Bush interviewed, there has not been a definitive collection of her interviews from 1978 to the present day.
Maybe these interviews could be sprinkled through corresponding albums; so that we get the 1978 interviews on releases of The Kick Inside, and Lionheart, whilst the ones from 1989 appear on The Sensual World. I know Bush put her albums out in 2018, but I feel releases with interviews and outtakes/demos would be wonderful! Reading Tom Doyle’s feature made me realise that there is still gold in the archives that people would eat up! The feature centres on Bush’s interaction with Doyle in 2005. They spoke for four hours. I wonder whether there is a tape of the interview, as it would be a wonderful thing to hear. I believe exerts were published by MOJO in an interview feature, but one of the interesting things about print interviews is that there is often so much unused that is as revealing as what we actually read! Doyle starts by describing how Bush discovered a world of sound on Never for Ever in 1980 when she utilised the Fairlight CMI. From the breaking glass on Babooshka, to the bodhran beats on Army Dreamers, this technology enabled Bush to unleash what was in her imagination previously; she could bring it to the surface! The Fairlight provided Bush with the access to experimentation and a wider palette. Bush told Doyle in 2005 how important it was experiment and broaden her work and, whilst she couldn’t always clearly articulate what was in her mind, she had this determination and passion that would not rest.
Bush co-produced Never for Ever with Jon Kelly. Her previous two albums saw her take more of a back seat so, with experience under her belt, she was in a better position to take charge. Bush explained how visual Never for Ever was and (how music) was a case of trying to solidify something quite tangential. Bush also explained how painstaking production and a sense of control could afford her the freedom she required in order to bring the most from her music. Doyle also takes us back to 1972, when a then-thirteen-year-old came into the world of Brian Bath – he would work with Bush until Hounds of Love in 1985. He was invited by Bush’s brother, Paddy, and he was stunned by the chord progressions and how different the songs were. Bush revealed to Doyle how there was dissatisfaction with her second album, Lionheart, as she has to record and release it less than a year after The Kick Inside. Whilst her debut was a result of accumulating songs that she had been working on since the age of twelve or thirteen, there was little time to create new tracks for a second album. Flip to Hounds of Love, and it saw Bush retreated back to her home at East Wickham Farm. She was using professional studios before then and, as she told Doyle, this was not entirely preferable or a happy experience.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
The quiet and peace she got from this setting allowed her to be self-disciplined; something that benefited her as a songwriter and a producer – after the experience of her previous album, 1982’s The Dreaming, Hounds of Love was much less stressful (on The Dreaming, she recorded at several different studios). There are great revelations from Tom Doyle’s feature, as he reflected on the 2005 marathon interview where Bush was taking a look back at her career so far. She noted how there was humour on Hounds of Love – for instance, the backing vocals on the title track (“Ow, ow, ow”) are, literally, the hounds of love yowling. From Bush revealing her annoyance of the Sony 32-track digital tape recorded she used for 1993’s The Red Shoes (“Shitty digital tape”), to her explaining a gap of twelve years between that album and Aerial (“I have the real tendency to want to overdo things”), it must have been fascinating being shown around her house and getting that sort of access! Bush discussed how she was not completely easy with opening up her private life to public scrutiny. She also was asked about the time between albums and, whilst she admitted that the recording was hard and she could have released more albums, it clearly shows that a lot of care had gone into making her music.
It sort of brings me back to my idea about a new Kate Bush documentary and how there is all this interview material in the vaults that could be explored. I assume there is a clean recording of the four-hour chat between Tom Doyle and Kate Bush in 2005 that could be scored and tied to a bit about Aerial. There was a multi-part interview Bush conducted with Mark Radcliffe, though it seems like most of that recording has been taken off of YouTube. I know there is a lot of recorded interview material that was available online that has been taken off. There is also a lot of stuff that was recorded for a print interview that was never used – simply because there was so much of it. I like the idea of, either through a documentary or a new compilation, hearing all of Kate Bush’s interviews from 1978 to 2011. I think we can learn so much about her as a songwriter and person by listening to these interviews. It is a shame that there are ones that were online that no longer are, and that there is so much brilliance – like Doyle’s long interview with Bush – that remains unheard or abridged through text. I feel every Kate Bush interview is a wonderful thing so, in the future, it would be awesome to have access to them all. Being able to open up these interviews to the fans would give us all access to…
SO much untapped gold.