FEATURE:
My Home, My Joy
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush standing outside of her family home at East Wickham Farm, Welling (in the London borough of Bexley)
Kate Bush and the Familial Inspiration
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I have written about…
IN THIS PHOTO: Hannah, Paddy, Kate and John Carder Bush at East Wickham Farm (circa 1978)
Kate Bush and how music and family played an important role in her early life. I have been compelled by a few recent releases that have made me think about Bush’s attachment to family and home and how, on her best albums, these twin pillars played an important role. A recent article from My London discussed the home in which Bush wrote Wuthering Heights in 1977:
“It was a song inspired by the romantic novel of the same title by Emily Bronte and sung from the perspective of the character Catherine Earnshaw who is pleading to be let into Heathcliff's house and be with him.
Kate is believed to have penned the lyrics to the song in only a few hours and did so from her flat in South London.
The flat Kate lived in was the middle flat of a three flat building and her two brothers were believed to have lived above and below her.
Kate credits her brothers for getting her into music in the first place and through them had her first live performance at the since closed Rose of Lee pub in Lewisham, as well as the Royal Albert in New Cross Road”.
Although Kate Bush moved around London and she did relocate a bit through her young life, I think that the family home of East Wickham Farm, Welling, was most important (you can read an interesting article, where we learn more about Bush’s early family life). In 2015, LOUDER looked at a vital source of comfort for Bush:
“The large farmhouse where Kate Bush was raised is almost impossible to see through impenetrable undergrowth and is situated in a surprisingly built-up area on Wickham Street, Welling, on the fringes of South-East London.
East Wickham Farm was the family home where Kate lived with her doctor father, mother and two older brothers, John and Paddy. Her inbuilt wonder and love of music and outpouring of songs, written when a schoolgirl, all began here, surrounded by her family.
Famously ‘discovered’ and encouraged by Dave Gilmour and signed to EMI as a songwriting prodigy, the teenage Kate Bush also formed the KT Bush Band with brother Paddy and three friends, playing South London pubs. The family’s secluded 350-year-old farmhouse home offered a base for an idyllic childhood and subsequently a secure and private environment for her work. Kate, who shares a birthday with Wuthering Heights author Emily Brontë, wrote her ‘version’ at East Wickham Farm”.
I am reading a new book by Laura Shenton, where she looks at Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, in detail. I am going to write about the book/album in more depth in a future feature. Apart from some great interview snippets and technical details, what struck me was how harmonious and inspiration East Wickham Farm/44 Wickham Road is (there is about seven miles between the family home and 44 Wickham Road, South East London).
I can imagine Bush finding comfort and safety at her family home writing these gorgeous and hugely impressive songs to life; those that would appear on The Kick Inside. Not to say the bustle of London or the strains of a studio are lacking in inspiration. To me, it was when Bush was writing and recording at home that her best moments were created. Though The Kick Inside was recorded at AIR Studios and she spent a lot of time in London through her career, my mind goes to East Wickham Farm as being this vessel of security and love. I will not rehash my feature about family and the music played during Bush’s early life – as her mother was Irish and there was a lot of traditional Folk played, there was this mix and fusion of sounds that influenced a curious young songwriter. The love Bush got from her family and the musical/cultural connection she had with her brothers, Paddy and John, can really be heard on her albums. I think that The Kick Inside’s songs were penned when Bush was enveloped in the support from her family (her father was especially encouraging) and the fact that she was supported in her aspirations. Although her parents, perhaps, would have preferred Bush went to university or followed a more traditional path, they were very supportive of her musical ambitions.
After The Kick Inside was completed, there was this period where Bush moved around and she acquired more independence. Not to say she distanced herself from her family but, with a busy career and an itinerant schedule, she was spending less time in Welling. Living and recoding with her boyfriend, Del Palmer, I think that albums such as Never for Ever and The Dreaming and markedly different to The Kick Inside, Hounds of Love and Aerial. I do not think that it is a coincidence that Bush created her most successful album, 1985’s Hounds of Love, when there was this fortress and warmth at the family home. Over eight years since inspiration struck for Wuthering Heights, Bush built her own studio behind the family home. 1982’s The Dreaming was an important album where Bush produced alone and was at her experimental finest. It did take a lot out of her and, between moving around different studios and intensive recording sessions, she recognised changes needed to be made – she also changed her diet, reconnected with dance and departed London. The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia gives some information about Bush’s bespoke, incredible studio set-up:
“Following the disappointing performance of her fourth album The Dreaming and its singles, executives at Bush's label were concerned about sales largely due to the long time period it took to produce the album. In the summer of 1983 Bush built her own 48-track studio in the barn behind her family home which she could use to her advantage and at anytime she liked, without time constraints she had to deal with when hiring studios elsewhere.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985
With the studio more or less completed, Bush began recording demos for the album in the summer of 1983. After five months, Bush began overdubbing and mixing the album in a process that took a full year. The recording sessions included use of the Fairlight CMI synthesiser, piano, traditional Irish instruments, and layered vocals”.
Not that Bush was retreating from a stressful life, though it is clear that home was calling. She was able to regain some of the peacefulness and love that she experienced prior to her debut album being released. Though not many of those outside of Bush’s circle knew about the recording of Hounds of Love, away from the toil of building a studio and perfecting the album, she enjoyed time to be with her family and boyfriend in a salubrious, idyllic location. Aside from having the family home close and being able to work at her own pace and record the album exactly as she wanted, I think having her parents and brothers nearby was important. In between The Kick Inside and Hounds of Love being record, Paddy especially was living close/with his sister and appeared on many songs. During recording Hounds of Love, her mother’s legendary hospitality would have kept Bush and her musicians topped up and lifted! Paddy would have been there to provide his musical expertise and assistance, in addition to a supportive love.
Although Bush shad started her own family by the time 2005’s Aerial was released, that is not to say that she every lost that solid connection with her family (her mother, Hannah, sadly died in 1992; her father, Robert, died in 2008). Her son, Bertie, was born in 1998, and she was living with her other half, Danny McIntosh (prior to Aerial, he played guitar on The Red Shoes (1993) tracks Rubberband Girl, The Red Shoes, Constellation of the Heart, Top of the City, The Song of Solomon, and Lily). I feel that Bush favoured home studios as opposed professional ones. Even though she spent time recording at Abbey Road Studios for albums after The Red Shoes, I feel having her own studio and set-up at home with her family gave her that comfort blanket. A lot of the magic and music came together in Bush’s home…and it is clear that the joy her new son gave her is a reason why Aerial is not only Bush’s favourite album (which she revealed in an interview from 2011) but is also one of her very best. 2011’s 50 Words for Snow was another album where parts were recorded at Abbey Road Studios but, as she told interviewers like BBC Radio 4’s John Wilson and BBC Radio 2’s Ken Bruce (when she released Director’s Cut in 2011), she has her own studio and could invite musicians in. Danny McIntosh was there to play guitar and help ferry musicians to and from the home; her long-time stead, Del Palmer, was there to engineer and record.
To me, Bush used outside studios more sparingly post-The Red Shoes. Abbey Road Studios provided a greater space for musicians during orchestrations - and where her home studio could not deliver the same dynamics and acoustics. Rather than Bush being reclusive or wanting to be completely autonomous, I think she was keener to balance family and work and not revert to the past – where she would be burning herself out recording so strenuously and endlessly. If her parents and brothers were vital lifeblood for albums like Hounds of Love, then her new home and family were key to Aerial, Director’s Cut and 50 Words for Snow. I feel the relative lack of anxiety and fatigue helped elevate Bush’s songwriting and creativity. Having a home studio meant she could keep her own hours and record when she wanted (and at a much less expensive rate than she would have to pay at AIR Studios or Abbey Road Studios). I still think this is all true now. Her son, today, is in her twenties and the mood and pace of family is different to how it was years ago. Regardless, home and family are pivotal. Any future material we hear from Bush will be at her home studio – let’s hope that there is more to come from her at some point. From the child who was drinking in so much music and culture, to the teenager releasing her debut album, I think the sort of strength and influence only home and family can provide has guided her best moments. As I write this, I think of Bush at home, perhaps with a song in the back of her mind as she contemplates her lot and gives (silent) thanks. I will end things there but, in the next few weeks, I am going to write features around that book about The Kick Inside from Laura Shenton and a new article that has appeared in MOJO (they have published a ‘lost interview’ and discuss The Dreaming’s Sat in Your Lap, almost forty years since its release). With so many new publications and books, it means that the fascination and interest around Kate Bush…
NEVER ends.