FEATURE:
Oh England, My Lionheart
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at her family home, East Wickham Farm, on 26th September, 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Moorhouse/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Kate Bush and the Importance and Relevance of Home
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WHEREAS so many major artists…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush working hard in the studio in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
have travelled the world and spent years living in different countries, Kate Bush is someone who has always very much been rooted in England. She has spent time with family in Ireland. Her mother, Hannah, was Irish. The Bush family travelled to Australia and New Zealand. She has been all around the world during her career. I think that people think of Kate Bush as a quintessential English woman. Despite the fact her D.N.A. goes deeper and she has travelled far and wide, for the most part, she has not moved beyond the south of England. I have been thinking about the importance and relevance of home to Kate Bush in terms of her career, sound and her and this image we have of her. I am going to be writing about her first three albums – 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart; 1980’s Never for Ever – following a recent MOJO spread that was written by author Tom Doyle. Kate Bush was born in Bexleyheath is a town in the London Borough of Bexley, which is located in Greater London. It is situated in the historic county of Kent. Her family lived at East Wickham Farm in Welling (Welling is an area of South East London, within the London Borough of Bexley and the boundaries of Kent). She had that balance of being on the edge of London and the city but having the countryside and something all the more peaceful at her feet. I want to look more at her later career and how home and a permanent base was important after 1993. I guess Bush’s upbringing and the stability that she saw was important when it came to how her career and recording changed in the 1990s onwards. Not common among her peers, even before she released her debut album, she had this safety at home. A financial security and a very fostering family. A beautiful house in an ideal part of England, I also think that the way she experienced homelife as a child and teen affected how Bush would act and run things as a producer.
Kate Bush has amassed a heap of demos and recordings at her family home. With her brothers Paddy and Jay hugely interested in music and introducing her to so many different sounds, she also found a patient and encouraging audience in her parents. Her doctor father, Robert, was particularly encouraging and would listen to her perform at home. He played piano and was a big influence when it came to Kate Bush taking up the instrument. That nurturing and warm environment was crucial. Kate Bush did not really have the opportunity to record albums at home until she was established and could afford to. Even so, she was not moving far. Recording in London studios, really the only time she broke that rule was recording Lionheart in France in 1978. Perhaps more relaxing and picturesque than AIR Studios in Central London, there were issues in France. I think, for its faults and griminess, the locality to her family home and a sense of convenience was important. Bush spent time living with her brothers and had a flat in London. She has never really moved too far from where she grew up. Home and family has been at the heart of everything she has done. From that safety net and art-filled home when she was a child and teen, Bush always made sure she was never too far from that focused centre. It is also interesting how conduct and hospitality at home impacted her. A very warm and welcoming family who were at hand to greet musicians and guests with tea and a warm smile, that definitely would have made home and attractive place to record and create. Also, when Bush started producing from 1980’s Never for Ever, she brought a lot of that parental warmth and support to the people she worked with. Always running through her blood.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at the grand piano at Studio Two, Abbey Road, London on 10th May, 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport
1982’s The Dreaming changed things a lot. Even though she recorded at studios through London and lived in the area, it was exhausting and a tough period. Solo producing and packing so much into the album, there was not a lot of time for rest and any real bonding with her musicians. Even though that did happen, perhaps more time and budget would have been beneficial for so many reasons. When she could afford to build her own studio for Hounds of Love (1985), she put it right by her family home at East Wickham Farm. I know that that blossom and safe environment meant she could have support from the family and build her own recording and creative environment. Home once more being vital. At that time, prior to the album being released, there was hospitality and support from her family. Bush – who was still in her mid-twenties – was providing that same sort of support and warmth to her musicians. I often think of Kate Bush and her home. Right now, as we speak, the fact is that she does not need to travel. She can record at home. Everything around her can feed directly into her music. Life has changed since she recorded Hounds of Love. She now has a grown-up son, Albert, who is in his twenties. I wonder whether there was ever temptation for her to move to another part of the world. You feel like being rooted and remaining relatively close to where she was born and grew up was always the plan.
After Hounds of Love, it was clear things had changed for the better. How beneficial and enriching it was to be around family. To have control and say when it came to the studio and her environment. The next two albums, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, saw Bush record at professional studios. A lot of The Sensual World was recorded at Wickham Farm Home. She also recorded at Windmill Lane (Dublin, Ireland) and Angel (Islington, England). Again, a connection to her family and ancestorial home. Having one foot in Ireland and the other in England. The Red Shoes took her to Abbey Road. That was released in 1993. During the recording of the album, Bush’s mother died (in 1992). She also was in a new relationship with Danny McIntosh. Feeling tired and in need of a career break, as soon as that album came out, Bush was more than ever committed to home. Bits of Aerial (2005) were recorded at Abbey Road though, as has been the case from there, home studios have been dominant. Having that stability. Not having to move between studios. She had started her own family too. It is wonderful reading features and interviews with Kate Bush from 2005. Unlike past interviews where she was in various locations and was pushed from pillar to post, album promotion was largely taking place from her home. People would be invited in. Bush would welcome with food and drink. Much like her mother and father in the 1970s and 1980s, Bush was embodying them when she was promoting at home. I don’t think Kate Bush would have released any albums after The Red Shoes if she could not record at home. The lure of professional studios and commuting had gone.
Aerial is a double album where home is at its heart. Lyrics and lines that reference her mother and domesticity. The garden and nature. Memories of the past and the comfort of home. It has always been vital to her. Receiving such love and support from her parents when she was a child through to years aspiring of being an artist, that has been held in her heart. The need to be close to home and have that base. 2011’s Director’s Cut and 50 Words for Snow. Bringing collaborators and artists into her home studio. I always get the impression that travel and exposure was an unwanted by-product of the music industry for Kate Bush. If she could have remained local or not travelled as much she would have been happy. I am sure that she did enjoy The Tour of Life and seeing people around the U.K. and Europe. Promotional trips to the U.S., Australia and Japan. It was all important. All the same, it took Bush from the studio and writing. Even when she was writing in London flats and elsewhere, one always get the feeling that she was not as happy and inspired as she was back at East Wickham Farm. Returning there for Hounds of Love, it might have ignited something in her. By 1993, when she was thirty-five, I think there was this resolution that she was going to set down foundations and keep home close to her. She had been traveling and going from place to place since she was a teen, but she always felt that pull and importance of family and being in and around where she grew up. Even since 1993, her moves have not been drastic. A home studio means she does not commute and can have a solid base. So many people she has interviewed in years since 1993 – including Tom Doyle – have reported her legendary hospitality. The fact that she is both this huge artist and impressive figure but also down to Earth and accessible. I have been thinking about it a lot. Kate Bush and home. Wanting to lead a more normal and modest life. Somewhere she feels more settled and inspired. Thinking back to that 2022 interview with Woman’s Hour where she was speaking from home on a landline. How unshowy and relatable that was! Distinctly Kate Bush! From the teen posing at her East Wickham Farm home in 1978 to right now, a sixty-five year old Kate Bush not living too far away from that place, I do wonder what the future holds. There is a lot of love out there for Kate Bush. We all want a new album, though one can appreciate how a quieter life would suit. Not wanting to do promotion and put out new work. Who knows. I have been pondering Kate Bush as someone who has always moored herself towards family and home. That magnetic and epicentre that remains to this day. Kate Bush really is this unique blend of musical deity and…
A homegrown and grounded queen.