Totally Wired: Post Punk Interviews and Overviews
A companion volume to Simon Reynolds' Rip it Up and Start Again that I found in the library. Fascinating period in the US/UK music scene that I knew bits and bobs of (The Fall, Joy Division/Factory/New Order, Devo, Talking Heads, PiL, Jah Wobble, Orange Juice) - but was too young/in the wrong place to really experience it as a movement. A brief window where bands spring up - inspired by the DIY ethic of punk, but trying to do something more musically interesting.
Excellent book, interviews with fascinating people - some well-known, some not so : highly recommended, and I'll be looking for Rip It Up..
SR: So what prompted The Raincoats to form ?
Gina Birch (The Raincoats singer & bassist):
Passion and jealousy ! I had seen The Slits play. I <...> was just completely besotted. I was bowled over by the Clash and The Pistols and Subway Sect, but when I saw The Slits play I was absolutely sick with jealousy. Motivating jealousy : 'I would have loved to have done that'.
SR: Had you never thought of being in a band or making music ?
GB: No way. We never even went to gigs. <...> Until I saw The Slits, I had no thoughts of playing an instrument. It was the combination of the energy, the look, the attitude. I was completely bowled over. Ana DaSilva had had a similar experience with Patti Smith <...>
SR: But New Pop (sort of follows post-punk period, from 1981 on) seems in retrospect to have involved a step backwards in terms of women in pop. You had some striking and strong performers, like Annie Lennox, but it was back to the format of the female as front person, with the music being done by the band, or in Eurythmic's case, the guy. You had the girls in Human League, just back-up singers.
GB: Yeah. I mean after The Slits and that whole era there was nothing interesting really until Riot Grrrl. Madonna and Annie Lennox - they were icons in a way. But they were more the hero than an inspirational force. Whereas you saw The Slits and they made you want to be creative. You see Annie Lennox and, wow, she's brilliant, she sings fantastic. But there's that distance. It's much more the showbiz model.
Excellent book, interviews with fascinating people - some well-known, some not so : highly recommended, and I'll be looking for Rip It Up..
SR: So what prompted The Raincoats to form ?
Gina Birch (The Raincoats singer & bassist):
Passion and jealousy ! I had seen The Slits play. I <...> was just completely besotted. I was bowled over by the Clash and The Pistols and Subway Sect, but when I saw The Slits play I was absolutely sick with jealousy. Motivating jealousy : 'I would have loved to have done that'.
SR: Had you never thought of being in a band or making music ?
GB: No way. We never even went to gigs. <...> Until I saw The Slits, I had no thoughts of playing an instrument. It was the combination of the energy, the look, the attitude. I was completely bowled over. Ana DaSilva had had a similar experience with Patti Smith <...>
SR: But New Pop (sort of follows post-punk period, from 1981 on) seems in retrospect to have involved a step backwards in terms of women in pop. You had some striking and strong performers, like Annie Lennox, but it was back to the format of the female as front person, with the music being done by the band, or in Eurythmic's case, the guy. You had the girls in Human League, just back-up singers.
GB: Yeah. I mean after The Slits and that whole era there was nothing interesting really until Riot Grrrl. Madonna and Annie Lennox - they were icons in a way. But they were more the hero than an inspirational force. Whereas you saw The Slits and they made you want to be creative. You see Annie Lennox and, wow, she's brilliant, she sings fantastic. But there's that distance. It's much more the showbiz model.