Dutch TV 1994 By Elly "Interview of Bjork and PJ Harvey" Date: Thu, 18 May 1995 08:26:56 +0200 From: Zastai - Observer of Mankind Subject: Interview from Loladamusica To: Bjork/Sugarcubes/Icelandic music mailing list As promised, here is the transcript of the Bjork interview on the Dutch program Loladamusica. Since it was a double interview of Bjork and PJ Harvey, I've listed both their answers. I tried to stay as close to what Bjork actually said, but I did leave out some pauses and mistakes. I'll probably put some samples up next week (which ftp site should I put them on?). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [] = Description of what can be seen and heard, e.g. [laughs], [music fades] (* *) = Personal commentary from yours truly - Please disregard :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Introduction: Bjork and PJ are led into the room where the interview will take place. Bjork is wearing a black, short-sleeved Ren & Stimpy T-Shirt and a long, orange skirt; Polly is wearing a silvery grey dress.] [Split screen:-) Excerpt from 'Crying' performed live at PinkPop in '94] [ -) Bjork talking (inaudible) ] Commentary (translated from Dutch): 'Bjork Gudmundsdottir - 29 years old and ex-singer with the Sugarcubes, exchanged her country of origin, Iceland, for London and started a very successful solo career there, about two years ago. In 1993, Bjork released Debut, an album on which she combined Dance and Pop. Early next month sees the release of her next album, Post.' [View switches to Bjork, sitting on a green couch] Bjork: 'I was the first child of a mother and father who had been in love since they were 14. And I was born when my mother was 19 and my father 20; They were very conservative, but happy people. And then, when my mother had been a housewife for 1 year with me, she freaked out and became a wild hippie and a feminist. And she separated with my father. My father remained very conservative; married a nurse. But he was a very hard-working, honest, very energetic man. Very full of power and joyful life. And my mother just being completely wanting to be strong; and painting the walls with butterflies. And I lived in a house with a lot of people who have long hair, and listen to Jimi Hendrix. So I go between the two families and I learn: Okay, maybe freedom isn't long hair; maybe discipline isn't suit; and not to take anything for granted.' [Split screen: -) Excerpt from live performance of ???? ] [ -) PJ Harvey sitting on a brownish, light green sofa ] Commentary (translated from Dutch): 'Polly Jean Harvey disbanded the trio with which she'd made two albums earlier, and continued solo, still under the name PJ Harvey. The new album of the 25 year old English singer is called 'To bring you my love', and on it she sounds more accessible and more dramatic than ever before.' PJ: 'My parents have been very encouraging to my brother and me in whatever we wanted to do. They're both ver artistic and very interested in music. My father quarries stone - hamstone(?) - and my mum sculpts in it and she also does lettercutting for gravestones and housenames and things like that. They just always had a huge love for music; It's just so important to them. It was always like a role reversal: my brother and I would be woken up at three in the morning with mum and dad putting on some really loud music, and we couldn't sleep. They're mostly into blues music, and rhythm & blues, and Bob Dylan, and the Stones. They were never Beatle-fans; it was always the Stones. [smiles]' Bjork: 'And then I went to music school when I was 5, for ten years. I played classical music all that time; And my mother played hippie music - It's like guitar solos 24 hours in my house, like on 10. And my grandparents and my real father, they listened more to jazz music, and Simon and Garfunkel, and more, like, conservative music. And I enjoy all of them; I loved all of them. And I liked immediately to show the three different worlds not to take granted for what they have. So I took a Jimi Hendrix record to my grandparents to show that, maybe, his solos were not that far from jazz; And it was very nice. And I took jazz records to my music school to show them all that maybe, you know, Miles Davis was related to Strawinsky, maybe it's not a big difference between the two. And I took classical music back to my parents. And I liked very much to be the outsider and show them, like, TA-DAA [big joyful face, hands held up next to it]: life is not that simple, there's more to it than you think!' [Excerpt from 'Violently Happy', performed live at PinkPop '94 ] PJ: 'I bought my first guitar when I was like 18, I think. I played the saxophone since I was 11, so I already had a large interest in music, and could read music. And then, I believe it was just a musician-friend of ours, was selling an acoustic, so I bought it. I always thought it could be interesting in that I could be singing and playing an instrument at the same time.' Elly (The intervieweress :): 'Who taught you to play?' PJ: 'I taught myself, from chordbooks and from my favourite bands' songbooks. I had a Bob Dylan songbook and a Police songbook.' Elly: 'Do you remember the first song you've ever written on it?' PJ: 'Yes. unfortunately, yes. [smiles]' Elly: 'Are you embarassed by it?' PJ: 'Extremely embarassed! [laughs]' Elly: 'What was it about?' PJ: 'I don't know; it was about a journey - some girl on a journey. But it was done in a very young sort of way; very naive, very sweet. I wrote a lot of songs that will never see the light of day.' [Excerpt from 'Long Snake Moan' performed live ] Bjork: 'I usually write a song when I'm celebrating one thing or another. (* Let's hope she has a lot of celebrating to come!!!! :) *) I tend to deal with my sad moments on my own, and prefer to share the happy ones. I don't think it's good or bad; I just think that different people have different ways of dealing with different things. But I know i like things, songs, to just happen. They just come all of the sudden and you have to deal with them; they just pop up. And you just don't relax, you go mad until you've finished them the way they're supposed to be.' PJ: 'Sometimes a song will just come through you - it really feels like that; and you have to be open enough to allow it to do that. And sometimes it will need no shaping and is just there in 5 minutes. And you kind of look back and think 'Where in earth did that come from? I wasn't thinking of that tune.' But it doesn't happen all the time. A lot of the time, songs take months and months of really hard work and shaping, careful shaping; knocking bits out, putting bits back in, trying different bits in different places; really, really hard work.' Bjork: 'But at the end of the day, writing a song is like organizing an accident. That's really much what my job is about: to be really kind of organized and disciplined, and get kind of like 'Yeah, get nine pianos; This piano must be here and this piano must be here; and I want two people to play this piano and five people to play this piano' (* At this point, I began doubting Bjork's sanity :) *) And try to set it up like you're setting a trap in the forest for an animal. But of course you don't know where the animal will run and what will happen. So you've got to sit back and let the animal go where it wants; and if it comes your way, just appreciate it and enjoy it.' [Excerpt from 'The Anchor Song' performed live at pinkPop '94 ] [Music continues in the background] Bjork: 'People in Iceland tend to be very introvert; especially in the winter. Just on their own, very strong, self- sufficient, don't need anything. They don't need the sun to make them happy; they can do it themselves. Sometimes a bit too proud that way; like if an Icelandic person would use a leg, he'd say 'Ahhh, I didn't need it anyway; It was always in the way for the other leg'. That's very much the Icelandic philosophy, which sometimes can be like [yawns ostentatiously]. Very Viking and boring, like 'Yeah yeah, I know you're very strong'. But at the same, when an Icelandic person communicates, it's 100%; it's very full-on, everything's very full-on. They're workaholics, they work 18 hours a day, all week. And they don't drink, because if you drink a glass of wine in the middle of the week, it's a waste of wine, time and money. So you just work all week. Very strong. Like sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep, work. And then you go on the weekend and get a whole liter of wodka. Drink properly. And it's not worth it unless you jump between the roofs of the houses and done some [symbolizes arm-wrestling] with your friends and laugh very loud. But don't complain. [waves finger] Don't complain. Self-pity is a crime.' PJ: 'I was kind of used to spending a lot of time on my own. I come from this little village where there weren't any other girls to play with. Just boys. My brother's friends were all older than me, so I got used to spending time on my own (* Yeah, right :) *). A lot of good things came from that as well, because you'd use your imagination a lot; you make situations and you make people to play with if you don't have them. You've a very active and abundant imagination.' [Excerpt from 'Long Snake Moan' performed live. ] PJ: 'I tried to live in London for awile; I'd moved there specifically to go to art college. but the music took off at that point and I chose not to go to college, so I found myself living in London when I didn't really have to be. But I thought I'd try it anyway and I just didn't enjoy it. After my whole life in the countryside, it just felt very alien to me. It wasn't something I got used to; I thought for a while I'd get better at this, but it made me unhappy really.' Elly: 'What draws you to the countryside then?' PJ: 'The magnificence of the countryside, the beauty of it. How vast it is, how small we are. That kind of thing.' Bjork: 'When I was a kid, I walked a lot outside. [clears throat] Between my grandmother's house [coughs], my father's house, my mother's house, my school, my music school. Because Iceland, most of it is like nobody lives there. And when I walked I could sing and sing and sing and no-one could hear me. And that's how I learned to sing; And that's what i did for I don't know, ten years, or fifteen years, or whatever, of my life. And that was kind of my little treasure, my little secret.' [Excerpt from the 'Army of Me' video - Bjork in truck ] [Video continues; music shifts to background] Bjork: 'And then when I met an engineer, much later, [Video stops, view shifts to Bjork; Music continues in background] first they tried asking me just to be in one place while I sing, which is absolutely ridiculous. It took them ages to teach me that one, and I sort of managed to learn. But then I'd sing very quiet and whisper and be really delicate and the next second I would scream and everything would explode and they would have to repair everything and I would sit there kind of all embarassed. But I've been singing now for about seventeen years in microphones and I thought I might allow myself one luxury and that would be singing outside again. So we would record the songs and mix them, do like an instrumental mix of them, and in the evening they would buy some beers, get like an 8- track machine and a DAT-machine; and headphones with very very long leads and microphones with very very very long leads. And they would sit behind the bush, sitting and drinking their beers. Around midnight, a starry sky, and I go and run on the beach, go away from them, so nobody can see me, like, black and the stars up over. I would put my feet in the sea and out; sing the quit bits against the sand, and changed the sound with the micro- phone like this [makes as if she's holding the mike in her armpit]; and stand up and run and do the happy bits, and go into the bushes and hide behind them; it was a complete goosepimple experience for me; it was very very precious and I hope I can sing like that more in the future. [Video resumes - Bjork running with diamond; music comes back to foreground] PJ: 'A lot of the excitement is the possibilities of what could be. But usually when you finally get there, it's a bit of an an anticlimax; Yes, but always the imagining of how it could be is the most exciting part. What it could be like... I think about that in terms of songwriting often as well, that the very initial idea; that's like, a couple of words on a page, or a very small picture or something, that's the very best that that can ever be, that the song can ever be. That's the best, and from there on, it'll be a bit of an anticlimax. It's the same with relationships; or at least with the ones I've experienced so far. It's the starting point that's the most exciting, that has the most possibilities, the widest scope; [music starts in the background: 'Down by the water'] and the it kind of gets back into being reality again. So that's probably why I enjoy the unreal plane of it.' [Music to foreground + excerpt from video of 'Down by the water' ] [Video continues; music goes to background] PJ: 'This water fetisj seems to be getting larger and larger. I dream about water all the time; and I have this need of being in it, near it, around it, smell it, touch it, everything. It's a reassurance for me.' Elly: 'When did you first realize that you could be - or Are you confident about your songwriting?' [Video stops; music fades out] PJ: 'No, I'm not confident; and I never will be. In fact, when I'm writing, it's a very very uncomfortable time, because I go through so much self-doubt at every step of the way. Within a space of 5 minutes you can get a new idea, a new song that you're working on, and you think 'This is great; Yeah, this is really good - I can do this'. And five minutes later you think 'How on earth could I have thought that; it's just a load of rubbish, I should just leave it' and 'What am I doing? I should be doing something else'. It's always the same. It's alway really hard and I'm never full of confidence.' Bjork: [clears throat] '99% of jazz is shit and 99% of dance music is shit and 99% of contemporary, like minimalist music for example, is shit, you know. 99% of opera is shit. But it's that 1% that sticks out. And 99% of my music is shit, I think. (* No it isn't!!!! :) *) I just try and try and try and try and that one time [snaps fingers] it works.' [Excerpt from the 'Play Dead' video. ] [Followed by excerpt of 'Working for the man' performed live. ] [Video & music continue] Elly: 'Do you think the media have created an image of you that isn't yours?' [Music & video stop] PJ: 'Yeah, I think very much so; Not all the time, but a lot of the time there's this image of me as quite an unpleasant person, I think. Often people who come to interview me are quite nervous about it. I don't know what it is; I suppose it's because people know that I don't favour doing interviews a lot, but that's not because I hate the process; it's just that everybody else would rather not be doing it and I find it a bit uncomfortable. But it's a necessary process and it's something you have to come to terms with. I suppose through the music as well and through the images that I choose to use, maybe people think I'm some sort of man-eater or something [laughs]. Which is so far from the truth...' Bjork: 'I thought I should be in the magazine, in the television and on the radio; and it should be ME. Just the same version of me that I know. Which is a big misunderstanding. I realized very quickly that these were two different things, you know: the person in the media, and me. And that's not because I'm putting on a show, or pretending, or anything; It's just the same way as this room looks completely different from the inside or from the outside. It doesn't mean that someone on the outside, who can't see this sofa, is seeing, like, a lie. So it's just a little game I try to play; I don't mean it in a cheap way, or anything like that. But you've got to be aware of it; it's not, like, something to die for or anything.' PJ: 'My life when I'm on tour is almost a complete opposite to my life when I'm at home. Because when I'm at home, I can be very stable; I can go for days without seeing people; very quiet, very peaceful. And on tour you're never anywhere for long; constantly on the move, constantly dispersed, with a lot of people around you. So, I think I need both sides of that in my life. I need them both as much as each other. One wouldn't work properly, or I wouldn't appreciate one side if I didn't have the other.' [Excerpt from PJ & Bjork singing 'Satisfaction' at the Brit Awards ] [Music goes to the background; Video continues] Bjork: 'One and a half year ago I was asked to perform at the Brit awards and they asked me to do a duet with Meatloaf. And I was like 'Yeah; thank you. But sometimes you have two things you like, like chocolate and onions (* Hmmmm; which is Meatloaf and which is Bjork :) *), but maybe you shouldn't cook the same dish out of it.' They said 'OK OK OK OK' and then they suggested David Bowie, and I was again like 'I'm very honoured, he's a genius and everything, but I'm not sure we have a lot to give to each other today. Maybe it's not the right timing or something.' 'OK OK OK' And then I'm like 'Can I make a suggestion?' 'Okay' 'Can I ask Polly?' 'Yeah, Yeah' And I asked Polly and she said yes too, and I was so happy.' [Music comes back to foreground ] [And goes to the background again] Bjork: 'Pop music to me is very very important. I think it's one of the most powerful forces in daily life. [Video stops; view switches to Bjork; music continues in background] I talked to my friend in America the other day and he said 'Oh fuck this pop music; it's bollocks, you know.' And he's a bit of a snob and he wants me to be writing Steve Reich (* Who is he? *) music and so on. And I was like 'No it's not; it's a lot more important, it's a lot more powerful. There are certain problems - personal problems; say the average American person would get into trouble. Who would they call for help? Aretha Franklin or Bill Clinton? (* Tough choice :) *) And I think that 90% of them, if they have a heartbreak, will put Aretha Franklin on. Or if they wanted to celebrate, which is just as important as being sad, they would put like [sings R-E-S-P-E-C-T], like Aretha Franklin on. Aretha Franklin is always there for them when they need her. Bill Clinton of course, he takes care of other areas, which is like, maybe politics. Or takes care / takes care not of, you can argue forever about that; let's skip that one. But there are people that take care of politics, big politics; that's important. But music, pop music, takes care of the personal politics; if they wouldn't do it, nobody would. There are situations when you can sit and talk with your best friend for ten hours and he can not help you; the right song WILL. Now THAT's how important pop music is.' [Music comes back to foreground; video returns; end titles come on screen ]