-Hi, I'm Dawn Eden from Videowave, and today I'm here outside Gramercy Park in Manhattan with Lene Lovich, who is in town to promote her new album "March" on Pathfinder Records, and also she just performed last... the other night at the Palladium on the Rock Against Fur benefit, and... How did you like playing in front of that packed house last night?
LL: I think it's always exciting when you get lots of different people together. You know, people from all different walks of life, I mean in the musical way, who come together with the sole purpose of furthering animal rights. I had so much fun singing onstage with the Sugarcubes and Psychedelic Furs. We each had our own spot, and then at the end we had a big finale with the song that I wrote with Nina Hagen, called "Don't Kill the Animals". It's so much fun.
-You must have been very happy when that song became an anthem for the people in the movement.
LL: Yeah, because a lot of people, you know, don't really know what to say to people wearing fur coats, and I can always sing my little song.
-And people will take it to the heart too, because of the way in which you expressed it in the song.
LL: Well, I'm really serious about this. And I suppose "Don't Kill the Animals" was the fastest song [brief cut in the recording; she means it's the most quickly written song of hers (source: other interviews)]. It was intentionally that way, because I wanted it to be like a news broadcast.
-How did you become involved in the anti-fur movement?
LL: It was through Nina. She was approached by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to write a song for their first record, a compilation LP called "Animal Liberation". And now we're getting ready to do the next one, which is really exciting. I made a recording with a band called Erasure.
-Sure.
LL: It was a song that I wrote, but it was recorded by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, and then Andy and I are singing it together. So that's gonna come out on a LP in September, with lots of other artists, like Howard Jones, and k.d. lang, Nathalie Merchant...
-Speaking of Erasure, there's a rumour that you might be opening for them on their tour. Would you [...?...] ?
LL: Ah, well, I don't think that's going to happen this time. But I feel sure that having made this recording together, we worked so well with each other it would be really good to do something onstage with them. Actually I might be doing a stage performance with Andy Bell at some point, because we're both involved with an opera called "The Fall of the House of Usher".
-The Poe story.
LL: Yeah, but it was written by Peter Hammill. Have you heard of him?
-Sure.
LL: So I...
LL: I think that the music is really inspirational, and I would really like to perform that on stage sometime.
-Where do you think you might perform it? In the West End of London?
LL: We were about to do it at the Barcelona opera festival last year. But, with one thing and another happening with these things, they don't always materialise. But, there are though people who are interested. It's possible we might do it in Amsterdam. Sorry, not Amsterdam, but another place in Holland.
-Your new album "March" was recorded at home, I understand. It's rather funny, because on the liner notes of the album it says "Recorded at H.O.M.E.". And I didn't even realise that it was "home" until I got it.
LL: It was really my front room. H.O.M.E. is the Headquarters of Musical Evolution.
-That's great. Is this the first time that you've recorded an album for release at home?
LL: It's the first time we've done so much work at home. And I'm so excited about it, because it did give us the time that we needed to make experiments, and it was a lot of fun to work in a relaxed atmosphere, and know that you didn't have to get out before the next band arrived and things like that.
-It must have been neat for your kids too, to actually watch mum doing a recording session.
LL: Well, if you listen really carefully, you probably can still hear in the mix some little noises [Note: from the kids].
-Seriously?
LL: You can probably hear telephones and things like that as well. But it kind of mixes together in an interesting way. I like that.
-Does being in a relationship, as you are, help give you more stability in writing songs somehow?
LL: Well, Les and I, Les Chappell, my partner, and I, we work so closely together that we are so entwined in this that it's very difficult for us to work out who did what, really, by the end of the song. So without each other the song just wouldn't ever arrive. And if we didn't work together musically, we'd never see each other.
-We're going to watch the video "Make Believe" right now, from the album "March".
["Make Believe" video playing]
-We're back on Videowave, I'm Dawn Eden. Here is Lene Lovich, we just saw the video "Make Believe" from her new album "March". What was it like filming that video?
LL: It was exciting for me, because I hadn't really done any film work that involved my own music for some time. So, it's a wonderful world, that world of film. I just love the way that you can create a different world. We didn't have a very big budget, but the director, Miki Watanabe, was really great in making the best out of a very low-budget situation. So it was just an exciting thing, I have a great affinity with the camera. Maybe I used to be a machine.
-Well, you know, when we were chatting right before this taping, you were describing how you feel about the video and how a video should represent a song.
LL: I think it's very difficult. I think it's very hard, in fact it can be very confining when you're doing videos, because it's difficult to tell more than one story. And this is a problem when your music really can be interpreted on very many different planes. So maybe that's why sometimes my videos seem a little crazy, or a little bit cryptic. They're not meant to be that to confuse people, but they're meant to just open it out, so that more interpretations can occur.
-Right now your level of fame has reached a point where in England, of course, you've had, you know, many chart hits. And in America you've got a solid core of followers, along with songs moving on to the charts. What I'm wondering is, are you satisfied with the level of fame right now? Would you like to see yourself have... I mean, is it very important to have, say, a number one single here in the States?
LL: Well, if you had a number one hit single, that would mean that a lot of people knew about you, and that would mean that your communication had gone that much further. So I would be very excited for that to happen.
-At the same time...
LL: That's why I'm here really, to communicate.
-I guess it must be also be important for you to have a hit here in the States, because if you have a huge hit, then more people will become familiar with your animal rights message as well.
LL: I think people really need to have information. I was sympathetic for a long time, and yet did nothing about it. So I think the more information that you have, the more confident you feel about doing something about it. So, a hit record would be really great in just getting that message across.
-A lot of people feel that now in the 90s the music business is changing and becoming more receptive to pro-... to what used to be called "protest songs". Do you find that yourself?
LL: I think we're just getting better at it. You know, a lot of times people concentrated on the negative side of things. And now we're finding more fun ways of getting a message across. I heard of a bunch of transvestites that wanted to wear fur coats and... fake fur boats with blood all over them, and a placard saying "Fur Is A Drag".
-That's great. What are your plans for the coming year?
LL: I'd really, really, dearly love to make some live shows, because I think that's the best way of communicating really. And people are sure to get the message if I'm there, telling the story.
-When you do live shows, are you planning to have a group like Friends of the Earth have a table at your shows, so that interested people can register?
LL: Oh, if they want to. If they want to, yes.
-Because a lot of artists are doing that. You know, McCartney's doing it, and the B-52s.
LL: Yeah, I was there at the B-52 show, and I thought that was working really well.
-Are you also planning to do more acting? You had mentioned the opera earlier.
LL: Yes, I've just made a short film in England with Captain Sensible from The Damned, and it's going to be a half-documentary, half-fantasy in which I play the part of a kind of demonic waitress in this weird cafe. And it's called "Meathead", and it's got lots of really interesting bands contributing to the soundtrack, because there's no dialogue in it but the message is there in the visuals and in the songs.
-Do you know if it's going to be released in the States?
LL: I really hope so, because I think it's really going to be good.
-Well, I wish all the best with your new album, new movie, new opera, and all the things you're doing, you're everywhere. Thank you very much for coming down. This is Dawn Eden from Videowave.
LL: My pleasure.
LL: I think it's always exciting when you get lots of different people together. You know, people from all different walks of life, I mean in the musical way, who come together with the sole purpose of furthering animal rights. I had so much fun singing onstage with the Sugarcubes and Psychedelic Furs. We each had our own spot, and then at the end we had a big finale with the song that I wrote with Nina Hagen, called "Don't Kill the Animals". It's so much fun.
-You must have been very happy when that song became an anthem for the people in the movement.
LL: Yeah, because a lot of people, you know, don't really know what to say to people wearing fur coats, and I can always sing my little song.
-And people will take it to the heart too, because of the way in which you expressed it in the song.
LL: Well, I'm really serious about this. And I suppose "Don't Kill the Animals" was the fastest song [brief cut in the recording; she means it's the most quickly written song of hers (source: other interviews)]. It was intentionally that way, because I wanted it to be like a news broadcast.
-How did you become involved in the anti-fur movement?
LL: It was through Nina. She was approached by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to write a song for their first record, a compilation LP called "Animal Liberation". And now we're getting ready to do the next one, which is really exciting. I made a recording with a band called Erasure.
-Sure.
LL: It was a song that I wrote, but it was recorded by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, and then Andy and I are singing it together. So that's gonna come out on a LP in September, with lots of other artists, like Howard Jones, and k.d. lang, Nathalie Merchant...
-Speaking of Erasure, there's a rumour that you might be opening for them on their tour. Would you [...?...] ?
LL: Ah, well, I don't think that's going to happen this time. But I feel sure that having made this recording together, we worked so well with each other it would be really good to do something onstage with them. Actually I might be doing a stage performance with Andy Bell at some point, because we're both involved with an opera called "The Fall of the House of Usher".
-The Poe story.
LL: Yeah, but it was written by Peter Hammill. Have you heard of him?
-Sure.
LL: So I...
-A cult figure for some time.
LL: I think that the music is really inspirational, and I would really like to perform that on stage sometime.
-Where do you think you might perform it? In the West End of London?
LL: We were about to do it at the Barcelona opera festival last year. But, with one thing and another happening with these things, they don't always materialise. But, there are though people who are interested. It's possible we might do it in Amsterdam. Sorry, not Amsterdam, but another place in Holland.
-Your new album "March" was recorded at home, I understand. It's rather funny, because on the liner notes of the album it says "Recorded at H.O.M.E.". And I didn't even realise that it was "home" until I got it.
LL: It was really my front room. H.O.M.E. is the Headquarters of Musical Evolution.
-That's great. Is this the first time that you've recorded an album for release at home?
LL: It's the first time we've done so much work at home. And I'm so excited about it, because it did give us the time that we needed to make experiments, and it was a lot of fun to work in a relaxed atmosphere, and know that you didn't have to get out before the next band arrived and things like that.
-It must have been neat for your kids too, to actually watch mum doing a recording session.
LL: Well, if you listen really carefully, you probably can still hear in the mix some little noises [Note: from the kids].
-Seriously?
LL: You can probably hear telephones and things like that as well. But it kind of mixes together in an interesting way. I like that.
-Does being in a relationship, as you are, help give you more stability in writing songs somehow?
LL: Well, Les and I, Les Chappell, my partner, and I, we work so closely together that we are so entwined in this that it's very difficult for us to work out who did what, really, by the end of the song. So without each other the song just wouldn't ever arrive. And if we didn't work together musically, we'd never see each other.
-We're going to watch the video "Make Believe" right now, from the album "March".
["Make Believe" video playing]
-We're back on Videowave, I'm Dawn Eden. Here is Lene Lovich, we just saw the video "Make Believe" from her new album "March". What was it like filming that video?
LL: It was exciting for me, because I hadn't really done any film work that involved my own music for some time. So, it's a wonderful world, that world of film. I just love the way that you can create a different world. We didn't have a very big budget, but the director, Miki Watanabe, was really great in making the best out of a very low-budget situation. So it was just an exciting thing, I have a great affinity with the camera. Maybe I used to be a machine.
-Well, you know, when we were chatting right before this taping, you were describing how you feel about the video and how a video should represent a song.
LL: I think it's very difficult. I think it's very hard, in fact it can be very confining when you're doing videos, because it's difficult to tell more than one story. And this is a problem when your music really can be interpreted on very many different planes. So maybe that's why sometimes my videos seem a little crazy, or a little bit cryptic. They're not meant to be that to confuse people, but they're meant to just open it out, so that more interpretations can occur.
-Right now your level of fame has reached a point where in England, of course, you've had, you know, many chart hits. And in America you've got a solid core of followers, along with songs moving on to the charts. What I'm wondering is, are you satisfied with the level of fame right now? Would you like to see yourself have... I mean, is it very important to have, say, a number one single here in the States?
LL: Well, if you had a number one hit single, that would mean that a lot of people knew about you, and that would mean that your communication had gone that much further. So I would be very excited for that to happen.
-At the same time...
LL: That's why I'm here really, to communicate.
-I guess it must be also be important for you to have a hit here in the States, because if you have a huge hit, then more people will become familiar with your animal rights message as well.
LL: I think people really need to have information. I was sympathetic for a long time, and yet did nothing about it. So I think the more information that you have, the more confident you feel about doing something about it. So, a hit record would be really great in just getting that message across.
-A lot of people feel that now in the 90s the music business is changing and becoming more receptive to pro-... to what used to be called "protest songs". Do you find that yourself?
LL: I think we're just getting better at it. You know, a lot of times people concentrated on the negative side of things. And now we're finding more fun ways of getting a message across. I heard of a bunch of transvestites that wanted to wear fur coats and... fake fur boats with blood all over them, and a placard saying "Fur Is A Drag".
-That's great. What are your plans for the coming year?
LL: I'd really, really, dearly love to make some live shows, because I think that's the best way of communicating really. And people are sure to get the message if I'm there, telling the story.
-When you do live shows, are you planning to have a group like Friends of the Earth have a table at your shows, so that interested people can register?
LL: Oh, if they want to. If they want to, yes.
-Because a lot of artists are doing that. You know, McCartney's doing it, and the B-52s.
LL: Yeah, I was there at the B-52 show, and I thought that was working really well.
-Are you also planning to do more acting? You had mentioned the opera earlier.
LL: Yes, I've just made a short film in England with Captain Sensible from The Damned, and it's going to be a half-documentary, half-fantasy in which I play the part of a kind of demonic waitress in this weird cafe. And it's called "Meathead", and it's got lots of really interesting bands contributing to the soundtrack, because there's no dialogue in it but the message is there in the visuals and in the songs.
-Do you know if it's going to be released in the States?
LL: I really hope so, because I think it's really going to be good.
-Well, I wish all the best with your new album, new movie, new opera, and all the things you're doing, you're everywhere. Thank you very much for coming down. This is Dawn Eden from Videowave.
LL: My pleasure.
