Ms Lene Lovich is in her dressing room at London's Lyric Theatre where she appears nightly (for some 4 weeks) in the musical play about Mata Hari.
"I came to see a show at the same theatre at the beginning of the year in January; it was written by a friend of mine, Chris Judge Smith, and when I came to see it, I was having a lot of problems with my record company."
"I was really personally depressed, but I was excited to see music happening in an alternative way because unless you have a record out it's very difficult to perform live. It's the professional business and everybody has to be paid, people who do the lights, the band, and if you don't have the record out, it's impossible to do it."
"I was quite excited about the idea to do the music in the theatre situation. Actually, about four years ago I was talking to the same guy, Chris, how do you show somebody a story for a film if you have got an idea for it - how do you present it to somebody ? He told me that you write something called "treatment", showing me one he was commissioned to do about Mata Hari, but never realized. So it was a combination of events that led me to do something like this."
The play, authored by Lene, her faithful companion for many years, Les Chappell and old friend (from the days of art-studies, later founder-member of remarkable but ill-fated Van Der Graaf Generator) Chris Judge Smith, is factionalized account of one of this century's most intriguing persons. Mata, who had bursted upon Paris in 1905 with her unique oriental dance, on engagement in Berlin at the outbreak of First World War, returned to Paris only to be executed in the charge of espionage in 1917.
Lene, with her almost eccentric looks and fascinating way of performing, has been the only possible choice to bring to the stage life the enigma and mystery of Mata. But, the critics haven't thought so and not very good write-ups ensued.
She laughs genuine wholeheartedly: "On one hand it's true because on the night the press came, I was very ill, being sick the week before the opening and the first week of showing; I couldn't really sing well, even now my throat is not in the usual shape. They didn't get the best performance from me, I didn't have much energy to really give the part the real spark."
"And we were a little under-rehearsed because I had been telling my record company for nine months that we'd be doing the show. Of the only three weeks to rehearse, they sent me off to New York to finish the album for a week, so we really had only two weeks to get it right."
"Also, we have very strange critics, some said 'Why should a singer make a show about the dancer ?' But, why not ? Does it mean that I should only make a musical about singers ? And I do believe that they like to keep arts separate; that's not what I was hoping to achieve. I was hoping for some kind of communication even though I've always said that I wasn't an actress."
"I wanted to bring arts together, somehow, and in the show we have everything: puppets, music, little bit of dance, small amount of choreography ... I was hoping that the idea would work so that we could try and progress and do another one. Maybe we'll still be able to ..."
Any possibility that you put the songs from the stage production on the vinyl ?
"I'd like to but I don't think that I'll have any help from my record company. They've all come to see the show and I can only suggest and maybe they'll agree, it may happen. If it comes to it, we'd develop the songs a bit more, maybe give more information needed without the visual support."
"I think that the record company in here has changed in some way, maybe because of the circumstances that made them have different priorities. I don't think that my priorities have changed, but theirs have: for one, they are bigger company now, they employ more people, they have bigger overheads and they have become very successful with the singles here in Britain. And, that's where their emphasis really is; unless they can see that recording will be a hit-single, they are not interested."
"About two years ago, I started to record the new album, and couple of people came down and they weren't really happy about it because they couldn't see the hit-single. They have been waiting for me to change, they started not to like the way I look and they didn't even want to like the way I sang. What they were looking for, it was explained to me that they wanted to hear something coming from me that nobody would know that it was me. A song that could have been done by anybody, in other words. They were afraid that the public was tired of the way that I looked and the way that I sounded, and if I could do something more anonymous and more universal, I would have wider appeal."
To lose your identity and adopt a corporate image ?!
"Yes, that was the idea and it was put to me in many different ways, in many different versions by different people from the company. And all this time they've been waiting for me to change, but it doesn't work that way; they thought that if they stopped me from working I'd have to change eventually."
"In some ways you can say that what I've done now is some kind of a compromise, and if it is, it's acceptable to me. I like this record very much and they do too. It's very strange because some of the numbers are two years old, with the same backing tracks..."
"They sent me off to America to re-mix the album thinking that he (Bob Clearmountain who's worked with the Stones, Church, Roxy Music etc.) would take out all the craziness that they didn't like and he'd make it sound better. When we got there, he balanced it better for hi-fi freakos, made tracks sound more unifying because they were recorded in different studios, made them appear like one record. He hasn't changed much of the essence, it's still our album."
"I like everybody at Stiff and to have to go and look for another record company will be like running away from home," she smiles.
Les has come in during the conversation but, with his head buried in the papers, he utters not a single word.
The song that opens the new album, at the same time the new single "It's You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)" contains the leitmotif for Ennio Morricone's score for the spaghetti-western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
"That's the truth, and it's not my song; it's from the guys who used to be in a Dutch band called The Meteors, they are disbanded now. That riff was already in there when I picked it up, and I was glad that it was in there because I've always been a big fan of Ennio Morricone and I wouldn't mind people mentioning his name in connection with mine, even if they thought I'd stolen it."
Wouldn't the title of "No-Woman's-Land" have been better ?
"Yes, but it's traditional form of speech; Stiff didn't like it either ... the only thing they liked from the start was Les' picture of me for the cover. We decided to keep it in the family."
"Maybe all my problems are over now, or rather that is what I'd like to think," she adds as an after-thought. "It's become such a big problem for me that I'm happy to have an album out, at all."
"Sister Video (penned by J. O'Neill of Fingerprintz) is the most likeable offer of the nine, but Special Star and Rocky Road are more to the point, dealing with the coercion of the business."
"All my songs are autobiographical, very personal ... I wouldn't really like to say, I'd rather let the songs speak for themselves and to have more of the audience participation."
It's the most probable that this album will face the criticism of "not-a-big-change" after the two years lull.
"I haven't changed so much because you can only change by doing things. I'm the person who do things with feeling and intuition, doesn't plan it, I like things to happen naturally, I only learn by doing one thing at the time. The things that I learned from Flex were translated into this album, because there was nothing in between. It doesn't mean that the quality is any less..."
Dancey record without the commercial sea-songs of this season - it retails the definite Lene Lovich identity.
In 1979, Lene starred in the film "Cha Cha" with Herman Brood and Nina Hagen; following appearances in the Mata Hari play and recent screening of the French TV-movie "Rock". Is she going to pursue acting as a career ?
"Listen, if I didn't have so much trouble with the music industry, most probably I wouldn't be appearing in Mata Hari, nor doing the films. My first and foremost love is the music, so completely satisfying that I could be involved full time with no regrets."
September 27, 2019
Out (UK; 2006); TV Times Extra - Tune-in to Autumn (UK; 1979)
"1970s fashion was dull, dull, dull. The only thing I liked were the shoes - big chunky Frankenstein platforms. You could stomp around in those. But seriously, until punk came along, the best thing about fashion was that it was cheap. I totally embraced the punk look. It was do-it-yourself, just like the music. I loved the ripped-up look; I'm still wearing it, and it always freaks people out. It was like you'd just got run over by a bus. Pop was colorful and arty. David Bowie was always interesting, but punk probably had the biggest effect on me. It opened doors for a lot of people, including me. Anybody could be in a band. It was a great time for girls, misfits, and creative spirits."
(2006)
WARDROBES: WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
Lovely, dizzy Lene Lovich may give the appearance of being decked out in items left behind after a jumble sale - but in fact she's fascinated by clothes.
"What I'm into right now is curtains. I buy lots of lacy ones from market stalls, dye them, wrap them round me and tie something round the waist to keep them on. Curtains have endless different patterns, you know. Comfort on stage is very important; I don't want to be restricted by what I'm wearing and I find curtains make the perfect relaxing garment. I have suitcases full of them.
"I've just started this new thing: I wear footless tights on my arms. I pull them up so they look like those long gloves women used to wear. I like to create my own style entirely and not rely on a designer. The other thing I do is swap clothes with my friends."
Lene leans back in her curtains and fiddles with her long hair: "Don't get the idea that I only wear curtains; every once in a while I find a dress or jacket I like. There's not a great deal of difference between my day-to-day clothing and my stage gear. Perhaps I elaborate a bit when I'm performing, but I'm pretty consistent in my dress."
(1979)
(2006)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lovely, dizzy Lene Lovich may give the appearance of being decked out in items left behind after a jumble sale - but in fact she's fascinated by clothes.
"What I'm into right now is curtains. I buy lots of lacy ones from market stalls, dye them, wrap them round me and tie something round the waist to keep them on. Curtains have endless different patterns, you know. Comfort on stage is very important; I don't want to be restricted by what I'm wearing and I find curtains make the perfect relaxing garment. I have suitcases full of them.
"I've just started this new thing: I wear footless tights on my arms. I pull them up so they look like those long gloves women used to wear. I like to create my own style entirely and not rely on a designer. The other thing I do is swap clothes with my friends."
Lene leans back in her curtains and fiddles with her long hair: "Don't get the idea that I only wear curtains; every once in a while I find a dress or jacket I like. There's not a great deal of difference between my day-to-day clothing and my stage gear. Perhaps I elaborate a bit when I'm performing, but I'm pretty consistent in my dress."
(1979)
Dallas Morning News (20 May 1987)
'Weird' Lene Takes On Critters' Cause
The word that has dogged Lene Lovich for much of her career is "weird.' Over the past 10 years or so, the singer has remained an eccentric, rather shadowy cult figure. Despite her four-octave range, she has become best known for her chirpy yodeling style and her flamboyant stage presence.
Best known for her first album, Stateless and a handful of great singles including Lucky Number and Say When, Lovich has not released an album in years, largely because of contractual problems.
"I've been locked in the dungeon of Stiff Records for three years,' she said by telephone from New York. "They didn't like the musical direction I was taking.'
Even though their styles are quite disparate, Lovich has tended to be lumped with fellow avant-garde singers Lydia Lunch and Nina Hagen. Weird.
Her latest project does unite Lovich and Hagen in a cause that has become dear to both singers, the campaign for animal rights. The two have become spear carriers for a group called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that is waging an increasingly vocal battle to stop the use of animals as food, in research and for fur. Lovich will stage a benefit concert Friday night at the Starck Club.
PETA has enlisted several other stars, including Howard Jones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Morrissey of The Smiths and Alain Jourgensen of Ministry in the war against scientists, furriers and human carnivores. Lovich and Hagen recently released a single, Don't Kill the Animals, that has become a dance club hit. The two also have hit the road on a concert tour on behalf of PETA.
A Detroit native who has lived in Britain for the past 20 years, Lovich is a relatively recent convert, having joined the cause a year ago.
"I have been a vegetarian since May 1, 1986,' she said. "I started about five years ago saying I wouldn't eat any more babies. No more chicks. All God's creatures have a right to a life.'
But she didn't quite follow up on that sentiment. Then one day her friend Nina Hagen showed up at Lovich's house in Norfolk.
"She came up to my house to make a demo for another song,' Lovich recalled. "She told me about this (PETA) thing and she had already written half a song, and I wanted to help her finish. These ideas had been going through my head, and I decided to go ahead and do it. We just put a piece of paper on the table and started writing.'
The result was Don't Kill the Animals.
"It's the fastest song I've ever written in my whole life,' Lovich said. "Usually my songs are left available for the audience to tune in to whatever plane they wished. But this time I wanted to be sort of a newscaster and set the discussion.'
The collaboration with the German singer led to an education course for Lovich.
"At that time I wasn't really aware of the total picture,' she said. "I received a whole lot of information from PETA, and the next day I became a vegetarian. I was not just doing it because of animals but because of people. I wanted to make an effort to get rid of world hunger. It's a very simplistic argument, but I do believe that if we left the animals to their own world and concentrated on our own we could rid the world of starvation.
"Animals don't even get the diseases for which they are used in experiments, so how can their systems react? Seventy percent of the testing done on animals is non-medical. It's for everyday products like shampoo, makeup, oven cleaners. It's a multi-million-dollar industry. We have this image of researchers as angels in white coats trying to save the world, and that's not really a total picture.'
PETA, Lovich said, is not just trying to turn out pious vegetarians.
"This organization is talking about closing down some of these places, laboratories -- legally. These things (experiments) are all going on behind closed doors. If they're so wonderful, why aren't they taking people around on guided tours?'
Lovich said she believes people will be receptive to the PETA message because it makes sense.
"I'm not here to judge people. I'm here to inform people,' she said. "I think it has to be a spiritual decision, a social decision. It has to come from within. Science is wonderful. You know, I wear canvas shoes, and I also wear, you know, pretend leather.
"What we (PETA) say is, just get into vegetables. You'll find that your sensitivity, your taste, just develops -- because it's been deadened all this time. And you can save so much money.
"I say get into those vegetables, those grains. I'm really into fakes. Fake burgers, fake sweet and sour. And for those who really like the activity of eating meat, there are some just wonderful mushrooms that give you the same ripping-into-flesh sensation.'
The word that has dogged Lene Lovich for much of her career is "weird.' Over the past 10 years or so, the singer has remained an eccentric, rather shadowy cult figure. Despite her four-octave range, she has become best known for her chirpy yodeling style and her flamboyant stage presence.
Best known for her first album, Stateless and a handful of great singles including Lucky Number and Say When, Lovich has not released an album in years, largely because of contractual problems.
"I've been locked in the dungeon of Stiff Records for three years,' she said by telephone from New York. "They didn't like the musical direction I was taking.'
Even though their styles are quite disparate, Lovich has tended to be lumped with fellow avant-garde singers Lydia Lunch and Nina Hagen. Weird.
Her latest project does unite Lovich and Hagen in a cause that has become dear to both singers, the campaign for animal rights. The two have become spear carriers for a group called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that is waging an increasingly vocal battle to stop the use of animals as food, in research and for fur. Lovich will stage a benefit concert Friday night at the Starck Club.
PETA has enlisted several other stars, including Howard Jones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Morrissey of The Smiths and Alain Jourgensen of Ministry in the war against scientists, furriers and human carnivores. Lovich and Hagen recently released a single, Don't Kill the Animals, that has become a dance club hit. The two also have hit the road on a concert tour on behalf of PETA.
A Detroit native who has lived in Britain for the past 20 years, Lovich is a relatively recent convert, having joined the cause a year ago.
"I have been a vegetarian since May 1, 1986,' she said. "I started about five years ago saying I wouldn't eat any more babies. No more chicks. All God's creatures have a right to a life.'
But she didn't quite follow up on that sentiment. Then one day her friend Nina Hagen showed up at Lovich's house in Norfolk.
"She came up to my house to make a demo for another song,' Lovich recalled. "She told me about this (PETA) thing and she had already written half a song, and I wanted to help her finish. These ideas had been going through my head, and I decided to go ahead and do it. We just put a piece of paper on the table and started writing.'
The result was Don't Kill the Animals.
"It's the fastest song I've ever written in my whole life,' Lovich said. "Usually my songs are left available for the audience to tune in to whatever plane they wished. But this time I wanted to be sort of a newscaster and set the discussion.'
The collaboration with the German singer led to an education course for Lovich.
"At that time I wasn't really aware of the total picture,' she said. "I received a whole lot of information from PETA, and the next day I became a vegetarian. I was not just doing it because of animals but because of people. I wanted to make an effort to get rid of world hunger. It's a very simplistic argument, but I do believe that if we left the animals to their own world and concentrated on our own we could rid the world of starvation.
"Animals don't even get the diseases for which they are used in experiments, so how can their systems react? Seventy percent of the testing done on animals is non-medical. It's for everyday products like shampoo, makeup, oven cleaners. It's a multi-million-dollar industry. We have this image of researchers as angels in white coats trying to save the world, and that's not really a total picture.'
PETA, Lovich said, is not just trying to turn out pious vegetarians.
"This organization is talking about closing down some of these places, laboratories -- legally. These things (experiments) are all going on behind closed doors. If they're so wonderful, why aren't they taking people around on guided tours?'
Lovich said she believes people will be receptive to the PETA message because it makes sense.
"I'm not here to judge people. I'm here to inform people,' she said. "I think it has to be a spiritual decision, a social decision. It has to come from within. Science is wonderful. You know, I wear canvas shoes, and I also wear, you know, pretend leather.
"What we (PETA) say is, just get into vegetables. You'll find that your sensitivity, your taste, just develops -- because it's been deadened all this time. And you can save so much money.
"I say get into those vegetables, those grains. I'm really into fakes. Fake burgers, fake sweet and sour. And for those who really like the activity of eating meat, there are some just wonderful mushrooms that give you the same ripping-into-flesh sensation.'
http://www.waxtrax-not-subpop.org/interviews/Lene_Lovich_Dallas_Morning_News_5-20-87.html
KTRU radio interview (1983)
KTRU (college radio station from Houston/Texas) - program: Rice Radio
-Hi, here is Michael Zakes, and we have Lene Lovich [...?...], and we're going to talk about her and her music. First of all, could you tell us about your new album?
LL: Well, this is our third record now. Well, our third LP. We have had a little short LP out in between times, but basically this is our third major recording adventure, and it's called "No Man's Land". There is no real continuity in any of the songs, in form of a conceptual idea about the album. All of the songs are meant to be individual. And as always, we draw from any source that we like as far as musical influences go.
-On the album, there seems to be a little bit more of a dance feel to it than, say, on the first two albums. It harkens back more to, say, the "New Toy" 12". Could you say where you got [...?...] from?
LL: Well, it's really not surprising that it's in some way connected to the "New Toy" six-track that we did, because it was all more or less recorded at the same time. It's just that the record company took a long time to decide in putting this record out. And I really don't see that it's any more biased towards a dance type of rhythm, because you can take some of the most earliest songs that we did, I suppose "Lucky Number" is one of the most well-known, and I think if you put it side by side with some of the songs here, I don't think you would see a very great diversion as far as rhythmic content goes. And there are also many different types of rhythms on this record. For example, a song called "Walking Low" is not your conventional dance song, I wouldn't have said.
-Where would you say you get most of your ideas for your songs from and can you give one specific instance of when you saw something or did something and said "Hey, I'm gonna write a song about that" ?
LL: I think most of the inspirations are really coming from my songwriting partner, Les Chappell. I mean, obviously things stimulate you from time to time, but very often it's something that he's done or said or played that has started off my brain working into a direction of writing a song.
-Do you say that your new album is just being released at the end what was actually first written and recorded, say, back in 1981, 1980, around there? What have you been doing in the time since then?
LL: Well, with having to wait so long for the record company to get the idea to put the record out, I had to try to find a few alternative directions. One thing I did was to go to France to make a film for TV, which was a great experience for me, and it was really like a holiday. But it was more difficult than I thought it was gonna be, because I don't really speak French that well. Fortunately, I was playing the part of an American singer who spoke French very badly, so it was very convenient for me. But what was interesting was that I was able to play two roles - one the real character, and the other an evil imposter of that character, and I enjoyed very much playing the two personalities. Apart from that, I also was involved in a theatre show in London around the life of a real person called Mata Hari, who was executed during the First World War by the French as being a spy, a so-called spy, for Germany. And I did a lot of research, and co-wrote that with my partner Les Chappell and with another friend of ours, Chris Judge Smith. The three of us did a lot of research. Very, very difficult to find anything like the truth, and I don't think anybody ever will.
-In the time since, say have you been working in any video projects, and do you have a new album in the works?
LL: I have made a few videos. I'm sort of in the process of trying to put one together now for a song called "Blue Hotel", but that's not really finished yet. I have got ideas for songs, but we're in the middle now of a big live performance section of our lives, and I won't really have any time to do anything about these songs until I get back to England, which won't be into the summer.
-How long have you been doing this as far as not so much recording albums? Pretty much everybody knows that you were in the first wave of the Stiff acts back in 1978. What did you do before that?
LL: Well, it took me quite a long time really, before I had any sort of confidence in myself to do anything with music, although I wanted to be involved in it. So before I had the chance really... before Stiff Records gave me the chance to record my own songs, I was learning, and I spent about five years doing this, doing various types of jobs in all aspects of playing music. I played in hotel bands, where we had to play for five hours a night doing all sort of things - tangos and waltzes and rock 'n' roll, and all sorts of things. That was mainly in Europe. I worked as a dancer for awhile when I very first started out. And I worked in cabaret with an all-girl trio, and that was also in Europe. I worked in some theatre projects, but I was never the main feature at all, I was always just learning really. Just in the background really, yes.
-Where do you get the ideas for your clothing styles?
LL: Oh, I... Well, I've always enjoyed wearing things on my head. It used to be very, very practical when I was at art school. I was majoring in sculpture and I used to work a lot in cement plaster, and there it was really essential to wear something on your head, but... and after wearing something on your head every day, you have to sort of think of elaborating it in some way, and I actually enjoyed this and I suppose it became some sort of a habit. But I also like tieing things up, really. I like things that will rearrange themselves during the course of the day, and I suppose I like also wearing a few different layers, because I like to be at the right temperature, if possible. So if you wear a lot of things, you can always take it off. I like really customising clothes rather than, you know, (destroying) something, designing and then trying to make it up. That's not really my style. I like to see the potential in something. And I also like going to the sales, like on the last day. You know, when those... everything that's there is what nobody else wants, 'cause then you've probably got something fairly unique.
-Ok. I might thank you for talking to us today and hope that the rest of your tour goes well.
LL: Ok.
-Hi, here is Michael Zakes, and we have Lene Lovich [...?...], and we're going to talk about her and her music. First of all, could you tell us about your new album?
LL: Well, this is our third record now. Well, our third LP. We have had a little short LP out in between times, but basically this is our third major recording adventure, and it's called "No Man's Land". There is no real continuity in any of the songs, in form of a conceptual idea about the album. All of the songs are meant to be individual. And as always, we draw from any source that we like as far as musical influences go.
-On the album, there seems to be a little bit more of a dance feel to it than, say, on the first two albums. It harkens back more to, say, the "New Toy" 12". Could you say where you got [...?...] from?
LL: Well, it's really not surprising that it's in some way connected to the "New Toy" six-track that we did, because it was all more or less recorded at the same time. It's just that the record company took a long time to decide in putting this record out. And I really don't see that it's any more biased towards a dance type of rhythm, because you can take some of the most earliest songs that we did, I suppose "Lucky Number" is one of the most well-known, and I think if you put it side by side with some of the songs here, I don't think you would see a very great diversion as far as rhythmic content goes. And there are also many different types of rhythms on this record. For example, a song called "Walking Low" is not your conventional dance song, I wouldn't have said.
-Where would you say you get most of your ideas for your songs from and can you give one specific instance of when you saw something or did something and said "Hey, I'm gonna write a song about that" ?
LL: I think most of the inspirations are really coming from my songwriting partner, Les Chappell. I mean, obviously things stimulate you from time to time, but very often it's something that he's done or said or played that has started off my brain working into a direction of writing a song.
-Do you say that your new album is just being released at the end what was actually first written and recorded, say, back in 1981, 1980, around there? What have you been doing in the time since then?
LL: Well, with having to wait so long for the record company to get the idea to put the record out, I had to try to find a few alternative directions. One thing I did was to go to France to make a film for TV, which was a great experience for me, and it was really like a holiday. But it was more difficult than I thought it was gonna be, because I don't really speak French that well. Fortunately, I was playing the part of an American singer who spoke French very badly, so it was very convenient for me. But what was interesting was that I was able to play two roles - one the real character, and the other an evil imposter of that character, and I enjoyed very much playing the two personalities. Apart from that, I also was involved in a theatre show in London around the life of a real person called Mata Hari, who was executed during the First World War by the French as being a spy, a so-called spy, for Germany. And I did a lot of research, and co-wrote that with my partner Les Chappell and with another friend of ours, Chris Judge Smith. The three of us did a lot of research. Very, very difficult to find anything like the truth, and I don't think anybody ever will.
-In the time since, say have you been working in any video projects, and do you have a new album in the works?
LL: I have made a few videos. I'm sort of in the process of trying to put one together now for a song called "Blue Hotel", but that's not really finished yet. I have got ideas for songs, but we're in the middle now of a big live performance section of our lives, and I won't really have any time to do anything about these songs until I get back to England, which won't be into the summer.
-How long have you been doing this as far as not so much recording albums? Pretty much everybody knows that you were in the first wave of the Stiff acts back in 1978. What did you do before that?
LL: Well, it took me quite a long time really, before I had any sort of confidence in myself to do anything with music, although I wanted to be involved in it. So before I had the chance really... before Stiff Records gave me the chance to record my own songs, I was learning, and I spent about five years doing this, doing various types of jobs in all aspects of playing music. I played in hotel bands, where we had to play for five hours a night doing all sort of things - tangos and waltzes and rock 'n' roll, and all sorts of things. That was mainly in Europe. I worked as a dancer for awhile when I very first started out. And I worked in cabaret with an all-girl trio, and that was also in Europe. I worked in some theatre projects, but I was never the main feature at all, I was always just learning really. Just in the background really, yes.
-Where do you get the ideas for your clothing styles?
LL: Oh, I... Well, I've always enjoyed wearing things on my head. It used to be very, very practical when I was at art school. I was majoring in sculpture and I used to work a lot in cement plaster, and there it was really essential to wear something on your head, but... and after wearing something on your head every day, you have to sort of think of elaborating it in some way, and I actually enjoyed this and I suppose it became some sort of a habit. But I also like tieing things up, really. I like things that will rearrange themselves during the course of the day, and I suppose I like also wearing a few different layers, because I like to be at the right temperature, if possible. So if you wear a lot of things, you can always take it off. I like really customising clothes rather than, you know, (destroying) something, designing and then trying to make it up. That's not really my style. I like to see the potential in something. And I also like going to the sales, like on the last day. You know, when those... everything that's there is what nobody else wants, 'cause then you've probably got something fairly unique.
-Ok. I might thank you for talking to us today and hope that the rest of your tour goes well.
LL: Ok.
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