LL: No, it doesn't really have that much to do with the way I sing. It's mainly just due to wear & tear tiredness. We don't have the luxury of having too many days off because it all costs money to keep a band and crew together on the road, so we have to keep moving. Other people get a chance to rest and obviously since my time here is so short I tuck as much into the the day as I can, so I'm often working all day and all night and your body shows it in the way that it does.
-Are there any precautions you can take to stop that from happening?
LL: I think it's unavoidable but for my voice I always take a lot of honey. I think it helps you with a bit of instant energy and it certainly helps to avoid the shock of singing.
-What are the differences that you've been able to notice on this tour as opposed to your last American tour (3 years ago)?
LL: Maybe the audience is more varied than it used to be. I don't know if it's because the music I do is more acceptable nowadays, but I certainly see people from a lot different lifestyles turning up.
-When you say that the music you do is more acceptable, do you think it's your music or "new music" in general that is more acceptable?
LL: I'd have to say new music in general. I don't really know how I figure in this new music thing because it's not very new to me.
-I was just looking through Billboard Magazine and I was surprised to find that your new album is not on the charts. Why do you suppose that is?
LL: I don't know. There are many things to consider and I know from a practical point of view that the record is not really being promoted. I know that. It is a bit distressing especially when you go to the trouble and expense and the wear and tear that it takes to go out on the road. I'm happy to be here but since I'm stuck in a not very attractive situation of being not signed directly to the company (Epic), but being signed via my English record company (Stiff).
-And Stiff doesn't have an office here.
LL: No, they've very foolishly closed their offices here. I'm in an unfortunate situation here where the record company has given a big advance to Stiff, which I see nothing of. Now the record company feels that they can't promote it because they paid too much for the record. It'll have to be resolved someday. But our tour is successful. We sold out here in L.A. a month in advance when groups who are being played on the radio heavily and are playing here at the same time, aren't. It's a great feeling. To be honest I don't really feel like I need the reassurance of a hit record when I've got such strong supporters. All I really need to do to make things possible is to have enough people supporting us so that we can continue.
-Do you think that one of the reasons you haven't had as much success in America is because there are various European influences in your music that may be foreign to rock & roll ears here?
LL: Yes. But as well as it having a European feeling, it also has a very basic human feeling to it and I think that should be universal.
-How did your recent stage production in England of Mata Hari come about?
LL: With having the problems with the English record company, I had to find an alternative way to be able to make music without having a record out, which is really almost impossibe when you get to a certain professional stage where you can't ask people to work for you for nothing. You need some way to find to do this without it costing you money. Certainly with not having a record out in two years there was no money coming in. Another reason was that I went to see a musical play by a friend of mine who wrote two songs on Flex, Chris Judge Smith. I suppose the idea just came to me to do a stage show so I could involve myself in music and at the same time there wouldn't be tremendous touring expenses and it would be a very interesting project.
-Did people come to see Lene Lovich, the pop star, or did theater people also come?
LL: It was a real cross-section of all types of people. Some very old and some very young.
-Do you have plans of bringing the show to America?
LL: I would really like to because there seems to have been so much interest in it and I'd really like to do it again, but I'd like to take some time away from it. I think there are so many different ways to tell the story and for my own interest really, I'd like to try another version of it.
-What about doing film work?
LL: I was involved in a film last year in France that was made for T.V. and that was an exciting experience for me.
-With music?
LL: I played the part of a singer. I'd like to be involved in acting but I'd like the opportunity to step aside from my real self and most of the parts that I'm offered is to play a character exactly the same as myself. So there's not any real challenge there but the experience is still new to me.
-Do you find it a challenge transposing your songs into video?
LL: I love the idea of it, but it's very difficult to make more than one interpretation of a song without being completely random about it. This is something I find hard to deal with because I see myself on many different planes, really.
-I could understand where a video could limit the many images and atmospheres of your songs.
LL: I would like to make three or four videos of the same song, but that's a luxury I can't really afford.
-What singers around today do you find interesting?
LL: It's difficult really because there are not so many people who I find who are following their own creative ideas. There are so many people who are walking down the same sort of road. I like very much Nina Hagen. I know her as well and in a way that may have something to do with it. I like the way she's using her voice in a creative way. People may not agree with her philosophies or whatever, but just if you really listen to her voice she uses it in a creative way. I find it really difficult and I don't have a lot of time to listen to an awful lot of music, so there are probably a lot of people out there who are being very interesting in what they do with their voices and I probably just haven't come across them. You tend to find two or three different types of styles of singing which everybody else kind of goes along with. I really just find that it's not very attractive to me because I'd rather listen to different types of music. It doesn't matter what kind of music it is. Unfortunately, in this new music situation, there are certain stereotyped ways of delivering a song.
-Boring?
LL: If enough people do it, it does become boring.
-Other artists have imitated your style and have had more success with it. How do you feel about that?
LL: Maybe some of the reasons why they've been more successful is because in a way they are more simplified. They have tuned in to two or three of the planes and made it easier perhaps for the audience to accept the idea.
-Does the thought ever go through your mind, 'Maybe I should make music that will work for them - especially Americans'?
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