Outline (Norwich/UK; Nov 2013)

Lene Lovich: A Hit Ms That Refuses To Fit. Lene Lovich, five foot nothing of old lace, obscure ancestry and pigtails, is what in old showbiz parlance they call a trouper. She can take the strain. That was the beginning of Paul Rambali's article on the iconic singer from the NME back in 1979, and how right he was, in both respects. Nowadays, performers believe they're making a statement by getting near naked. Read: Miley Cyrus. Darling, anyone can take their clothes off and stick their tongue out. While Lady Gaga’s outfit of raw meat perhaps swayed towards the more original, it also smacked of shock tactics. It might be said that it's impossible to be different, to be original now. But in 1979, Lene was. She subverted a traditionally male-controlled industry and controlled it herself. And what about Paul Rambali's remark that she could take the strain? Thirty-four years later, with a string of invitations and dates ahead of her, you can decide for yourself, as she plays in Norwich this month. 

Lene, thank you so much for your time today. We're an independent magazine, so we really do appreciate it.

L: Yeah, I know the magazine, it's everywhere! Brilliant!

So obviously we're doing this interview ahead of your Norwich Arts Centre gig this month. A lot of people won't know Norwich is something of a homecoming gig for you now, isn't it?

L: Well, it's a very familiar place for me. Both my daughters went to Art School in Norwich so I spend a lot of time here. Yeah, I'm very familiar with it; Anglia Square is almost the centre of my universe.

[Laughs] Now that's a pull quote!

L: [Laughs] And I'm very proud to say that!

What is it about the Square that lights up your world so much?!

L: Oh, well… it's a very easy place to be. There's no pressure. There's everything you need, pretty much. It's cheap... it's just a wonderful place! I often go to the Hollywood Cinema. I went there recently to see The Lone Ranger, which was wonderful.

Very good. And did you see the Alan Partridge Premiere?

L: No, I'm gutted; no, not there. But I have lots of strange cosmic connections with Norfolk. My mother's from Yorkshire, but her maiden name is Norfolk, which is quite bizarre.

There is a sort of magnetism about the county, it seems.

L: No, but maybe we don't want too many people to know about it because it's good as it is. We don't want too many aliens arriving.

But Lene, you've had many homes. I was thinking about your initial switch from Detroit to Hull when you were young. I mean, East Yorkshire - maybe it's just that Detroit seems exotic just by rights that it's in the US --

L: It was also dangerous. Yes, it sounds more exotic but it was really a hard place to be, especially at that time and now - well, it's come full circle because it did have an amazing recovery after the riots that were happening when I was there, and now it's a very strange place to be. The whole centre of Detroit has gone into decay. I don't know enough about it because I haven't been there in a while, but you know the whole prosperous and extravagant shops in the central area of Detroit has completely gone away now, from what I hear. It's almost gone back to sort of medieval times with people setting up farms… I know it sounds bizarre; maybe you better check these facts! It's just I can't believe it! It was a very big place to be, very posh, very extravagant, wealthy and just… just crumbled. So big cities everywhere, take note: it can happen. It happened to Rome, so…

But Hull - maybe Hull never had any grace to fall from - it's quite a down to earth place, isn't it? Was it a bit of a culture shock?

L: It was a welcome shock. It was a welcome shock because as I said, Detroit was a very troubled place and also my family was… was very messed up. Basically my mother ran away from my father, who had lots of problems, you know, mentally and aggressively, in his attitude towards everybody. Oh, this is like a novel, so I won't go into detail, but it was a great escape for me. I didn't really mind where I was going, I was just glad to be getting away. As long as I was with my mother and my brother and sisters. We all kind of escaped and went to Hull, which was great.

But as you came of age, you moved to London, to art school, didn't you?

L: I moved to London, because after a while, as you grow up and become a teenager you want your own identity. When you're little, I think you want to be the same as everybody else because little children move in their own personal groups and they like to be together, and if you're the odd one out, it's very noticeable. I was the odd one out because as I grew, I realised my visions and my ideas were different to everybody else. You soon learn that in order to survive in a very small world, you have to suppress your ideas… but they were just put on hold and I thought, 'Well, one day. I don't want to get beaten up, or be more of an outsider than I already am.' I think every school has their Wednesday Addams, and that was me. Completely alien to everybody else, maybe because of my accent. It wasn't a very big accent because my mother's English and my father's family's got its roots in Yugoslavia. But I was different and I thought, 'I've got to get to a bigger place where I won't be so unusual. Then maybe I can make some more friends and be in a place where I can express my creative ideas.' But it was a fun place; I don't want to paint a picture that it was dismal because it was the start of rock music being a band thing. Really, more before the 60s and 70s it was more about individual artists and then with the Beatles and the Mersey Sound, it became a band thing.

Musically, it's accepted that you were part of the post-punk and new wave artforms. You, as a generation, were making the rules up for yourselves, you didn't have a lot to guide you. What were you taking inspiration from?

L: Well I had a whole, huge bank of ideas in my head that I'd been saving up, you know, so I'd been gathering information that inspired me for a long time. I was a huge Jimi Hendrix fan… before he was famous. He actually made a stop in Hull; he was on tour with a load of other people and I couldn't afford to get into the show. They probably wouldn't have let me in anyway because I was just a teenager and you had to be a certain age to get into these places, but I walked all the way into the centre of town just to try and listen to the music. He was a huge influence on me; very new and expressive. I loved the whole psychedelic thing. I'm now friends with Arthur Brown, who was very important in that whole time of music and I found that all very inspiring.

The individuality in the way that you expressed yourself, how you presented and styled yourself has been widely celebrated. Coming from an art school background, I imagine it was part of the whole package for you - -

L: Well actually, art school… I went to do sculpture eventually in London at a place that's now called Central St Martins - it was Central School of Art when I was there - and I was actually extremely disappointed because there was a fashion in sculpture at the time, which was abstract, big welded, sometimes colourful items and it was a disappointingly small world where you had to do work like the tutors in order to get on. I went along with it for a certain amount of time but then me and  a few other people in my year rebelled in our third year and we did exactly what we wanted to do, which was great fun. We didn't get any thanks for it though! [Laughs] Because we'd been there so long they had to give us a pass, but that's all it was; we didn't get a good mark, I'm afraid, but it was great fun to release proper creativity. So I just saw clothes and making music and art all part of the whole way of expression. It's very important and it's not hurting anyone, so why not.

I was thinking, it must have taken some balls to assert yourself in the music industry at the time, especially doing something that wasn't pre-prescribed by commercialism. I think it then took even bigger balls to make the decision to be a mother and take time to raise your family. They're two very distinct roles, aren't they?

L: Yes, but for me it happened very naturally. I came to a point where I'd been to a lot of places in the world, I'd stayed up all night a lot of times, been to a lot of clubs, did loads of shows and you know, I think I was ready for a change. And for me, it was difficult because I wasn't mainstream and I didn't have records, apart from a couple, so it was hard to make a living. I just felt it was more important for me to be a mother and be there for my family, because maybe I didn't have such a good family life for myself as a child, so I wanted to make it a good time for everybody.

The header of your press release says, "Retirement is over". And boy, are you going for it. It's been a really exciting time for you over the last couple of years, hasn't it? What was the turning point, the trigger for your revival?

L: I was asked to do a free jazz version of Kurt Weill's music and Jude Rawlins was the other vocalist in the performance. Now the performance was a bit strange to say the least; I don't think I'll repeat it! [Laughs] I love Kurt Weill's music but the combination of that and free jazz was, erm, not totally a happy one! I think it was a challenge. Both Jude and I bonded very closely in our efforts to make our voices heard and because of that, we found out that we liked each other and we had a lot of things that were very similar and likeable between the two of our characters. Afterwards he said, "You know, you really should be doing your own music", and I said, "Well yes, I'm pretty much ready to do that now because my children are grown up". He said, "Well, I know a lot of people and I'm sure we could form a band and do that". And I was just amazed that that could be done and in a way, I was very excited because we decided we'd do it all independently, that we wouldn't be a part of the music business, the established music business and we'd have a freedom to do what we want, when we want and that was all very exciting. It's amazing that the band's been together now over a year and we've already played abroad; we've got invitations to visit America next year -- Yeah, I saw; that's exciting -- Yeah, yeah, and I'm just so happy that people want to see and hear the music again.

It's been getting a great response too, I mean, the remastered 4-CD boxset sold out, didn't it?

L: It sold out in two days; we've got some hungry fans out there so we might have to expand the issue of it. We were just testing the response and it's really good. And we've had a few plays on radio, which is really good. Mainly 'Lucky Number' of course, because that's the song most people know, and it sounds great.

So when you were remastering the albums, because you've presumably had some space from the music, it must have been a real joy to actually go through that process again and revisit them. It must have been great…

L: Yes, it was wonderful because I really hadn't listened to the old albums at all, not for many years and I thought, 'There's a real evolution here, one album after another; they're going somewhere'. And what I see now is that we're just a continuation of that. We're mainly doing the older material now but it's just a stepping stone to the next stage.

Do you have an interest in writing new material then?

L: Oh yes; I'm inspired because now our band is really solid and very, very uplifting in their enthusiasm and their musicianship as well. We have some very talented musicians in the band, all who have done things in the past and now who have come together to do this… as well as continuing their own projects. But this band is wonderful; it's given me the encouragement to want to write again.

That's fantastic, really exciting. I wanted to ask a little bit about your performance as guest vocalist on the special evening celebrating Yoko Ono and John Lennon's 'Double Fantasy' album. You were invited as part of an incredible line-up; Patti Smith, Peaches… that must've been a great night?

L: That was a completely one-off, wonderful experience! I didn't know until fairly recently that John Lennon had an interest in my music and that's why I was invited. He even said this on American TV when he was asked what he was listening to. I mean, this is obviously going back quite a few years, but I felt very special that I was remembered and when Yoko put the show together, I was invited and that made me feel really good because you don't always get good criticism from the music business, but what is more important is when you get the seal of approval from people you really admire. It was an amazing, special night and the audience were obviously 100% John Lennon and Yoko Ono fans, so every song from that 'Double Fantasy' album meant something to them. There were people in tears in the audience because there was special footage of John Lennon singing a song to Yoko that hadn't been seen before, so yeah, it was really amazing. I wish I could do it again but I think it was just one of those one-off things.

Yeah, what a great thing to be part of. I noticed on Facebook that you said if anyone's in the US and can house a band of about 10 people, or something, "invite us in!" It must really take you back to the early days of touring in the way that it's kind of up in the air - it must be invigorating though?

L: Yeah, it is because I look back and it's those early days when I was just discovering how to do stuff, finding your way - it's really not so much a comeback as starting over. I just feel that this is the way to be, that we have to be independent and closely connected to our audience. I just feel that's the right way for us to be. I loved doing the 'Double Fantasy' show at the Festival Hall, but it really wasn't part of my world. It was great to be part of that established music business world, but discovering and finding your own way is… it's exciting.