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New Australian and Italian interviews with Kate! Plus Billboard reviews Wild Man

The Australian logoAnd here we are again. So very soon after Director’s Cut, the promotional push for another studio album from Kate is now well under way.  The latest interview to support the release of 50 Words For Snow next month has been published in The Australian. In the interview with Iain Shedden, Kate talks about how her new album came about:

“It was something I had wanted to do for a few years…but it was more ideas rather than something concrete. I suppose it was rumbling around in the back of my head while I was doing Director’s Cut, but I couldn’t really get my head around it until I got Director’s Cut out of the way…I’d liked the idea of making a kind of wintry record for some time, but then it got honed down to the idea of focusing on snow…I think everyone loves snow unless you happen to be snowed in for months on end. It has a real magical quality about it. Obviously not all the songs are about snow, but there is that thread running through it…”

Kate says she doesn’t want anyone to mistake this for a “Christmas” album: “That is one concern I had when people heard the title and when they got to see the artwork on the cover . . . that they would think it was a Christmas album…people don’t seem to be saying that, which is great because it isn’t. If they did think that they’d be disappointed.” 

Kate is thrilled by her guests on the album. On Stephen Fry, who features on the album’s title track, she tells The Australian: “What I was trying to do was find someone who had a great voice of authority. The idea of the song was that we would start off with straightforward words and then come up with completely ridiculous ones. That really tickles me because it’s meant to be fun.”

Kate also talks about Elton John’s performance on ‘Snowed in at Wheeler Street’: “I love his performance. He has a fantastic voice. If he had said no I don’t know who I would have asked, but luckily he said yes. I was really lucky that everyone I asked to be on the album agreed to do it.”

In Italy, the magazine XL has also published an interview with Kate, although we are still waiting for a translation. In one part of this interview Kate talks abut being flattered by being thought of as an influence on other female artists and also says that she has heard Lady Gaga’s music and thinks she’s great.  Thanks to Louise and to rblazon for pointing these out.

Update: We now have a translation of the XL interview (thanks to Antonello!)

Billboard Magazine has reviewed Wild Man, calling the track “weird and whimiscal” and that it “makes for a wicked headphone atmosphere, with Dan McIntosh’s expressionistic digital guitar curlicues wandering around a crisp Steve Gadd kit and John Giblin bass.” Thanks to Greg Gilligan for the link.

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24 Comments

  1. does anyone know if there is any truth to the “… she’s been in contact with animation studios for this album…” rumor. It popped up some time ago and vanished shortly after. I hope it will be true though.

  2. The first time I heard “Wild Man”, I was really surprised that the song had traces of Mike Rutherford/Genesis in the opening notes. And Kate names all these places in the Himalayas/Nepal and Tibet. Bigfoot and Sasquatch, all other names for the Wild Man. I have to listen to the song a few more times to get it to grow on me. “Wild Man” is an unexpected surprise.

  3. Thanks guys for running this resource and keeping fans filled-in. You’re doing a great job 🙂

  4. giulio

    I can’t wait any longer….
    Please ’50 Words For Snow’… come quickly!!!!

  5. luckystar

    i just dont get why does she think lady gaga is great,kate is genius and lady gaga makes crapy music,i think kate bush is just being polite cause she has never said anything bad about any musician

    • Havent you noticed that Kate Bush leaves her real thoughts out of all interviews.
      She is the best example of letting the art speak for itself.

      • Why was my comment edited?I genuinely thought this site was a forum for discussion,all artists need to be criticized,sometimes unkindly,to evolve.

        • Hello Graham,

          I edited your comment to take out remarks which I thought didn’t add anything to the point you were making. Generally speaking we are receptive of most views when temperately expressed. If you want more vigorous discussion of Kate’s music, you can always visit the associated forum at: http://thehomegroundandkatebushnewsandinfoforum.yuku.com

          I hope you will visit the News Blog again.

  6. Aaron Davy

    Hi all. I can understand why Kate might genuinely like Lady Gaga… sure both completely different artists, from relatively distinct musical decades – but both distinct and credible performers/ artists in their own right. I have loved Kate’s music since the early 80s, but I still enjoy listening to what is new and current (Lady Gaga included!). Given that she has a young child in her house, she probably can’t escape the sound of Lady Gaga, etc! (thanks also Sean and team at katebushnews. I have been coming online for years to find all things Kate. A great resource!) …roll on 21st Nov.

  7. Rod

    You can’t have seen Lady Gaga hitting the keyboards in a warm pub on a cold night then. She could really rock a pub before she became Lady Gaga; a persona I’m not that fond off because I’m an old fart, but I can see the appeal. She’s talented and can play the piano and she is also young and a bit daft (those shoes), but weren’t we all (platforms in the 70s)?

    I really like that Australian interview because you get a glimpse of Kate Bush the working artist. Iain Sheddon has done a good job making a distinction between the artist and the art. For me that’s a real joy, I love knowing that real people can get together and work really hard to create something strange and wonderful, and then go back to baking, plumping the cushions, and digging the garden.

    • Iian Sheddon is sexist as is the review.

      • Rod

        I don’t know ‘Iian Sheddon’ (sic) so I have no idea whether or not he is “sexist”. I enjoyed his piece for The Australian, and I didn’t read any sexism into it if that is all you are basing your accusation on. As readers we often project, so rather than assuming that, say, I am reading incorrectly and your interpretation is right, you might want to consider that you have perhaps misread or misunderstood the text.

  8. The artist we all know and love named Kate Bush is a “persona” just like Lady Gaga. It doesn’t surprise me that Kate likes Gaga at all. You might now like Gaga’s non-stop self-promotion, constant media presence and social media domination, but it’s all part of the act. Unlike a lot of the pop girls out there now — Katy Perry, Kesha, Britney — Gaga is a musician, sings live and can play the hell out of a piano.

    • Aaron Davy

      Yes, I agree re. ‘Kate Bush’ as a persona… there is a quote from Kate who herself says something along the lines of “There is a person that is adored, but I suggest strongely that it is not me”. (excuse my not knowing it verbatim), but I think it sums up the seperation between Kate as artist, and Kate herself.

  9. P.S-Just sold another painting this week and will be giving its new owner The Directors Cut as a gift with purchase.I do this alot,how many people who visit this sight can say the same thing?Am not boasting,just pointing out I put my money where my mouth is when it comes to the genius of kate Bush.Actions really do speak much louder than written words in cyberspace.I find it disappointing the lack of objectivity on this site and wont visit again.

  10. Woah, I just can’t wait to hear Bertie and Elton John singing on the album!!!! Oh, and Kate of course, too! She’s unique. An album done her way is the best I could experience in music! 😉 After flying and diving in Aerial … now ‘maybe’ I’ll be melting with 50WFS. Ok, calming down now. Cheers!

  11. Paul c

    Hi all, really loving the coverage on the site at the moment, and like everyone else eagerly waiting for it to snow!! There’s been some interesting comments re kate’s acknowledgement of lady ga ga, and I’ve often wondered who Kate herself might find interesting to listen to nowadays (when of course she has the time). Did I read somewhere once that she likes Antony and the johnsons or was it just my imagination?

  12. Vindrag

    Lovely to read more interviews with her! After Director’s Cut I hope she continues to release material and stay active in the music business. Doing interviews etc.

    Wild Man is one of my favourite Kate Bush tracks! It’s so strange.

  13. Nanette

    Graham has a point: a lot of entertainment journalists don’t seem to know how to write about a mature woman, it seems to me.

  14. Gio Willis

    I really cannot accept this, ”Wild man” such a good single was not so successful in the charts.
    It seems that audiences often forget what good , inspiring and original music is… and prefere artists like Adele…. Kate Bush is to me, Britain’s most powerful and creative artist and she has influenced other artists’ music for decades… I am sure that her album will be ”something different and unexpected” ….. She is the only artist that can really surprise me.

  15. Nanette

    In one of the Director’s Cut interviews she did for the BBC, Kate mentioned that she’d bought the most recent Gorillaz album, laughing “I’m not completely an old fart.” Interesting that people would ignore that little tidbit in favour of endlessly re-hashing, “Does she like Lady Gaga?/Modern music is crap!” meme.

  16. Damian Cunningham

    Hi.

    I do not wish to sound rude or uninformed, but i just wondered why Kate does not tour anymore apologises if i sound begrudged.

    • It has nearly happened a couple of times across the years – 1983 after The Dreaming, 1994 after The Red Shoes, but essentially the reason seems to be that Kate would rather spend her creative time making new music in the studio, than reproducing old songs on the stage. But Kate says “never say never”.

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