0:00

I

0:02

thought they were treading in deep waters. I mean,

0:04

nobody looked like that in their Oxy

0:06

Club.

0:26

Good afternoon, Michael Mollis here. Let that

0:29

be your welcome for the next hour. This,

0:31

I've been doing the show for a long time

0:33

and this is the episode I am

0:36

absolutely most excited about.

0:38

We have today a guest I've been after

0:40

for twenty years the

0:42

woman who inspired by name Laura

0:44

Logic. Laura for those

0:46

who don't know was the saxophonist for

0:48

the legendary punk rock band

0:50

x-ray specs. They are the quintessential old

0:53

school British punk band whose

0:56

legacy carries on today due to the brilliant

0:58

songwriting. Of the late singer,

1:00

Polystyrene. After

1:02

getting booted out and have x-ray specs

1:05

get out, she formed her solo

1:07

band essential logic that had a solo

1:09

album was Loralogic, left the

1:11

scene, joined the Hari Krishnaz, and

1:13

now after forty years is

1:15

releasing a new album called Land of Kolly

1:18

which is out now. Yes. Forty

1:20

three years. Yes. Thank you. So I

1:23

my first question I was going to ask you was,

1:25

so you kind of vanish, you weren't

1:28

on the Internet, and I'd look for you every so

1:30

often. And then I saw you on

1:32

Instagram and you had an account

1:34

and I followed you and I messaged you. And the

1:36

first question I was going have is,

1:39

what's it like being a punk rock mom? Right?

1:41

So I had there were two scenarios. One of which

1:43

is Oh, mom, tell me about

1:45

the time Billy Idol spit in her face,

1:47

or it was like, oh, god,

1:49

mom. No one cares about your old dinosaur stories.

1:52

But your daughter's the one who got hit Instagram.

1:54

She's in your video with you. She's the one who's

1:56

been encouraging you with music.

1:58

What's that like being a punk rock mom?

2:02

Well, as you said, I wasn't a

2:05

punk rock mom for about

2:07

twenty years. Yeah. Well so

2:10

the last few years, it's just been

2:12

it's been really nice because I've

2:16

been collaborating with my daughter

2:20

She has a beautiful voice, very

2:22

different to mine, very powerful

2:24

and strong. She's been at drama school.

2:28

She's done voice training and

2:31

it's been a way to really bond with

2:33

her as an adult to

2:35

connect with her And

2:40

it was very intense also, mother and

2:42

daughter having her come in, in the lockdown,

2:44

and engineering her

2:46

and she probably spent about

2:48

twenty minutes just doing the vocals

2:51

on any given song. Then

2:53

I spend maybe a week and a half

2:55

editing them because

2:58

you did so many takes and But

3:01

it's it's been great. I I just the

3:03

contrast of the voices on the

3:05

album, the incredible

3:09

mood that her voice bring

3:11

side. You got the new album. Haven't you?

3:13

Yeah. Of course. I love it. That I had

3:15

your first single alien boys on repeat at

3:17

the gym. It's so it's so I

3:19

I will get to the new album in a second, but

3:21

it's it's very different from your older

3:24

stuff because essential logic and I don't

3:26

wanna step on toes if I'm just characterizing it.

3:28

Seemed very much of the time that post punk

3:31

almost, you know, kind of there's some elements

3:33

of amylodic harshness,

3:35

and this one, LLC is much more

3:38

accessible and poppy. Howard Bauchner:

3:41

Yeah. Well, I guess

3:43

so. I

3:45

mean,

3:46

I very much engineered most

3:49

of it, especially in lockdown.

3:52

And

3:52

it was really a result of

3:56

the ingredients that I could muster

3:58

up

3:59

on my own. Never haven't used computer

4:01

software before. Never really haven't used

4:03

the computers before. It was a first

4:05

on so many levels. It

4:07

can and that computer came into the house

4:10

and then I just I just grabbed

4:12

it. It came in at the right time.

4:14

Hi. I was on the phone to Apple's support,

4:17

twenty four seven. The

4:20

only thing healthy is garage

4:23

band and just navigate

4:25

in my way through so many

4:27

different tunnels in lockdown.

4:31

And then I had the

4:33

unexpected delay of

4:36

maybe receiving a guitar

4:38

a guitar track from youth unexpectedly

4:42

in the morning and everything

4:44

just came together spontaneously, but when

4:46

it needed to Yeah.

4:50

It was just very spontaneous.

4:56

Okay. What what I wanted to ask

4:59

you about was so I think a

5:01

people because you were one of the eyewitnesses

5:03

to the old the punk scene in the seventies

5:05

in Britain. And I think people have

5:07

a, you know, all I know about is

5:09

from what I've read in books, so I wanna hear,

5:11

you know, your perspective. So the impression

5:13

I had is that Britain in

5:15

the seventies was a very kind of

5:17

dark place. When the sex pistols

5:19

saying about there is no future in England's dreaming,

5:22

You had people don't know this. Even

5:24

my friend who's British does know this. You had problems

5:26

even having electricity. The garbage

5:28

in Lester Square is two meters high.

5:31

You you the the hospital workers

5:33

were on strike, inflation was through the roof.

5:35

There just seemed to be no hope.

5:37

And a large part of that punk scene

5:39

was this reaction to this country

5:41

on its last

5:41

legs, is that portrayal accurate

5:44

of that

5:44

era? Well,

5:47

I was thinking about that, and I was thinking

5:49

about the fact that I was only

5:51

fifteen --

5:52

Yes. -- when I was in x rays. So

5:55

I can't say I was overly aware

5:57

of all these things

6:00

going on around me. What I do

6:02

remember is things like maybe

6:04

a thousand punks walking

6:06

down the Kings Road with all of its

6:09

elite fashionable stores

6:11

and bricks. It

6:13

was half fun. The pugs were just

6:15

out being pugs, dressing up, and

6:17

shocking everyone. But

6:20

simultaneously bricks with run through

6:22

the

6:22

windows. And

6:23

then Oh, wow.

6:24

Yeah. As a demonstration of

6:27

the haps and the haps not

6:31

And then

6:31

there was a whole thing with the tets. The tets

6:33

being very upset with the punks.

6:35

Right. And can I interrupt you because Americans

6:37

don't understand this because it's some so crazy?

6:40

But in Britain at the time, there were these tiny

6:42

boys who were like upper

6:44

middle class and they dressed really

6:46

nice, but they go on the street and beat craft of

6:48

people. It's like the opposite of n t for almost.

6:52

Yeah. Again, I was very young,

6:54

so I didn't know too much about

6:56

the Teddy Boy's scene. I just

6:58

knew that they didn't like some of them

7:00

didn't like because punk

7:04

borrowed some of their dress styles.

7:08

And they thought, how dare they?

7:10

We live with quotes and only we can dress

7:12

like this. Those kind of crossovers,

7:14

you know, some of the pumps would have that

7:16

steady boy. Squip

7:18

her style and wear

7:20

the sort of same shoes. I

7:22

forget what they call this bungee

7:24

high shoes. So

7:27

they really didn't like that. They wanted

7:29

to keep their their club

7:32

intact And

7:34

the pumps just enjoyed being

7:37

clunky about everything, including winding

7:39

up the tents. So

7:41

I remember on the Kings Road, I remember seeing

7:43

clashes between the tenants

7:45

and the parks, and I remember the bricks being

7:47

thrown through windows.

7:50

But other than that, I don't remember too

7:52

much about the political scene. Obviously, it

7:54

was re reflected in the music.

7:58

And the bands. And they seemed a

8:00

lot of friction at the

8:02

time. Yeah,

8:05

which is very much part of the

8:08

the punk the

8:10

whole punk ethos initially.

8:14

Yeah. I couldn't really comment more than that on the

8:16

political scene at the time.

8:18

So how were you at fifteen

8:21

years old? Like, at the

8:23

Roxy playing your saxophone. I I

8:24

mean, where were mom and dad? This just

8:27

seems like such a crazy situation.

8:32

Mom and dad. Mom and dad came to

8:34

you. Oh, that's so cute.

8:37

My first day at the rock scene. And

8:39

I was so worried about them. I was

8:41

really really worried they were gonna get lynched

8:43

and nipped. My

8:45

dad came in a very smart coat,

8:49

smart coat, and my

8:52

mom wore her best her

8:54

best evening dress

8:56

and I basically approach them. I

8:59

said, I think you need to be a virus

9:01

soon as possible. Not only was that

9:03

as embarrassed as hell, But

9:07

I thought they were treading in deep waters.

9:09

I mean, nobody looked like that in the

9:11

Roxy Club.

9:13

So they came and they looked quickly.

9:16

But they were proud

9:18

of

9:18

me in

9:19

a funny coming away, and they loved

9:21

Polly. They liked quality. They liked

9:23

performance. They liked

9:26

everything about her. She was

9:28

very charismatic to all kinds

9:30

of people. So

9:35

you were in the

9:37

band for about a year. Before,

9:39

you know and and you were

9:42

getting a lot of attention because they have a punk

9:44

band with a saxophone player.

9:46

Was kind of very innovative. The the Saxx

9:48

was so kind of aggressive and set

9:50

the tone for so many of the songs. And

9:52

then things were going well. The band's blowing

9:55

up. And then you get

9:57

a call, you get a face to

9:59

face, and she's telling you, thank you. Your

10:01

services no longer be required. Can you can you talk

10:03

about

10:03

that? Yeah.

10:05

It wasn't it wasn't quite like that.

10:08

I remember it was early

10:10

summer. I had been a few weeks since

10:13

since the last rehearsal, and the band was

10:15

only up and up. Banjigap

10:18

yours was released and we were

10:20

just going from one gig to the next.

10:22

Eroxy, manning the moon,

10:24

the vortex, sort of the edgy

10:27

punk, London venues,

10:29

then there was a big gap and there was no

10:32

rehearsals. So I thought this is really strange.

10:34

Sorry, I rang the manager

10:35

up. Falcon.

10:38

I said, once an extra house,

10:39

so how come things have been so

10:41

quiet? And he

10:43

said, oh, didn't you know? We've we've

10:45

found a new Saks plan. Oh,

10:49

wow. Yeah. Just like that.

10:52

So I said, oh,

10:54

no. How would I know?

10:56

How would I know? So

10:59

he said, yeah. We had to do it. You know,

11:01

it's for the best of the band

11:03

and So the

11:05

long and short of it was that

11:07

Holly was convinced that I was

11:09

on a black witch and I was casting

11:11

magic spells on her and

11:15

her yeah. Her mental instability

11:18

of bipolar kind

11:19

of. In my observation, it

11:22

started to kick in then. And

11:24

some people said it was triggered

11:27

by there was one review

11:29

in silence

11:30

newspaper, which said the Saks is x

11:32

rays,

11:32

thanks. The Saks sound is x-ray

11:35

specs, and Poly is having to work

11:37

so hard because la la logic is stealing

11:39

the show. We

11:41

just

11:41

got and it got to her triggered

11:44

something in her in security and full

11:46

stop she'd been

11:46

through in her childhood

11:50

so many

11:52

other things. So

11:56

yeah. So I had to go. And

11:59

managing, but didn't really care too

12:01

much about dependencies

12:04

or details. The band had

12:06

to go on. And he

12:08

said, we we replaced you with

12:10

a subdued male

12:13

sex

12:13

optimist. So

12:15

that was that that's the way it happened.

12:20

So, I mean, but you're so young.

12:22

I mean, as a kid, you're going from being on

12:24

stage, you're getting all this

12:25

attention, and now it's it's I mean, how

12:28

did that feel? That must have been kinda

12:30

devastating. Yeah.

12:33

It was it was at the time that was

12:35

my teenage dream, of

12:37

course, to be in x-ray

12:39

space, and My double

12:41

was sharply burst.

12:44

So I was

12:44

upset. I cried,

12:46

and then I put my socks down

12:49

and I didn't really want

12:51

to play it for quite a while after that.

12:53

I just spent

12:56

the summer. Just

13:01

just chilling. I think I might have even gone

13:03

to Russia. That summer with my

13:05

parents because my mom comes from

13:06

Finland. Oh, okay.

13:08

Yeah. I think we make a visited

13:10

Finland that

13:11

summer. Never going to Russia for one

13:13

day. Slide

13:17

note. So Yeah.

13:19

So so that was it, but I I

13:21

yeah. I didn't wanna have anything more

13:23

to do with the music

13:25

scene or the the music

13:27

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13:30

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15:31

the show. Did you so

15:33

all the sex phone parts on the album,

15:35

it's funny. You know, so you're

15:37

banned. Sorry.

15:39

X-ray spec specifically. I

15:41

found them right at that age

15:43

when you start finding music. You know

15:45

what I mean? And, you know, there's that period that little

15:48

window you have maybe between, like, sixteen

15:50

and twenty where you're first discovering

15:52

music and when you find those bands that kind of means

15:54

something to you for the rest of your life, like kind of

15:56

almost out of proportion. And I

15:58

remember very vividly I was listening

16:00

to the CD in

16:02

college and my roommate walked in.

16:04

And he said, how can you

16:06

listen to this? It just sounds like people

16:08

screaming. So

16:11

but the thing is there was this kind of very

16:13

melodic aspect

16:15

to it as well besides the

16:18

you

16:18

know, the harshness of the vocals and and the kind of

16:20

the aggressiveness of the Sex. Can you talk a bit about

16:23

how the songs were written and put

16:25

together? Yes.

16:28

Sorry. Which which song would you be

16:30

referring to exactly? Well, just

16:31

the whole album, but, like, songs like

16:33

Obenage of yours. I mean, that's so and and the

16:35

day the world turned Day Glow. Those were

16:37

so kind of very in your face,

16:39

like, well, you know, almost

16:41

there's this almost a confidence element to it

16:44

as well.

16:45

Yeah. Well, you know,

16:47

I just went to the first audition and

16:49

then we

16:51

started practicing. At the

16:53

beginning, that was just probably and

16:56

and me.

16:56

And there

16:57

was a drama and

16:59

a baseball.

17:00

I think the baseball player was called Balcomo, and

17:02

they were from I think they're from New York.

17:05

Oh, but

17:05

they were older. They were older. And

17:08

they look great. They look like they

17:10

should have been in the studios or

17:12

something. They were too old for the band.

17:15

So they had to

17:17

go. And

17:20

So there was

17:21

there was a few changes in liner in the

17:23

beginning. But it was very

17:25

it was very spontaneous. I mean, we

17:27

just started practicing

17:29

and I remember the manager of

17:31

Falcon. He was just there, oh,

17:35

gung us as we played

17:37

and he'd

17:37

say, like, a bit more power there

17:40

or a bit more power here

17:41

and it

17:43

just came together so quickly those first songs

17:45

that are on

17:46

the album. Right,

17:47

really, from the first rehearsal. I mean,

17:49

I was amazed

17:50

that I had no experience. It's the first time

17:52

I was in the I was amazed how

17:55

quickly everything the chemistry

17:57

was incredible rep from the

17:59

beginning.

18:03

There was no

18:05

I wouldn't say there was any formula

18:09

or processed for

18:11

arranging those

18:11

songs. Polly just sang a

18:14

melody. I

18:16

came up.

18:17

Well, actually, Polly's Polly's

18:20

melodies, and a

18:22

lot of them were quite modern

18:23

tone. So from my

18:26

perspective as a sex player,

18:28

That was good because I could be more

18:30

melodic. Yeah.

18:31

You didn't have two melodies clashing over

18:33

each other. And that's what

18:36

I loved about her

18:36

singing. It was his real sort of

18:39

powerhouse, often quite monotone singing.

18:42

Yeah. So that

18:43

that led me space for melodies.

18:46

And I didn't really

18:49

think if the melody's suited

18:50

for music

18:52

or not.

18:53

I just I mean, I just had the melodies and I

18:56

played them. You

19:01

know, there was it was it was just spontaneous. There

19:03

was no academic conservation or

19:06

anyone else really

19:07

saying, you should do

19:08

it like this or you should do it like

19:11

that it just really

19:13

spontaneously composted from the

19:16

beginning. It just It's

19:18

worked really well.

19:19

How did

19:20

the you come up with the

19:23

name Laura

19:24

Logic? Oh, that's

19:25

a nice story. We were on our

19:27

way to the first

19:30

gig, and we

19:31

were in the managers call.

19:34

And there was a

19:34

journalist sitting on the front seat, and then

19:37

Polly and I were in the back.

19:39

And she was kind of doing

19:40

the interviews we were going along to

19:43

the first kid. And

19:46

she said, what's your name? Polly?

19:48

And she said, you'd already thought Polly's

19:51

tone. So

19:51

my name's Polly Staring. And you said,

19:54

what's your

19:54

name? So I didn't have a

19:57

name. Well, I just top of

19:59

my head, I just thought Emily, Emily

20:02

Blanche, like Emily at the angels. Because

20:04

I I think I need a noch

20:06

with angels in

20:07

French. Emily at

20:08

the angels. And then poly

20:09

poly looked at me like,

20:11

what? We can't that

20:14

that's like soft. That's like hippie.

20:18

You know, Emily of the

20:20

angels, lady, and she said, think of

20:22

something else. So

20:24

I thought, oh my, I'm not making a think

20:25

of. And remember in

20:28

school I read about by James

20:30

Jones. In

20:31

an English lesson,

20:33

and I remember there was

20:35

that word logic in it. I don't know why it

20:37

popped into that. There was other word

20:39

essential, and then there was another word logic somewhere

20:42

and now it just came into my mind. then

20:44

I

20:44

just thought Laura

20:45

logic. And then, mister

20:48

Compton,

20:48

so that was it. They just stopped.

20:52

Can you can you so what kind

20:55

of what bands

20:57

were you both influenced

20:59

by at that era? Because it

21:01

was such an innovative movement

21:03

and such in many ways, like you're

21:05

saying a reaction to this kind of for

21:08

Pparrock and this over the

21:10

top you know, Johnny Rotten joined the sex pistols

21:13

or Sid, one of them because they're wearing a shirt that

21:15

said fuck being Floyd and they're like, alright, I want you

21:17

in the band. Can you talk a bit about, you

21:19

know, what you were guys were consuming,

21:21

consciously consuming maybe?

21:23

No. What do

21:24

you mean, Pallandra? Or just Yeah.

21:27

January. I

21:29

I remember that Polly's

21:32

there was a lot of there

21:34

was roots reggae. Tafizuki. She

21:37

liked that but mine. And then

21:43

Tamela,

21:44

she, like I think she's got airplanes, my

21:47

daughter, also the supreme's. Oh,

21:49

wow.

21:50

Yeah. Yeah. But

21:53

it was mainly reggae,

21:55

to be

21:55

honest. But

21:59

we didn't really I

22:02

don't remember sitting that often

22:04

whether

22:04

I'm just listening to music.

22:07

The time I did spend with

22:09

her was at her Kings

22:11

Road Market

22:11

Store. She had a little fashion.

22:14

She really like

22:14

to design clothes with her

22:17

brand, Sophie.

22:18

And I was sitting there at our Kings

22:20

Road Market store,

22:22

but we didn't spend that

22:24

much time listening to music.

22:27

What

22:29

was it like,

22:31

you know, being that young and trying

22:33

to navigate the music scene with

22:35

your subsequent work? Because The

22:38

music scene is not music industry is

22:40

notorious for being exploitative and

22:42

and kinda having these contracts to

22:44

take advantage of

22:44

people. What was that experience like for you

22:47

back then? I was

22:53

fortunate because after Central

22:55

Logic was formed, pretty much the

22:58

whole time that I was making

23:00

records and gigging. We were with

23:02

RepTrade RepTrade. Welcome. And

23:05

and Jeff

23:06

Travis. So Jeff

23:09

was more like a pub with

23:10

pickup.

23:11

It was a

23:12

it was

23:13

like a family who walked into the rough trade

23:15

shop, the rough trade offices. There's always

23:17

a wholesome meal waiting for

23:19

you and It

23:22

was kind of a complete opposite

23:24

experience to the experience I'd

23:26

had in x-ray space.

23:29

I think everybody will batch for that. The atmosphere

23:31

at Rockrade was and

23:34

they really cared for

23:36

you as people, Jeff would always

23:39

How are you okay? You're eating properly.

23:41

I wasn't eating

23:42

properly. I lived in the spot. We didn't have

23:45

a kitchen.

23:46

Or a

23:46

bathroom. So

23:50

he was very caring. He's more like a

23:53

father than a

23:55

record company director.

23:58

So how how did

24:00

that end up happening? How do you end up

24:02

going from, you know, mom and dad are

24:04

going to your first show to now you're living in a

24:06

squat, you know, without a

24:09

bathroom.

24:11

Well, I

24:16

formed a central logic when I was still

24:18

living at home. I was auditioning members.

24:21

In my parents' garage. My neighbor

24:23

has in the garage. Mom.

24:28

And then one

24:29

day, I just left, well,

24:32

it wasn't very nice. So

24:33

I left when they were on holiday.

24:36

Oh, wow.

24:37

Okay. Well, it wasn't nice, but I couldn't

24:40

you know, I

24:41

didn't wanna freak them out. They wanted me

24:43

to go to university and my

24:46

doctor Or a

24:49

lawyer. Wait.

24:49

Hold on. You didn't wanna freak them out, so you

24:52

just left when they were

24:53

on vacation. Okay.

24:56

It wasn't great. I mean,

24:58

we we stayed in touch and --

25:00

Okay. -- but, you know, it

25:03

wasn't

25:03

great, but then So

25:06

yeah. And then soon

25:08

after that, I was living I was living in

25:10

spots like so many other

25:13

musicians at the time. And

25:16

I was just pretty

25:18

much for the three years before

25:20

Essential Logic disbanded. Very

25:24

much busy the whole time when I'm either

25:26

giging, touring,

25:27

recording. Or

25:30

a housing.

25:31

Yes. It's my it's my

25:33

whole life really at that time.

25:35

But what can you just I mean, I

25:37

think it's kind of what's that

25:39

like living that kind of lifestyle? I

25:41

mean, is it is it fun? Is it

25:44

yeah. It can't be it's not nice,

25:46

certainly.

25:48

Well, I

25:51

wasn't there that much of

25:54

the time. As

25:57

I said, because I was

25:58

busy, we had I

26:01

lived on the top floor and then the middle

26:03

floor We had

26:04

a friend called Jerry who was a DJ

26:08

and

26:08

we didn't have record players.

26:10

Only he had a

26:13

record player with huge speakers.

26:15

So I just remember

26:17

loud loud music being

26:19

played the whole time to

26:21

how. Two, three

26:21

in the morning. And

26:25

Stuart

26:26

Moxen from the young mobile giant, he lived in

26:29

the basement with his dog.

26:32

And there

26:32

was three

26:33

other members of the Sentra module that lived

26:35

in that house.

26:39

That was fine.

26:41

We didn't have any bills to

26:43

pay. Sure. And

26:46

everyone else in the street lived in Squats

26:48

as well. Didn't really know any different. It

26:50

was just great. Didn't have to find

26:52

any

26:52

rent. Didn't have that much money

26:54

coming in.

26:55

Didn't have to worry about any

26:57

bills. So there was

26:59

this kind of, you know,

27:01

sense of community that kind of

27:03

kept everyone going.

27:07

Yeah. I'd say

27:08

that was that was coming yeah. That was coming from

27:10

two places. That was coming from rough

27:13

trade. There

27:13

was so many bands

27:15

on rough trade. And

27:18

most

27:19

of the gigs we did were

27:21

with other rough trade bands. We did that

27:24

first rough trade tool is to

27:26

grow

27:26

fingers, rub at rental and the normal. So we

27:29

were mainly mixing with

27:31

other musicians on our track

27:32

records. Yeah. So

27:33

it was there. It was in

27:36

the school. I

27:38

don't think I knew anyone that didn't live

27:41

in a squat for that time. Oh, wow.

27:43

Okay.

27:44

So it was

27:46

just That was

27:47

it. How do so

27:51

how do you go from living in

27:53

a squat and having this kind

27:55

of post punk, like, heavily,

27:57

reggae reggae influenced

27:59

band to joining the

28:01

Harry Christians. Okay.

28:08

So one day, I

28:12

was on forth burner road,

28:14

and I

28:15

was actually making a film at that time

28:17

I'd been asked to

28:19

been a

28:19

film called Crystal

28:22

Gazing.

28:25

So I was making a film. When

28:29

I

28:30

was making the film,

28:32

I saw my old best school friend

28:34

on Port Bella Road.

28:37

With a sorry, with t

28:39

like clay markings, ganji's

28:42

markings on her forehead, jumping

28:44

up in town like a mad utter and singing Harry, Krishna.

28:47

And previously, she'd

28:50

been a hard hold punk She'd

28:53

been on heavy trucks.

28:55

She'd been so down. She'd always

28:57

suffer from depression. So I saw

28:59

her like that. And

29:02

I don't know. It just shocked me. I was so

29:04

shocked. I didn't know anything about Harry

29:05

Christians. So

29:06

I thought I should go and

29:09

visit

29:09

her. At

29:09

the temple. She's living at the London

29:11

temple. I went

29:12

to visit her in there, and that was

29:14

the first time. I contacted

29:17

the parish parishioners And

29:19

I loved it from

29:21

that first that first visit everything about

29:23

it with food. The

29:26

atmosphere, most of all

29:28

the people. Because I

29:31

thought it was amazing that anyone could be

29:33

happy without drugs or

29:37

alcohol. So the

29:40

people, they were

29:42

so

29:42

happy. They had a light shining from

29:44

their bodies. And there was a part

29:46

of me that even when I was performing,

29:48

I was always

29:49

thinking, I because I'm quite

29:52

shy by nature. And

29:54

that's what's thinking. There must

29:56

be something that I

29:58

can take to make

30:00

you feel totally undivoted

30:02

and at

30:03

once. With the audience as

30:05

a communicator. It must be something I

30:07

can take. And

30:11

I kind of felt it when I worked into

30:13

the temple. So,

30:16

yeah, I started visiting us very attractive by

30:19

the philosophy. There

30:20

was an introductory to talk about

30:23

BuckingGeeter every day at lunch

30:25

times. So I go for that

30:27

sometimes and then filled

30:28

bags, pulled up with fruit, ham ham

30:31

over, and food.

30:33

And I

30:34

would live on that for the next three days.

30:38

And I

30:38

was I

30:39

was exuberant. I was happy. I

30:42

felt like, this is that I want to live,

30:44

but I want to live like this

30:46

one

30:46

day. So I've been visiting

30:48

a few months, and then in the

30:50

meantime, I was recording pedigree

30:53

charm. My last

30:55

solo album. In Braxton,

30:58

surrounded by heavy

30:58

rasters, lots of

31:01

drugs

31:01

and Where we recorded it, it didn't didn't

31:04

even have windows. And I

31:06

was in there in nine months.

31:08

It was in a week fridge. And

31:13

it

31:13

was a dark. Dark atmosphere. The

31:16

music was exciting. I was very happy to

31:18

be working with incredible musicians

31:20

like Charlie

31:21

Haywood. On drums and

31:23

trill leg is the genius

31:25

he engineered, and he was the guitarist

31:27

in his intro

31:28

logic. But still it

31:31

was kind of dark and depressing.

31:35

Anyway,

31:35

one day, we were in some rosters'

31:38

house. And

31:39

we were passing around some very

31:42

heavy grass. And I

31:44

just had an epileptic

31:45

fit. Oh, Yeah.

31:48

It was

31:49

very bad. And I just But are you

31:51

was that your first time experiencing

31:53

an attack of epilepsy, or was it just

31:55

a reaction to the

31:56

drugs? No. I think it was a react.

31:58

It was a reaction

32:01

to the drugs. And my health

32:03

was pretty pretty bad.

32:05

I didn't I wasn't conscious at all

32:07

of eating or you didn't know you

32:09

had to drink

32:09

water. You didn't know you had

32:11

to eat fruits. Basic things.

32:14

You

32:14

know, they

32:15

just grab things here and there. We didn't have a kitchen.

32:17

We didn't have a fridge. We just grab

32:19

a bit of white breads

32:21

and grab its here and

32:24

there. So I think after

32:26

creating an obvious of living

32:28

like that, my health was

32:30

was quite low. So

32:33

probably it wasn't very difficult to

32:35

have a fit or a

32:37

seizure triggered. But the doubt was

32:38

stronger too. So

32:40

I started

32:41

shaking and I just remember propelling across

32:43

the floor and there's about three or four other

32:46

people there. No

32:47

one hardly noticed that I'd fall

32:50

into the floor that I was thinking. I remember

32:52

that just lying there shaking.

32:54

We're looking up. They were

32:57

still sitting there.

33:01

Then somehow not the

33:03

hood.

33:03

They realized it's something wrong with

33:06

Laurel, and they carried me upstairs.

33:08

It was AII remember

33:09

it. Clearance Clearance

33:12

Day.

33:12

What happened? They laid me on this. It was in a score.

33:15

Another score. Lately on the start wouldn't

33:17

bed. I I lay

33:18

there. And then

33:21

Next thing

33:21

I remember, I'd left my

33:23

body and I'm I'd risen and

33:26

I was just looking down on this

33:28

shaking body. As petrified,

33:30

I thought that was it. It was over

33:32

and I was alone. They went back downstairs.

33:34

They seemed to go on

33:36

forever. And then

33:40

I just want to see it. I'm going somewhere

33:42

else that I'm not going to

33:44

be able to go back into

33:46

my

33:46

body. And of course, I

33:49

realized then I

33:51

wasn't I was separate from the body. Some

33:53

of the people have this

33:54

experience. They they

33:56

leave their

33:56

bodies in different situations.

33:59

So

34:02

But I've been visiting the temple for a few months,

34:04

and I had I had strong faith in Krishna.

34:06

I knew if there was a God, if there was

34:08

a supreme

34:09

person, he was probably Krishna and

34:11

he was just beautiful and played a bruise

34:14

and

34:14

he was a fun god. And

34:16

I started talking to him. I

34:19

said, please,

34:20

Krishna. If

34:21

I get my act together,

34:24

please put me back in my body, really put me

34:26

back in my

34:27

body. And Yeah. So

34:30

then I recovered.

34:32

But I just thought I

34:35

did

34:35

my life at change after

34:37

that. So that was really a

34:40

significant factor

34:41

in changing

34:43

my lifestyle and starting

34:45

a new

34:46

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35:45

get back to

35:47

the show. How so did you just move? You were it

35:50

was, like, the policy that anyone

35:52

could just move into the temple if they felt

35:55

like it.

35:57

Yeah. Yeah. If you wanted to go and it's still the

36:00

same. If you want if you want to go into a

36:02

temple and you want to

36:04

study, try

36:06

it out. Spend a

36:08

night, spend whatever, you know,

36:10

have a much time you wanna spend

36:11

there, do an

36:14

introductory course, But because

36:16

my friend was already living

36:17

there, I

36:18

moved in and she was there and

36:20

then we

36:21

were living in that very small

36:23

London Temple scanner.

36:25

And not long after

36:28

that, someone told me that

36:30

probably starring was visiting

36:32

us

36:32

forever. So that was weird.

36:34

And then

36:34

I realized, well, I

36:35

had to be front I had to be

36:37

friends with Eric.

36:39

After all that

36:41

we've been through.

36:42

But that's

36:43

another that's another story.

36:46

I mean, since she never really told you

36:49

you were fired

36:49

and you never got a chance to

36:52

say goodbye, was

36:54

it awkward running into her again? Or had you

36:56

seen her in the interim or communicate anyway

37:00

since?

37:01

No. No. We're not communicated

37:03

at all. But a

37:06

funny thing, another funny

37:07

thing. My best friend went into

37:09

the

37:09

temple and then her best friend who we call

37:11

Matt Murray in the pump days.

37:13

She was, again,

37:15

hard, hard, cool, punk.

37:17

She moved into the temple

37:20

too. She'd been there about

37:22

a year when I moved

37:24

in, and she was living at George Harrison's

37:27

country,

37:29

tempest state in literature, which wasn't

37:32

very far. And she was the first

37:34

person to

37:35

invite you there.

37:36

So I think she knew that

37:38

Polly was his team and she knew

37:40

that I was there and somehow

37:43

another Maybe she tried to arrange for us

37:46

to meet. Even though when I was first

37:48

told that,

37:50

no way. No way.

37:53

God sister. No

37:56

way. I

37:58

just I didn't want to get burnt

38:00

again. But we

38:04

did. Yeah. We

38:05

met, and then it was

38:07

just, like,

38:07

didn't matter, you know, didn't matter what had

38:10

gone on. Before we

38:13

changed she

38:15

changed? There was a

38:18

documentary about her that her daughter

38:20

Celeste made called, you know, I'm a cliche, which I watched and I

38:22

it was interesting. The thing that

38:24

struck me and and, you know, PolyPass not

38:26

that long

38:27

ago, so we We don't

38:29

wanna speak too ill of the dead. But, you

38:32

know, there was

38:33

she talked about, you know, growing up with

38:36

a mom who

38:38

is bipolar and there were some, you know, very dark scenes in that

38:40

movie where she talked about, like,

38:42

waking up to find her mom, you know, yelling

38:44

at her for the bed or, you know, throwing her

38:46

down the

38:48

stairs. Which is kind of very disturbing to see.

38:50

How did that was that kind of

38:52

thing something that affected your I

38:54

know that obviously affected your relationship with her

38:57

on the reunion album. Can you speak a little

38:59

about that? Because at this one hand, you're

39:01

dealing with someone who, on some level, is

39:03

a kind person, an extremely talented

39:05

and unique person. On the other hand,

39:07

when you're dealing with mental

39:09

illness, you know, there's this other side and

39:11

you have to kinda ask yourself, you

39:13

know, which is

39:14

real? Yeah. Yeah.

39:17

It was never easy having

39:19

any kind of dealings

39:22

with

39:22

her. Especially

39:24

after x-ray specs because I

39:26

wanted things to be when

39:28

we first met with the

39:31

bodies before the symptoms of bipolar

39:33

came

39:33

on. I

39:34

mean, when I

39:34

first went to the audition and she opened the door

39:37

and she had this beautiful, big charismatic smile

39:39

on her face and

39:41

we were both wearing the same clothes

39:43

and everything and, you know, I just

39:45

felt like I'd always know

39:47

now. I really felt

39:48

a past life connection with

39:50

her. There's no introductions, nothing.

39:52

We were just buddies through Until

39:55

the time when I was asked

39:58

to leave, we were close. We were very

40:00

close. We did many things

40:01

together. We had

40:03

so much fun. So

40:05

again, there'd be times like

40:08

that when we were living together in the

40:10

temple

40:11

for many years. When we were

40:14

very close and then there'd be other

40:16

times like since

40:18

you mentioned making that conscious consumer.

40:21

Alvin, she was living

40:23

outside

40:24

she only

40:24

stayed in the temple about a year. Okay.

40:27

Because

40:27

of her medical

40:29

condition, it wasn't really suitable for

40:32

her. And she wanted

40:34

she wanted to have

40:36

her own place,

40:38

her independence. And she need she knew that she

40:40

needed medical help, which she couldn't always

40:42

get living inside the temple

40:44

community, although she got a lot

40:46

of support. A

40:48

lot of support, especially in raising

40:50

her daughter from the community.

40:54

But, yeah, she just rang me

40:56

up one

40:57

one day when she was living outside,

40:59

it must have been that no. I think it was a ninety

41:01

two, ninety three that

41:03

aren't okay now. And she said, how do you how

41:05

do you like to make another album? So every time

41:07

she'd

41:07

speak to me, I try and

41:10

get my

41:12

senses out my

41:13

antennae. What channel is she

41:16

on? What kind

41:17

of conversation

41:17

is this gonna be? Because

41:20

she still

41:21

She's throwing me up in the middle of

41:23

the night throughout the years.

41:26

Just just freaking

41:29

out and saying that this person

41:32

was a wizard or a witch, and

41:34

they put a spell on her similar to what

41:36

I'd

41:37

been through.

41:38

So in in very strange

41:41

moods. So I was all

41:44

always wary, but then she said,

41:47

shall we make a new album? And I'm like,

41:49

I

41:49

went, you know, because the music was

41:52

always so

41:52

great. And she said, she's

41:55

talking, yeah, there's a studio and

41:58

produce and the

42:00

songs were there, would I like to go and stay with

42:02

her for a week? So

42:05

I just took a

42:06

race. I took a gamble as

42:09

I often did with

42:10

her, and

42:11

I went to stay with

42:13

her. And It

42:14

was okay for one day. And we were it was alright when we

42:16

were in the studio because there was other people there.

42:18

Yeah. Even though it got a

42:20

bit weird in the

42:21

studio after a couple of days. I

42:24

the

42:24

stars and I I was

42:27

happy with the Sachs arrangements.

42:31

That I managed to

42:33

put down, but then, yeah,

42:35

she start again.

42:37

Very

42:37

strange again. And when I was

42:40

out the room, she started saying crazy

42:42

things about me to to

42:45

other people, like, did they know what I

42:47

was doing? And did they know what I

42:49

was really

42:50

like? All this stuff. So

42:53

it it was difficult. And it's very difficult

42:56

living with her also in her small

42:58

flat. She

43:00

wouldn't

43:00

sleep. She

43:02

didn't sleep at night,

43:03

and then

43:03

I knew I

43:04

knew it wasn't

43:06

going to end well, didn't really

43:09

end too Still the the other money

43:11

is

43:11

to get finished and

43:13

recorded, but she wasn't able

43:15

to really do anything

43:18

with

43:18

it. After it was

43:21

done? A large part of the

43:24

Harry Krishna philosophy is

43:26

not harming others, any other living thing. Right? And obviously, that

43:28

informs you know, it's you're vegetarian, so on and so

43:30

forth. How does

43:32

that feel as someone who is guided

43:34

by that kind of

43:36

faith. How do you wreck how

43:37

do you feel when you hear someone who your

43:39

friends with accusing you of, you know,

43:41

just being this kind

43:44

of malevolence evil

43:45

being. It must it seems very hurtful especially

43:48

so. Well,

43:49

by then, knew

43:52

she

43:52

knew she was bipolar,

43:54

and I was more

43:55

than aware -- Okay. -- with her

43:57

medical condition.

43:58

I mean, even when we looked into

44:00

tap in the temple. But

44:02

I probably should I should be saying all these things, but, you know, sometimes they'd find

44:04

her in the temple where then they'd clothes

44:07

on and So

44:10

I've seen a lot with her. Okay.

44:12

So

44:12

I knew I

44:13

knew exactly she was either she

44:16

was either

44:16

a little bit okay. She was never fully

44:20

okay. Never

44:20

fully okay, but she

44:21

was either a little bit okay

44:24

temporarily or she

44:26

was completely completely

44:30

deranged. So

44:33

either

44:33

it's okay.

44:37

If

44:37

she's a little bit okay,

44:39

that's fine.

44:41

We can relate. But

44:44

then I had to distance distance myself from

44:46

her once she just keep ringing me

44:48

up in the middle of the night.

44:51

With these wild scenarios?

44:57

III don't remember if it was

45:00

in the book or the

45:02

documentary, but there was a

45:04

reference to you had

45:06

x-ray specs reunion

45:08

without her. Which is almost like having a a blondie show

45:10

without Debbie Harry. Can you explain I'd

45:12

never even heard of this. Can you explain the thinking

45:14

there and who was

45:16

the singer?

45:18

That was just a very brief weird

45:22

weird

45:22

thing. I

45:25

was just approached by a

45:28

lady whose name shall remain

45:32

anomalous. Okay. Man,

45:33

I didn't real I didn't know much about her at the Had I known more

45:35

about her, I wouldn't even

45:38

have consented

45:39

but Paul was involved and

45:42

Jack, the guitarist was

45:44

involved. So I thought it's an x-ray

45:46

expense thing.

45:48

And we

45:50

were

45:50

we were

45:52

we thought that probably wasn't well

45:54

enough to join us at the time.

45:58

And we were just gonna do a few

46:00

gigs. And then

46:02

as I remember, we were told you couldn't

46:05

join us She couldn't join us because she wasn't well enough

46:07

and then this other singer who

46:09

shall remain nameless,

46:12

joined us And

46:14

we just did a few gigs. It's it's

46:16

really quite bizarre when we thought

46:18

maybe Hollywood slots

46:19

in. Oh,

46:20

okay. But but she didn't. It

46:23

was kind of a strange

46:26

fabrication luckily it

46:27

did well, Stretto. But you

46:29

you

46:29

were performing under the name x-ray

46:31

specs? Yeah.

46:33

Okay. We had either,

46:35

like, two or three. Oh,

46:37

okay.

46:37

Because it

46:38

it wasn't a

46:39

major thing. We never recorded anything. It

46:42

was just a a brief,

46:44

a

46:45

strange escapade.

46:46

Oh, no. You can never

46:48

have x-ray stinks without boys. Yeah.

46:52

Can can you what

46:54

did you think of the documentary?

47:01

Yeah. III

47:04

thought it was good. It was refreshingly

47:08

refreshingly honest. I've known

47:10

Celeste since she was a baby

47:12

-- Yeah. -- because I

47:14

used to help look after

47:16

her. When Polly wasn't able to in the temple.

47:19

And she's a

47:22

good friend. We

47:24

did a long interview machine. In fact,

47:26

the first

47:26

interview that I did with her for

47:30

that

47:30

film was really the

47:32

first time I connected

47:36

back into

47:38

anything movie like or music like after many, many years.

47:40

She called me for an interview

47:42

in the West End. And

47:47

it was

47:48

it was incredible therapy just to

47:50

talk I I hadn't connected

47:53

with my past. Yeah. Many

47:55

many years, I'd living another life

47:58

and not a

48:01

lower logic life. It was a

48:04

different life. It was a normal life. It was

48:06

just kind of normal

48:07

life. Not

48:08

that lower logic isn't normal.

48:11

Actually, I feel high flow

48:14

lower logic is more

48:15

amazing than maybe

48:18

a normal. You

48:21

know? Yeah. And we all

48:21

have our natural propensity and

48:23

our different parts

48:25

of our psyche that

48:27

we connect with. As being as being

48:30

us.

48:30

So sorry. What

48:34

was the question? We're talking about the

48:36

documentary

48:37

and talking less than getting interviewed

48:39

for it? Yeah. Yeah. So then I met how

48:41

we had a a lovely

48:44

interview for the

48:45

broker for the

48:48

film. With

48:48

Zoey now and Celeste. And it was love

48:50

it was love being to be part of that. I

48:52

when I watched it, I described

48:56

I cried and cried. It's very moving,

48:58

and I think it's lovely. It's very,

49:01

very

49:01

honest. Yeah. It it was it

49:03

it was tough

49:06

to watch. Because just

49:07

hearing somewhat because, you know,

49:09

she, the, you know, Celeste Polly's daughter who's

49:11

the filmmaker, you have this

49:14

kind of you know, she you have this

49:16

relationship with two people where

49:18

she recognizes that her mom is this kind

49:20

of musical trailblazer

49:22

and icon. But at the same time,

49:24

this is the mom who's, you know,

49:26

in some ways, literally terrorizing

49:28

her and, you know, watching her try

49:30

to struggle herself with these relationships with

49:32

these two people is something, I

49:34

don't know that. I'd wish that on anyone. You know,

49:36

when you hear about, you know,

49:38

kids suffering,

49:39

I I think that's some that's for many

49:41

people, especially myself, is just kind of a

49:43

bridge too far. It's very hard

49:45

to hear. Yeah.

49:47

Yeah. Definitely. I I remember. I

49:50

remember Celeste going through

49:53

different portions of her

49:55

life. I remember when.

49:57

I

49:57

visited Polly and she was living in this

50:00

bare warehouse and she just

50:02

Celeste was just a little baby.

50:06

And probably it was just her and her mom, and she

50:08

was trying to get a bottle of milk

50:12

and She just couldn't

50:14

keep it together. She didn't sleep

50:16

and it was really I

50:18

think it's the social services that

50:20

come

50:20

in. Way before

50:24

Celeste submitted herself to

50:26

them, she

50:27

would have been she would have

50:30

been removed.

50:31

Well Yeah. Yeah.

50:34

This is Watkins. Welcome with Bridget

50:36

privacy. I love hearing people's stories

50:38

of resilience and grit. This is

50:40

why I created this podcast. We are very

50:42

excited to welcome Jim Gaffigan, Yasmin, Mohammed,

50:45

Glen Beck, Tim Dillon,

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Abigail Shrier, Jeff Garland.

50:50

Ion, here's See Ali, Sam

50:52

Harris, Heather Hyeing. Jona

50:54

Goldberg, Ben Shapiro. Glenn

50:56

Greenwald, Sarah Shahi Colin

50:58

Quinn. The a culture of

51:00

victimhood, then let's tell stories of

51:02

grit and survival. Subscribe and

51:04

listen now on Apple

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Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get

51:08

your podcasts.

51:09

So now I have

51:11

to ask, now that you're a

51:13

mom, right, is it kind of the thing

51:15

where if, like, your daughters

51:17

get into trouble you kinda roll your eyes because it's

51:19

like, look, you're not in a having epileptic seizures. If you wanna

51:22

go out and have a beer, I don't care. I've

51:24

seen

51:25

it all. Yeah.

51:28

I don't

51:29

interfere. I don't interfere

51:32

with Marlon. She's

51:33

way beyond that,

51:36

and she's done three years, living away from home at drama

51:38

school. And I think

51:39

she's amazing. I think she's much

51:42

more mature than

51:44

I was. At

51:46

her age. She's incredibly talented.

51:54

No. I didn't. I don't

51:55

even know what else to say. What was your question? Yeah. I just like

51:57

I mean, the fact that you had such a you

51:59

know, if you're living for three years without

52:02

a fridge, or

52:04

a bathroom. Right? And, you know, you're around heavy

52:06

drugs, you're around the Pungsten. It

52:10

seems that it's gonna be

52:12

obviously, any mom's gonna worry about her kids.

52:14

But it's

52:15

like, listen, I've survived you've survived

52:17

so much worse that no matter

52:19

what she's going through, you could

52:21

kinda almost yawn

52:23

about it. Yeah. Yeah.

52:28

Yeah. Maybe in

52:30

in

52:31

some respects. I mean,

52:33

of course, she's going through same

52:36

kind of things that I went through. On

52:38

one level, she's experimenting like

52:41

everyone does. Sure. Of

52:44

course. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she's

52:46

experimenting. But She

52:52

she has the different I was quite protected in

52:55

one sense that were

52:57

I mean, music

52:59

supposed to be very passionate about playing music. That's all I

53:01

do, and I just completely throw

53:03

myself into

53:04

it. So

53:06

okay. Yeah. I did, you know, it was a bit drugs

53:09

and rock and roll ish. But

53:13

That's all

53:14

I did. So I started to fix my

53:16

mind on.

53:17

It's more dangerous

53:18

as in it. Now,

53:21

well, Just generally,

53:22

I think there were more options then. Yeah. Locals

53:25

went me through

53:25

lockdown

53:26

and everything, but I feel

53:30

really sorry. For for this new this new

53:31

generation. And the

53:32

the way that the world is It

53:38

felt like a free of time in

53:40

many ways then. So

53:42

I worry more about

53:43

that. I

53:44

see. Okay. State of the world.

53:47

Than what she's doing as

53:50

a, you know, as a young

53:52

person. The

53:53

there's something I think

53:56

Americans don't no. And I would love to hear you talk about this

53:58

because I'm sure you experienced it. In

54:00

the punk scene, if the

54:02

audience liked

54:04

the band, they would spit

54:06

on them gobbling. And

54:08

you would leave the stage just covered it

54:10

like with

54:10

spit. I mean, how did you not all

54:13

get hepatitis?

54:13

It's a good job,

54:16

it wasn't.

54:18

We didn't even

54:21

think about

54:22

it. How many things going on?

54:26

Yeah.

54:29

Yeah. It was a sign that

54:31

they liked you, so we tolerated

54:34

it. We

54:37

got to poly. Probably did. Of course.

54:39

Yeah. See, how did it? When she came off

54:42

stage, she was like,

54:44

I had a mac on.

54:47

Yeah. My

54:47

full

54:48

length, Mac. So I was

54:51

well prepared. Yeah. But

54:53

it was horrible. Yeah. Getting

54:56

getting go spit down your

54:58

saxophone. Just wipe it out with a

55:00

hanky and

55:02

carry on.

55:03

What made you decide after all this

55:06

time to get back into

55:08

music and release a

55:10

new album? Yeah.

55:13

A few

55:15

things. I mean,

55:17

my Marlon, my daughter,

55:20

she was

55:22

sort

55:22

of She was telling me for a while,

55:24

you know, we're growing up. Now I'm growing

55:26

up now, what you get what you're gonna

55:30

do,

55:30

and and you you should,

55:32

you know, you

55:32

should get back into your music. So

55:35

she just

55:37

set up an Instagram account for me. And simultaneously, at that

55:40

time, an old

55:43

keyboardist friend invited me around

55:45

for a cup of

55:47

tea she would say the

55:50

same thing she'd been playing for years and

55:51

very talented

55:54

musician. And

55:56

I'm afraid what I hadn't actually seen for quite a long time. So I went around

55:59

and I got TVR. And

56:02

she said, I'm take

56:04

you around right now to

56:06

my friend who lives around the corner who

56:08

I've been

56:09

playing in

56:09

a band with for the last

56:12

two years. And I'm gonna

56:13

introduce you to him

56:16

because you need you need to stop

56:18

making music

56:20

again. So I protested and said,

56:22

no. I'm not I'm not ready for

56:24

it. You know? I know. Because I knew that

56:26

if I got back into music.

56:30

That's

56:30

it. I would completely take over it being my whole life and I

56:32

had songs.

56:33

I always

56:33

had songs in my

56:36

notebooks and I

56:38

just didn't really

56:39

think I was ready for it, but she did. She put me in

56:41

the car. She took me around. We went to

56:43

see Jorge Morales.

56:46

This wonderful South American musician who

56:50

had a little bedroom recording

56:52

studio with a rusty old

56:56

fossex sixteen

56:57

track. Even not

56:57

all the tracks worked on it, they were

56:59

clogged up, and

57:03

But that's it.

57:03

that first meeting, we started we

57:06

just started singing a

57:08

song, a back burner

57:09

song, and a hala played some keyboard,

57:11

and that's it. Take what

57:13

take the call you went on and we started

57:16

recording.

57:16

And, you know, what

57:18

was the beginning of the round of curly

57:22

album?

57:23

The box that's coming out as

57:25

well simultaneously with the

57:28

album. What's it like after

57:30

all this time, you know, to listen to music that you

57:32

made when you were still so

57:34

young. I I mean, is it something that it's

57:36

just like, hey, because when I read some of

57:38

my old books, which I rarely

57:40

do. You know, I'm I'm like,

57:42

oh, you know what? I I did pretty good

57:44

because by the time it's in book form, you

57:46

read it twelve times, so the mistakes that

57:48

you remember aren't there. And you're like,

57:50

oh, you know what? I I this this is not so

57:52

bad. What's your relationship like

57:54

to hearing your

57:56

old albums? Well,

58:04

I couldn't I couldn't listen to it. I couldn't

58:06

listen to a little bit of news.

58:08

More

58:09

any bootleg

58:10

demos from that era for

58:14

years and years.

58:16

And as a mom, we're

58:19

the young kids my

58:22

kids would just love them

58:24

so silly. When they

58:28

had anything, Yeah.

58:28

I did I tell you about Albert? I

58:31

played Albert to Marlon

58:34

when she was six

58:36

years old? And

58:37

she went into uncontrollable hysterics and

58:40

just peed herself on the

58:42

floor, and then I

58:43

had to clear up. So that

58:45

I'm not risking it

58:47

again. That that

58:49

that's fun. Yeah.

58:52

I had no idea

58:54

when I

58:55

got back on

58:58

Instagram about four

59:00

years ago.

59:01

I know. I do that there was even

59:03

people still listening to

59:06

that early start. I'm still in the

59:08

state of

59:10

shock. No. But I have done I've

59:14

grown to differentiate certain

59:16

aspects

59:17

of it. As well as my voice

59:20

went, it was totally un inhibited. Yeah.

59:22

I

59:22

really didn't think what an audience

59:26

might think. If they had

59:28

to listen to it, it was it was

59:30

just very

59:30

spontaneous. And I guess

59:33

that's what some

59:34

people like about it. I would have

59:36

liked to have the opportunity to record

59:38

it some of those vehicles more than

59:41

just the first take. I

59:46

think that's a fair ask. Aerosol

59:48

burns. That was literally

59:50

first take.

59:52

So

59:53

but that's how it was.

59:56

What are you most

59:59

excited about with the

1:00:02

new land of Carlyle

1:00:03

album. I love this

1:00:06

album.

1:00:06

I like it so much because it

1:00:08

was on my own terms

1:00:10

Yeah. It was just me, a garage

1:00:12

fan for most of lockdown with a few

1:00:15

people sending sending

1:00:18

parts online

1:00:21

surprise parts to

1:00:23

the song. I

1:00:26

started initially

1:00:28

with Jorge in his

1:00:29

studio, in his bedroom

1:00:31

studio. But

1:00:32

then lockdown kicked in.

1:00:34

I had to learn how to use a

1:00:36

computer and just having the facility of being

1:00:39

able to record a hundred sex

1:00:41

billing tracks if I

1:00:42

wanted. As many vocal parts as

1:00:45

I

1:00:45

wanted, I got to deep water with that as well

1:00:47

because I didn't have editing

1:00:49

skills. So I don't know when a

1:00:51

hundred tracks and then

1:00:53

And then you've said to him, would say

1:00:55

to

1:00:55

me. You can't do this. You can't

1:00:57

do me a hundred

1:01:00

cents. Right? Checks. You can't send me fifty vocal

1:01:02

parts. I had to

1:01:04

call Apple support and

1:01:06

figure out what

1:01:08

to

1:01:08

do. But I was just having

1:01:10

that to be able to record what

1:01:12

I wanted when I wanted the complete

1:01:15

antithesis of you know,

1:01:17

how it was

1:01:19

before where you

1:01:20

had to pay a lot of money per

1:01:23

hour

1:01:23

in something. Regarding the

1:01:26

studio. It's just the

1:01:28

luxury of being able to

1:01:30

stop when you wanted to

1:01:31

stop. You know, when it was right,

1:01:33

It was

1:01:34

it was how

1:01:35

I heard it in my head. That was

1:01:37

it. I finished.

1:01:38

That was

1:01:38

such a luxury. It was really

1:01:41

nice. To be able to do

1:01:44

that. Can you talk a bit about making that

1:01:46

video for the first single alien voice?

1:01:48

Because it's so kind of

1:01:50

two thousand and two and its color and

1:01:52

sensibility and and you you were having so

1:01:54

much

1:01:54

fun. III

1:01:56

just really really like it.

1:01:58

Yeah. Me too. I've

1:02:02

had the great fortune

1:02:06

to meet

1:02:08

Another

1:02:08

Christian I devoted who's just a video,

1:02:10

a music video genius. It

1:02:13

stays up on my well, but not

1:02:16

so up. Yeah.

1:02:18

Anyway, he is

1:02:21

amazing. And we

1:02:24

started collaborating credit

1:02:26

piece was recorded. That was the first

1:02:28

song to be recorded for many

1:02:29

album. I met

1:02:32

Kathy and because

1:02:34

he's wanted. He thought it'd be a good idea to have a video

1:02:36

for graphic piece. So

1:02:39

I was introduced to Kabi, and

1:02:41

we started collaborating together

1:02:43

well, and it was locked down. So he just gave me

1:02:46

sorry

1:02:46

to talk about both of these now. But basically,

1:02:48

the first video we collaborated on,

1:02:50

he just gave me

1:02:52

instructions.

1:02:52

Just sitting I

1:02:53

never never made a video before. I didn't even know

1:02:55

much about selfies or seeing an impact on

1:02:57

the phone. Only

1:03:00

just got a mobile

1:03:04

phone. So

1:03:04

he said, put your phone on a

1:03:06

tripod. You're on a car pair.

1:03:09

And look this way and

1:03:11

look that way. And I

1:03:14

just I I don't know if you've seen that

1:03:16

video

1:03:16

yet. No.

1:03:16

Because you just emailed it to me to me today this morning. Oh. I just got

1:03:19

an alien noise

1:03:19

one. I'm gonna

1:03:20

spoil the spoil the fun, but

1:03:22

basically, I'm sitting on a magic carpet.

1:03:26

They told me you're sitting on the magic carpet and you look this way and

1:03:28

you look that way. And then you just put my

1:03:30

little bit of home film into this

1:03:34

incredible incredible

1:03:36

scenario, way about the

1:03:38

way about the clouds.

1:03:41

But alien boys alien

1:03:44

boys was the first

1:03:46

video

1:03:46

that we made in a

1:03:48

proper a proper film studio.

1:03:50

We went two or three days. I

1:03:52

went with Cafe. He directed it. And

1:03:55

he wrote he wrote the

1:03:57

script. He wrote the moves based

1:03:59

around the song. And

1:04:02

we actually, we filmed it all pretty much

1:04:04

in one day. And

1:04:06

Kurt Pagan Davis, he arranged

1:04:08

the whole thing for us. He's

1:04:12

He's he's my manager

1:04:15

and he manages

1:04:17

his hydrology project. Though it

1:04:20

was amazing to be in

1:04:22

a proper film studio and do things

1:04:25

nicely, we had so much fun. Caddy played

1:04:28

the alien. He

1:04:29

played a thousand played a thousand

1:04:31

aliens. He's pretty larger

1:04:33

than life anyway.

1:04:36

And I was lovely to work with my daughter

1:04:39

flying

1:04:41

through spaceships and

1:04:44

all of that. He was great. much fun.

1:04:47

This episode is dropping

1:04:49

during Thanksgiving, and I just

1:04:51

wanna thank you for

1:04:54

so much joy that your music

1:04:56

has brought me over the years and the

1:04:58

fact that you've kind of inspired my

1:05:00

name. We're running out of

1:05:02

time this

1:05:04

logic. What has your part this interview?

1:05:12

Well,

1:05:12

you

1:05:13

asked me to do an interview about two and

1:05:15

a half years

1:05:15

ago. And, you know, coming

1:05:17

out of

1:05:18

coming out of the cupboards

1:05:22

just coming back into

1:05:24

music and appearing in front of

1:05:26

him. I was too shy. I couldn't, like,

1:05:29

set your proposal two and a half

1:05:31

years

1:05:31

ago. My favorite

1:05:32

bit is that you've just made me feel

1:05:35

relaxed and easy, and your

1:05:38

questions have been have

1:05:42

been perfect. Yeah. It's

1:05:44

just been it's been

1:05:46

super fun, super enjoyable.

1:05:50

You are

1:05:52

welcome.