It wasn't easy for us
to get hold of you. We've heard you've been living in Bangkok. What
has taken you there? |
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I have made my home in Bangkok for over five years
now. I came for a two month vacation to Koh Samui in 2000 and fell in
love with the island. After two months on Samui I got a bit bored on the
small island so I decided to check out Bangkok, as I am, at heart, a
city lover. I really enjoyed the lifestyle so I stayed! Made some
friends and I like the people, the food, the weather etc.
etc. etc. It had always been a dream of mine to get to know Thailand. My
previous visits were only 3 day short stop-overs en-route from Australia
to London so I never got a real feel for the place.
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You have worked as
producer for other artists such as Europeanboys, Karel, Restless and
Lori Madison ņ have there been any other cooperations with artists not
already mentioned? |
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I have also produced Jill Dreski from Belgium, and a
group called Exhibition from LA, and had a collaboration on a song with
with Kevin Ayers ( my teenage hero) , a collaboration with Alex Ewing (former
boyfriend of Caroline Buckley from the Communards) in a project called "Weeds",
a tribute to "Soft Cell" project with my old friend Elias Lopez , Long
Beach CA, called Hard Sell, and a project here in Thailand called "Soup
Soup". Another collaboration was with Sound Engineer Eric Thompson and
famous tranny punk-rock singer Jayne County added some vocals to one of
the songs. Another recording was with Daryll Pandy in Chicago in the
early '90s. There has been some others ... Lotta an actress from Sweden,
co-produced with Larry ... Jill and Rose from Strawberry Switchblade (separately)
... Nick from Southend and Scotty the bass player ... and Scotty the
scottish DJ ... and then there was a peculiar bass voiced singer in
Amsterdam, name forgotten, who did cover versions of Brigitte Bardot
songs! Restless wasn't anything to do with me.
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How did "Madison Bronski Initiative (MBI)" come about
and how did you and Lori get together in the first place? |
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I met Lorie as a result of the "Rainbow Nation"
album singer, Jonathan Hellyer, not arriving for some Gay Pride shows we
had in California in 1995. Lead-singerless, I decided to sing lead for
these shows in place of him and I wanted some backing vocalists. Sean
from Exhibition volunteered and brought Lorie along to rehearsals. I
liked Lorie very much. 1996 Lorie came over to Europe to sing at some
gigs we had in Germany and afterwards she stayed on at my apartment in
Amsterdam where I had my home studio. We only worked one song called
"I Spend My Nights", a slow acoustic R and B number. MBI was a project
we did on a return visit Lorie made to Amsterdam when I had my studio on
a canal houseboat, "Nuance, in Amsterdam and we wrote the five or six
MBI songs there over the water.
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"Smalltown boy featuring Lori Madison" was released
in 2005. When was this song and the others recorded? |
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These recordings happened on a visit to Malibu,
California at Nicki Jack's home studio in February/ March 2003. I was to
hang out a Lories home in Fontana to do some writing with her but her
girlfriend wasn't well at the time so I stayed with Nicki at her Malibu
studio. Lorie and Nick persuaded me to do a remake version of "Smalltown
Boy" so I thought I would be fun to do a version similar to the great
1984 original version . For more fun, we did a new version of "It aint
Necessarily So". We also recorded "Dime -a- Dozen", which ended being
called "Heartbreaks" on the Saifam release, and "Needing you", which is
a scaled down version of the very first song Lorie and I wrote together
in Amsterdam, but in a vastly different pop style. We sent all the
tracks to the Saifam label in Italy but they were only interested in "Smalltown
Boy" and "Heartbreaks". Saifam made three different re-mixes of "Smalltown
Boy" for the CD single /vinyl 12".
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Will there be any other
stuff coming out from Steve Bronski & Lori Madison? |
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Yes. Maybe later this year or next year. We have some
great songs for a very nice album. I have just been too lazy to get them
to labels for release. Perhaps we will release them ourselves online.
Seems the way to go these days.
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The successful Album "Truthdare Doubledare" came out
after Jimmy Somerville's leaving the band. However there was a split
nevertheless between Bronski Beat and London Records after the release.
Why was this? |
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London Records decided to drop the act during a tour
we were doing in the UK in 1987. They had the great "Communards" and
"Fine Young Cannibals" at the time all having success and thought in
best Bronski Beat were no longer on the same label. John Foster had left
the band by this time and they didn't want to have to work yet another
new line-up.
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Had you anything planned
at that time with London Records? |
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Larry and I had made a demo for a new Bronski Beat
album at the that time. We recorded the songs at Berry Street Studio in
east London with engineer Brian Pugsley. We had also recorded a single
at Livingstone Studio in North London, "the Final Spin" which was never
released. Various record companies were interested but we decided to do
some touring, so we toured all around Europe, UK and the USA as we
hadn't done many concerts since Jimmy had left two years before. Then
Jonathan Hellyer joined as lead singer and we spent a few years more,
touring. There was a lot of interest but every time we were set to do a
deal something happened and we didn't sign. We ended up releasing three
singles for Zomba Records but there was virtually no promotion done so
we left.
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There have been various
singers with Bronski Beat with whom of them do you still have contact? |
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None. People move on, do there own things. Also I
like to work with new singers as I enjoy having a new perspective for
writing songs.
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Do you still follow up on what Jimmy and Larry are doing today? |
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No contact with Jimmy, however, I occasionally visit
websites to see what he is doing. I'm still in contact and friendly with
Larry Steinbachek. Larry is musical director with theater group "Remote
Control" based in the Netherlands.
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Have you ever heard any
solo-albums of Jimmy. If yes?, what do you think of them? |
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I'm afraid I haven't heard any of Jimmys solo albums
since "Read My Lips" which I enjoyed very much.
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You yourself have sung some Bronski Beat songs ņ for
example "You" and "Smalltown boy 94". Why didn't you just take over the
singing part yourself from the very beginning? |
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I did sing as lead for a couple of years when we
toured as a duo in the late eighties, just Larry and myself. Never got
around to releasing anything during that period as per the rigors of
gigging.
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Did Larry still have any
part in the making of "Rainbow Nation"? |
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Larrys part was in the writing and demos. Those songs
were co-written with Jonathan Hellyer in Larrys home studio in 1989/90
and archived for several years before the release of "Rainbow Nation".
I had re-formed the act with Jon Foster in 1993 as I had had been
requested to do some touring and the promoter was asking for Johns
presence. He dropped out after the acoustic recording of "Smalltown Boy
94". Then the project got underway when ZYX Music in Germany gave the go
ahead to record an album for them. Ian Donaldson and myself spent a few
weeks re-programming the older songs at my home studio in Scotland. The
songs that ZYX gave the initial go ahead for were different songs from
what I had demoed and had previously sent to them. But I had been in
contact with Jonathan Hellyer and he agreed to sing on the project.
Jonathan and I accidently arrived in Verona for the sessions a few days
early so we had a chance to relax and see the city.
I had many laughing fits in the studio and at the hotel to the comedy of
Mr. Hellyer. Apart from being a singer he is a fine comedian he is also
an excellent mimic.
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Does "Bronski Beat" still exist as a band or is it being continued as a
kind of project? |
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No. Not really.......only in my head!
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What kind of music or which artist has caught your own attention lately? |
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I like "The Scissor Sisters" and "Fischerspooner". I
quite like "Futon" from Bangkok; they are a euro-asian group. Great live
act and their album "Never Mind The Botox" is fab.
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We read in a newspaper article once that you guys
wanted to or did record a song in German ņ does this song exist? |
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No, unfortunately we never recorded a song in the German language.
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You composed the song "Ultraclone" however it wasn't
released anywhere. We've an old radio-recording of it. Was this song
not supposed to be released at all anywhere? |
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"Ultraclone" was overlooked when we recorded "The Age
of Consent". Originally and essentially a Larry track. In fact, it was
the first piece of music he ever played to me. We used it as a backing
track for the first version of the song "Run From Love" when we did our
first concerts, and it was always very popular. Incidentally, the chorus
from "Smalltown Boy" ( Runaway, Turnaway) is originally from another
later version of "Run From Love".
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How many unreleased Bronski Beat Songs are there
lying in an archive somewhere waiting to be released for the first time? |
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Well, there isn't many. Maybe three. There is a song called "Walking"
which never released but was very popular at our concerts. We did record
it for a BBC session before signing to London Records. Other songs from
radio sessions were "Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves" and "Crazy
Maraquita".
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How did the reunion for the Aids-Day-Concert 1987
come about and how was the atmosphere in the band that day? |
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The atmosphere was fantastic. Larry and I hadn't
played live with Jimmy for a couple of years so that was exciting in
itself for us as well as the audience. Bronski Beat got the request of
this concert at our little office in Denmark Street, London and I
believe Colin Bell, then product promotions manager at London Records,
contacted Jimmy to see if he would consider doing it. He did, so Larry
and I had a meeting with Jimmy and it was ok, so we had some rehearsals
then did the show sharing the bill with New Order. The big hair singer
from "Dead or Alive", Pete Burns, joined us onstage for a rendition of
"I Feel Love", and afterwards Jimmy and Richard Coles also did a set in
which the legendary Sandy Shaw joined them onstage.
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Is it true that Marc Almond was considered for
taking over the singer role after Jimmy left the band back then? |
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Actually no, Marc was never considered for taking
over the lead-singer role after Jimmy left the band. Really, we (Larry
and I) never gave it a thought and it was only a rumor. Besides, he was
too famous already and his manager Stevo was crazy. Marc is a really
nice guy and I would have been thrilled to have worked with him some
more. He first sang "I Feel Love" with us at the "Hammersmith Palais" on
our first main UK Tour. Larry and I asked for it to be a secret surprise
to be kept from Jimmy until Marc came onstage as he was such a huge fan
of all Marcs projects.
Ironically, it was at the Montreax Festival in Switzerland that we did
our farewell promotion for "I Feel Love" with Jimmy as lead singer of
Bronski Beat featuring Marc Almond.
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If yes, why didn't it
happen then? |
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Too demanding, darling! Not serious. If he had been
considered I reckon we could never have come to terms contractually. He
had his own staff and his own scene and his own thing going on.
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What projects are you
working on at the moment and/or what projects are planned for the future? |
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At the moment I am simply enjoying strumming my
acoustic guitar and singing along . I love doing renditions of such
classics as "The Look of Love", " Holding Back The Years" "Killing
Me Softly", "Things Just Aint The Same", "True Colors, "A Little Help
From my Friends" and "Substitute". Old Bronski Beat songs I like to do
acoustically are "Hard Rain", "WHY", "Run From Love", "Smalltown Boy"
and "In My Dreams". Perhaps for the future it would be nice to tour solo
and do some of these 80's songs live. But no plans at the moment. I
would like to make some concert dates with Lorie, of course.
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What do you think of the music-business today and how
have things changed over the past 20 years in your opinion? |
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Honestly, I don't even think about the
music-business these days but I reckon it is probably the same as it
always was. I reckon it is super for new and independent acts to be
using the internet as a means of aiding self promotion and even being
able to sell their music without having to compromise anything and
that's a good thing. I particularly like that now I don't need a huge
studio with loads of hardware, synths and drum machines and samplers,
and that I can do mostly everything I need to do in my computer
including burning my own CDs. To compose I use "Reason" software. It's
Great!!!
thanks steve, for this interview |