Words by Joy McKay. Photo by David Leigh Dodd.
On a Friday evening in 1989 I sat down to watch Top of The Pops, as I did every week.
I remember Wendy James, lead singer of Transvision Vamp, screaming down the camera lens at me as she launched into Baby’ I Don’t Care. For a young girl this was exciting, a stark contrast to the processed pop of Stock Aitken and Waterman I had become accustomed to hearing.
I instantly became a fan and quickly obtained their first album, Pop Art, and their new release, Velveteen. Both have remained on rotation for me over the last 35 years, and so I was delighted to interview Wendy when the opportunity arose, in advance of her latest, tenth album and record store tour.
I started by asking Wendy about that big breakthrough moment on Top of the Pops.
“It actually all happened quite quickly,” she explains . “Our first album was only released a year before, and now Velveteen was reaching number one in the album charts.
“On our first tour we were going round the university venues, picking up press from Melody Maker and NME as we went, but by the time we got down to London and we were scheduled to play at the Maquis club, we were number five in the singles chart and the entire tour was sold out – and the whole length of the street was crowds trying to get into the gig.
“So the whole thing was quite meteoric. But no matter if you were Mel and Kim or The Selector, or Transvision Vamp, Top Of The Pops was the conduit to the charts unless you mess up badly. Although I really remember The Sex Pistols being banned from Top Of The Pops, and, despite getting to number one with God Save The Queen – the top spot was blacked out in the press.
“They really galvanised my generation”
As well as the music, I loved the Wendy’s aesthetic and was keen to know what the inspirations were for her iconic look.
“Obviously punk,” she says. “But Madonna in desperately seeking Susan and her attitude in that film. You look at your big movie stars and you see Marilyn Monroe or Brigitte Bardot, but of course this is a punk, teenage filter through which those gorgeous ladies are being pushed and so it comes out a bit messy at the other end. Teenage girls, we’re a big powerhouse”
But it wasn’t just a character she played on stage.
“Oh no if you’d had seen me about on Ladbroke Grove, that’s what I looked like and that’s what my girlfriends looked like,” she continues. “My best friend, who we wrote a B-Side song about – Evolution Evie, and I, I was a wild child, and we’d go out exactly like that, worse probably!
“Less put together, even more crazy. Fearless and reckless as good teenagers should be. Holes in our tights, big fucking bovver boots, miniskirts, crazy hair with bows and pink was a big theme.”
I had been lucky enough to have been sent a preview copy of her new solo album, The Shape of History, and it was clear this wasn’t just a collection of songs. She has described it as a love letter to her life and I wanted to ask Wendy to tell me what that letter really said.
“As punky and as tough and as rebellious as I have always been, and I always will be that, of course there are the different losses and triumphs, all the complexities of living a full life. And so, there are more peaceful and accepting moments in my lyrics and some of those songs are almost written in the third person, back to a younger self.
“To not be afraid on the days that you are afraid. That I will always be there for you. Because, when you are young you can think it’s the very end of things when one thing goes wrong, although I always instinctively knew that when one door slams there’s another one for you to keep on pushing through, I think that’s what youth is about anyway, but you should continue like that through your entire life.
“Never let the fear get to your, fear is the great oppressor. But also, in the quiet moments, you are never alone as you always have yourself, and that’s the thing that will keep you steady. If you lose a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or a parent, or whatever happens in life, if you’ve got yourself then you’re never alone.
“And that is basically the same punk attitude, but it’s expressed in a softer, gentler way”
The album is quite long at 13 tracks, how did Wendy know when she had finished telling her tale and this record was complete?
“Well it’s my tenth album, so I thought I’d write ten tracks, boom nice and square. But, then I had three more ideas so I had to work it through to 13. I got to my tenth song, which is Freedomsville, and that would have been a high energy way to end the album. But then I did Step Aside Roadkill, which is one of my favourites, and that song, for the benefit of your readers, it’s like this really filthy grunge and then the middle-eight-break – I used to call it the Carly Simon bit – you’ll hear it… goes off into this soaring piano, with lyrics that really relate back to my life. And then I did Thank-You For The Time We Shared, and then it ends on the title track The Shape of History, which is, as you’d expect, proper New Wave, Punk, Pop.”
Having listened to the album I was intrigued as to why she would choose to do such an intimate record store tour in order to launch it.
“For my last album, I did a tour of all the great indy venues of the UK, because as Transvision Vamp we kind of skipped that stage. And I’d previously done in-store events with Rough Trade in London, guys that I’d known since the beginning of time, and I thought well there must be a smattering of independent record shops around the country where I can just turn up introduce and play the new songs, play some of the old songs, but also take questions from the curious and see what transpires.
“I meet everyone at the merch stall, exchange stories, take photos, do some signings. My band is a six-piece and this is going to be just two of us, but it’ll still be a big filthy electric sound. The whole thing is likely to last three hours, celebrating getting to ten albums, over an almost 40 year career.”
The Shape of History, Wendy James’ instore tour will have three local dates at Pie and Vinyl, Portsmouth, on 31 October (daytime), A Slice of Vinyl, Gosport, on the 31 October (Evening) and on the 1 November at Vinilo, Southampton, in the evening. Details of all events and an exclusive version of the new album are available from: thewendyjames.com.
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