Melody Maker, October 23 1999.
"Take your vitamins! We're not like Judas Priest, I'm trying to be positive
these days. It's good to try and keep your fans alive if at all possible.
Yeah, we're nice like that!"
IF YOU COULD GET RID OF GUILT OR EMBARASSMENT WOULD YOU DO IT?
"I think there's a place for those things, when you've done something truly
awful, but it's useless the rest of the time. It is something that can feel
kind of horrible and a pointless waste of energy, but unfortunately I think
you need to keep it, for those times when you need to keep it, for those
times when you deserve to feel like that."
WHAT OR WHO HAS BEEN THE GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF YOUR LIFE?
"All the people who died of drug overdoses. I don't hang out with addicts
anymore but at one time, in New York ... Disappointment is probably not
the right word for it."
HOW DO YOU RATE YOUR ATTRACTIVENESS COMPARED WITH THE POPULATION AT LARGE?
"Such a British question! I've no idea and, honestly, I'd rather not rate
myself in that way. Just trying to think about that kind of thing's crazy.
I'm happy with how I am."
IF ALIENS INVITED YOU TO JOIN THEM ON THEIR PLANET FOR FIVE YEARS WOULD
YOU GO?
"No, I have absolutely no interest, I'm happy with my life here. I like
my husband and my house, I like my life. Going away for five years, however
interesting or exciting it might be, just couldn't match up with that.
Sometimes it's better to stick with what you have. It you're happy what
are you going to find there anyway?"
WHEN DID YOU LAST STEAL SOMETHING?
I used to steal quite a bit. Back in 1989, I had a job as a waitress and
I stole some money from the place where I worked. And then I had a dream
that the owner pushed a piano onto my head from the balcony and that was
the end of it. After that, I didn't steal anymore. No, I didn't give the
money back, and they went out of business shortly afterwards, but that
wasn't my fault."
FOR TWO MILLION DOLLARS WOULD YOU GO FOR SIX MONTHS WITHOUT WASHING, BRUSHING
YOUR TEETH OR USING DEODORANT?
"No. It's unhealthy. Health is the most important thing in life, nobody
should risk that for whatever amount of money."
DO YOU PREFER THE COMPANY OR MEN OR WOMEN?
"For love, men, for shopping, women. There are some things obviously you'd
prefer a woman for and some things a man! On a social base, though, in
a bar or a restaurant or whatever, I'd say it's about equal. I probably
wouldn't want to be around just men or just women. Basically it depends
on the individual doesn't it?"
IF IT MEANT AN END TO ALL WARS, WOULD YOU AGREE TO GIVE UP BEING AMERICAN
AND VOTE FOR ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT?
"Absolutely. I would rather have peace that nationalism of whatever kind."
WHAT CARTOON CHARACTER DO YOU MOST RELATE TO AND WHY?
"Josie in 'Josie and the Pussy Cats'. It was a cartoon about a girl guitar
band. That's the obvious choice for me, but you might have to see it first,
before you agreed. For me they were just totally cool."
WHAT'S THE MOST OVER-THE-TOP THING YOU'VE EVER DONE TO GET NOTICED?
"Probably just being in a band. Most people who aren't natural performers
wouldn't even get on a stage so there's probably something there about
trying to be noticed. I mean, it was basically to get the music out into
the open which doesn't sound very over the top, but most people wouldn't
want to do that. There was no one I specifically wanted to be noticed by,
it's just all about drawing attention to the music that you feel the need
to make."
IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE ANY SEXUAL FETISH WHAT WOULD IT BE?
"That's not a reasonable question! I'm not into fetishes. You can't choose
one, because fetishes are compulsions. If you chose one then it wouldn't
be a fetish."
IF YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF WHAT WOULD IT BE?
"I'm constantly on a quest for change so probably it would be personality
defects that I don't like. Selfishness, maybe. I don't really lie any more
so that was a good one that I've already got rid of, although obviously
you always have to lie in interviews otherwise it's no fun! But in my real
life, I don't lie anymore. Superficiality is something. I'm aware that
I can be superficial and I'd like to change that if I could."
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOD?
"If I was God, I'd be grateful if people believed in me at all, after some
of the crappy churches that I've been involved with! Sometimes I do believe,
and sometimes I don't. It could be like 'Oh, I can't deal with this so
I'll have to turn it over to a higher power or whatever.' That's when rationality
stops working. The last time I believed in God was on the plane coming
over here. There was all this turbulence and even though
I suppose I didn't exactly think we were going to die, it helped to have
something else to think about.
HOW FAR WOULD YOU HAVE TO BE PUSHED TO RESORT TO PHYSICAL VIOLENCE?
"When I was a child, I would fight with my brother all the time. Back then,
it would start out that i'd think he would have to push me pretty far for
me to resort to physical violence, but my fuse would then get shorter and
shorter as he got more and more annoying. He just used to taunt me until
I broke. Brothers seem to know just the wrong things to say, Now, though,
it would take a lot. I'd have to be attacked physically, although verbal
attacking can be just as bad."
IS IT MORE IMPORTANT THAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE FUN TO BE AROUND OR SUPPORTIVE
IN A CRISIS?
"Supportive. Because when the dark hour of the soul comes, I'd rather have a kind ear than a good joke.
Obviously, you'd prefer a combination of the two, but the superficiality
comes when all your friends are just people who you think are funny and
you don't want to call them when you feel like shit or you really need
someone to talk to."
IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPERHUMAN POWER WHAT WOULD IT BE?
"Perfect health. I'd like to die painlessly! Being healthy is the most
important thing."
IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS HAVE YOU LOVED YOUR PARTNER MORE THAN THEY'VE LOVED
YOU, OR HAS IT BEEN THE OTHER WAY ROUND?
"That's a very intimate question. It sounds like one of those self-help
Women-Who-Love-Too-Much' type things. I think in my life up until now,
it's gone baCK and forth like most people. But now, thank God, I'm married,
and I think we love each other equally."
Luscious Jackson's album 'Electric Honey is out now on Grand Royal
by Trevor Baker