Interview 1 Vicki and Debbi : Super channel UK 1987/88. The Bangles : MTV 1988 . Vicki + Debbi : Whistle Test 1985. The Bangs : Venice Beach 1982. Interviewer: Now you're going to tell us the real story. Vicki: No we're not. Debbi: Everyone pretty much knows , or maybe not, it was the - and this is the true story (Vicki shakes her head) the old ad in the paper that Susanna was running. So Vicki called Susanna.... Vicki: No that's not true , you always get this wrong. Debbi: That's not the true story? Vicki: No, that's not the true story. Debbi: Well I thought it was story number 56. Vicki: Try the true story. Debbi: No. Vicki: Try another one. Debbi: No. What is the true story then? Vicki: I don't know , it was too long ago. Debbi: I guess it was. It was like seven years ago when all this happenned, it's beginning to fade in the memory department. Interviewer:Did Prince write Manic Monday especially for The Bangles? Vicki: Prince, as you know is very prolific, and he writes all the time .I think he keeps , you know, a backlog of songs in his suitcase and says - 'Who's in town today, oh Sheena Easten, here's a song. Oh The Bangles,' you know. He really liked our first album.He liked the song 'Hero Takes A Fall', which is a great compliment, because we like his music . He contacted us, and said ' Iv'e got a couple of songs for you, I'd like to know if you're interested' , and, of course , we were, and we thought ' yeah, we could do this'. Interviewer:Was it a Banglefication of a Prince arrangement , or a Princification of a Bangle arrangement? Vicki:It was a Banglefication of a Prince arrangement. He had a demo, that was very specifically him. It was a good song, but we didn't record it like - THIS IS OUR FIRST HIT SINGLE! OH MY GOD! I CAN FEEL IT IN MY VIENS!'- We just did the song , and the album, and then we sat back and thought about it. I personally thought - ' Egyptian' ,'This one's gonna do something . If CBS have the balls to release it , lets put that one out, and they did , luckily for us. Debbi:And it was good too the way, chronologically it went. Interviewer:Your latest song is actually on a soundtrack album. How did this come about? Vicki:The soundtrack was an interesting concept, that Rick Rubin, from Def Jam records had, and I think it was a great concept. Basically , what he was gonna do , was have all these new artists, and established artists like Aerosmith and Roy Orbison , do cover versions from the 50's and 60's. And it was a great concept, it's a great album, it has a wide variety. You have artists like us playing on it , and then you have Aerosmith. Debbi:LL Cool J Interviewer:Was it a coincidence that you did 'Hazy Shade Of Winter'? Debbi:We were thinking of old songs that we used to do, and that was one we hadn't done for years, so we thought , well lets do it again and have us all sing Vicki:We get asked to do also of projects like this throughout the year, usually the timings very bad, we're on tour , or we're making our own album. This was a good time because we had just started writing for the album, plus, I had seen a rough cut of the movie , and it struck me as being an anti drugs film, and that really echos my feelings about that.Of course though, when I saw the final cut things were really different. Debbi:They really changed it. Vicki:Yeah, we did want to get involved in this project, it was real exciting, and doing ' Hazy Shade' just seemed to fit right in. THE BANGLES : MTV NEWS U.S.A 1988. (This interview is in two parts. Sorry I , didn't catch the questions, but the bulk of the interview is here). PART ONE Interviewer:(Something about a video image) Michael:It depends on who you ask. Some people think we do, some people think we don't. The ones who say we don't generally site the fact that there's four different singers, and four different people, all wearing different clothes. It's not like it's Madonna , which is much easier. A solo artist is much easier to focus down on. But we hope that we have some sort of an image, you know , like the Byrds , or Crosy Stills Nash ...You know bands where there are four or three seperate people, who are very interesting, and together they create a special thing. Susanna: We usually like the same music , we have alot of the same records. I bet if you were to go round to each of our houses you'd find the same records. When we go into a store, we always wanna buy the same shirt..we always think the same gut in the audience is cute... Michael:This could lead to all kinds of problems! PART TWO Susanna:It's suprising that people find it so strange that women are musicians. I mean , I love Joni Mitchell , and Bonnie Rait, and all these people. You go to a classical concert and there are women in the orchestra. My only thought could be that maybe there is something too sexual, or too tough , that somehow it seems too threatening to people, and taboo , tosee women with a guitar , or playing drums or something. (they are then asked a question about album titles) Susanna:We always wait literally to the last minute. Vicki:Right! Right! Susanna:Actually we wait until we have to come uo with a name for the artist to do the cover. Because there's four of us - we all write, we all sing, we all play it's always kind of a free for all - the records , theres no real theme going through it accept the harmonies, the guitars - certain things. (Interviewer mentions their change of management) Vicki:Everything was just sort of a reflection of that. Susanna:Chaos! Michael:We could've called it Chaos I guess! Vicki:We could've! We're playing alot of colleges this time, which we're really excited about 'cause we haven't done that in several years and we always enjoy playing Universitys. The audiences are usually really enthusiastic. They usually know the lyrics to the songss, and they sing along. You know , it's real fun, so we're looking forward to it. (Interviewer talks about traces of 60's sound, and Led Zeppelin) Vicki:We're rediscovering the joys of the melatron. The jojs and the unjoys.... That was something Zeppelin did alot of, and they were influenced by Egyptian and Eastern singers, and musicians, and we started to listen to all sorts of strange ans wonderful Egyptian pop singers. Susanna:We haven't plotted out the game plan for the year, but we guarantee, there will be more singles, more tours... Vicki:Definitely. Debbi:Lots definitely. ..and we were thinking of going to Europe at the end of the five week American tour, but know it looks like we're just going to be doing a big summer tour, and doing some videos, and more America. Vicki + Debbi : Whistle Test 1985 I/V :You don't really think of yourselves as 60's revivalists - So what are The Bangles , Debbi? Debbi : Well , we're really song orientated rock.. Vicki : Yeah! Debbi : You could put it that way. We were inspired by the 60's, but we're not trying to sound like a revival band or anything.. We play what comes naturally to us. I/V (SORRY I CAN'T MAKE OUT HIS QUESTION!) Vicki : Yes along with, i'd say, countless others. I/V : So you're signed with CBS. Do yoo think other bands - like the Long Riders - should be signed to major labels? Debbi : Oh yes, I think they should be. I/V : Do you think it is fair to say that you were snatched up first because you're women? Vicki : Well we wern't really snatched up first, and there was a large club scene in LA that alot of bands have emerged from - bands that have done very well on other labels . We're just from that little group you probably call the Paisley Underground - we call it the paisley underwhere - we may have been the first to move out of that , but we're hoping, you know , our friends will follow. I/V : So you like British bands - Did you hear The Smiths earlier? Vicki : Yeah! Debbi : Yeah , they're great! I/V : What kinds of audience are you attracting? Debbi : All kinds. I/V : Do you still play big gigs/small gigs ? Are you still playing in clubs? Debbi : Well we've just finished a tour with Cyndi Lauper , so we played for alot of young kids in that + and a large audience as well. I/V : Your new song - Going Down To Liverpool - , is an English tune, how did you come to pick that one up? Vicki : Well we found it through a friend. Kimbeley Rew, you know, wrote that. We just heard the song , and the beat and everything about it was just so irreistable. We said - just gotta have that song , it sounds great. I/V : So when's that one coming out? Vicki : We're not sure yet. I/V : Just one more quick thing - When you started, did you have any idea what a UB40 was? Debbi : Yeah. Vicki : Yeah. We knew it wasn't the band! Interview With The Bangs on Venice Beach, LA - September 1982 by Jools Holland from Granada (UK) Television's "The Tube" Holland: How did you start, how did it all start, where did it all begin? Vicki: The beginning was we met in a garage and ... Holland: Like what, where they sell petrol? Debbi: It's true! Bangs: No, no! Vicki: ... in her [Susanna's] house. We met through a newspaper ad officially. Susanna: Precisely. Holland: Secret meeting at garage ... Susanna: Yeah. Holland: ... all that turn up can start the band. Vicki: All attend .. open call, yeah. Susanna: Yeah. Holland: So then, how did you then make the transition into a record label then? Vicki: Well, it was very small deal it was just that we wanted to put out a record and that was the way you did it. Holland: How did the record do then? Susanna: It got played on the radio a lot. Vicki: Alright. Holland: A lot of people buy it after they heard it being played on the radio? Susanna: Yeah. It got on the charts in LA, local charts. Holland:Do you think you have a good chance of getting chart successes, do you think its hard? Vicki: We're hoping so. Bangs: Ooh, ooh, we're hoping, we're hoping! Vicki: Yes, definitely! [this interview was filmed in colour with Vicki, Debbi, Susanna, and Annete Zalinskas in attendence. It must have been their first ever television interview because they sounded nervous with a lot of "yeahs", nervous laughter, and ums & ahs in their conversation. In later interviews as the Bangles, they all sound more confident with well thought out and measured responses.]