The International Girl Band Onstage in France
Remember: Before the Spice Girls and The Pussycat Dolls, Bananarama were already inflaming passions thanks to their hits Venus and Cruel Summer. They were the heart of the 80s, and, propelled by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, they were the first to stand up for “Girl Power”!
Last year, their album Drama (A&G/Import), produced by Murlyn Music (Britney, Madonna, J-Lo, etc.) and propelled by dancefloor hits such as Move In My Direction (Top 20 in England and number 14 in the US Billboard Dance Charts!) and Look On The Floor (Hypnotic Tango), has been a downright success.
Now at the start of this year, Keren Woodward (the brunette) and Sara Dallin (the blonde) will once more don their six-inch stilettos to relive their glory days at RFM Party 80, a 2-and-a-half-hour show which will bring them back to the stage for 3 exclusive performances (Paris, Toulouse and Lille) along with numerous French and international icons (Jimmy Sommerville, Rose Laurens, Desireless, etc.) and where they will perform their biggest hits. No stranger to the company of gays from their nights out in London, it’s only natural that the delicious Sara has agreed to talk to us on the eve of this event!
(Editor’s Note: A big thank you to Pascals!)
We’re so happy that you have agreed to this interview – it’s a rare opportunity! Do you recall your last trip to France?
Yes, last year we did some club gigs and also a TV show with Patrick Sebastien … a charming man! Personally I love France, and coming here is always a pleasure.
Like many artists, you had to cross the great musical divide between the 80s and the 90s. What are your memories of that time?
My favourite memory is of the album “Pop Life” (1991) which was produced by one of our old friends, Youth (Editor’s Note: aka producer Martin Glover, who has worked with U2). This was a real change for us, a move towards a harder, less pop sound, using the technology of the day. We were also much more involved in the production of the album. I think many other artists were also going through the same quest for identity as we were! In any case, I don’t have a single bad memory of that time!
You are always considered the first real “girl band” and the most popular: what effect did that have on pop culture?
In hindsight, the group was an affair that everyone took very seriously! At that time, there wasn’t any other “girl band” in sight and all the other groups were made up of boys. Well, more or less!!!! (Enormous laughter) When you could tell whether they were boys or not!!!! (Laughs) The sexes were rather fluid… So there was a reason and a real movement behind the success we attained throughout the world. We became role models for lots of young girls because of that.
How do you explain the 80s revival that’s been such a dazzling success for some years now?
I think there’s always been an 80s “revival”, people have never forgotten that time when all the groups had a strong identity, with their own style, their own sound. Groups made hits and were famous the whole world over: that must be the slightly crazy dream that some people are trying to revive!
Next month we’ll be able to see you return to the stage at the RFM Party 80, an exceptional event that will reunite French and international stars: are you excited?
Oh, God yes! We have gigs planned throughout France and it’s a real pleasure to come and see you all: France is a country that I have particular affection for, and singing in front of the French public is always exciting! So I hope that the public will turn up in high spirits!
You’re going to perform the hit Venus, which is always a crowd favourite! Is it true that you wanted to work with “SAW” (Stock, Aitken and Waterman) after having heard Dead Or Alive’s hits?
Yes, absolutely! We had heard Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round and we had adored the “Hi-NRG” sound that emanated from it and that gave it a unique attraction. Venus was a track that we had wanted to do for a long time; so we had the idea of applying it to this new musical formula. At that time, the only producers doing this kind of music were SAW, that’s why we went to them.
Have you any news about the SAW crowd? Do you still see any of them?
No. But, as they say, no news is good news! (Laughs.)
On your album Drama there’s a “Hi-NRG Mix” of a track done by Marc Almond: how did you find that collaboration?
But we never asked Marc to do anything! (Laughs.) That came about quite simply because he did the remix on his side and it’s him who sent it to us, which was a really touching gesture. Not only did we love his remix, but we also heard a rumour that Boy George had played it at a party in New York and that it went down a storm!
Your album Drama was released last year in England and the US. It’s still available in France on import and the French are still buying it: did you ever suspect you had such an incredible French fan base?
No, not at all, and believe me, it was a real pleasure to learn that our French fans still remember us and continue to follow us.
Drama is strangely modern, very electro pop: would you say it’s working with people like the Swedes at Murlyn Music that gave it that sound?
We wanted to work with Murlyn Music because we adored their sound and the tracks they wrote (Editor’s Note: Britney Spears’ Toxic). As well as that, it happened to be a long time since we’d recorded anything, so we turned up with loads of ideas, and I think that put the cherry on top!
The single Look On The Floor uses a sample from Hypnotic Tango (Editor’s Note: by our editor’s cult Italo Disco group My Mine). Where did that idea come from?
Our producers Korpy & Blackcell (Editor’s Note: at Murlyn Music) knew this song from the 80s and wanted us to work on it. They proposed a reorchestration of the chorus and we wrote on top of that. The single reached number 2 in the US Billboard Dance Charts, so yes, we were very happy with that result. And it brought my favourite track on the album to life.
We noticed you in 2006 onstage next to Will Young and the Scissor Sisters: is there a group or an artist with whom you’d really like to work?
The British group Snow Patrol. I love their track Chasing Cars.
Keren has already stated officially that the group owes a lot to gay people for their support: are you with her on this?
Oh, definitely! Gay people like pop music, they like artists with an attitude and they like having fun. The most important point to me is that they are less snobbish than others when it comes to music: when they like a track, they don’t hesitate to buy it!
You hang out with gay guys a lot and you make no secret of it: what makes you appreciate their company?
I like how directly they treat their emotions, whatever they may be. In that sense, it’s very feminine, and you can find that in them.
A last word for all your French fans?
We can’t wait to get to Paris, we’ll love playing in a big gay nightclub there! We still remember the last time we went to Queen a few years back… I think that Keren would like to take advantage of the situation to make one of her dreams come true: meeting Charles Aznavour…