Heavenly were formed a few years back from the ashes of Talulah Gosh by Amelia Fletcher. Signed to Sarah Records, they’ve released a string of singles and a mini LP entitled, ‘Heavenly v Satan’. The current line-up consists of Amelia, Rob, Matthew, Cathy and Pete. I interviewed Amelia, guitarist Pete and soundman Dick in their hometown of Oxford. It was June and their second album, ‘Le Jardin de Heavenly’ had just been released.
We began by discussing the band’s influences.
Amelia: I guess mine are mainly 60’s girl groups.
Dick: Ugly Kid Joe!
Amelia: No! That’s why we sound so crap live, because he thinks we like Ugly Kid Joe!
Do you have any current influences?
Pete: We’re listening to Kriss Kross and the Saints, Utah not Pale, and Michael Jackson.
Amelia: En Vogue!
Pete: Seriously, indie rubbish like The Pale Saints.
Amelia: Pete likes Boss Hog.
I asked if they felt image was not important or bands like 1,000 Yard Stare would never exist, but they replied that all great bands have a strong image, “All the bands you idolise and love, and carry the memory of for the rest of your days have a strong image, and all the pap you forget the day after you see them don’t.”
Do you think there’s a lack of intelligence amongst bands now compared with the 80’s?
Amelia: I think bands aim lower now. Audiences like mediocrity, whereas bands in the early 80’s made an effort.
Pete: Bands are now content to play to drunk college audiences. They appeal to a low common denominator, whereas bands like The Teardrop Explodes and The Monochrome Set thought they really were the greatest band ever.
Amelia: we really like the Manic Street Preachers because they say they are the best, even if they don’t believe it.
Pete: Whereas a band like 1,000 Yard Stare would never say that.
Do you think intelligent pop will only have a place with older bands like XTC and Crowded House with the charts dominated by dance and rock?
Pete: I think it’s possible to get carried away by how music looks now. Even though you feel nothing has changed, it’s totally different from two years ago; and in two years bands like Nirvana and most current dance acts will be forgotten and some other ‘big thing’ will come along.
Amelia: I think it’s more noticeable now, that when a new idea comes along bands jump on the band wagon and are regarded as just as new and original; whilst bands like Heavenly who are doing new things are regarded as crap and unoriginal.
Talking of bandwagon jumping, would you consider changing like The Soup Dragons, Primal Scream or Teenage Fan Club (as the Boy Hairdressers) who were all contemporaries of Talulah Gosh?
Amelia: Certainly not like The Soup Dragons who blithely and deliberately jumped on bandwagons to gain success. Primal Scream have done what they like. Teenage Fan club are more of a progression. We are not where we would like to be yet, and may change like them, but we won’t go heavy metal or disco because we would be crap at it, like the soup Dragons.
We went on to discuss the attitude of the music press to bands on Sarah records, which was usually ignoring them. Although Peter and Amelia agreed it was frustrating and unhelpful for bands like Heavenly, they said that it was the music papers’ business to sell papers, not to serve indie bands who sell a couple of thousand records, but felt they deserved more coverage than some of the favoured bands who they far out sell.
Amelia put forward some reasons for this, “Although we sell quite a few records and the last LP did well we haven’t had an interview for this one. I think this is because music journalists are very ‘laddish’, even the female ones, and have great difficulty with a feminine band like ours. Also, Sarah records are bad at publicity compared to other labels who have rubbish bands. They always seem to appear in ‘true stories’ and the like, even though the stories are totally false.”
Talked moved via musical collaborators The Pooh Sticks and their manipulative manager Steve fierce, to the subject of fanzines and the so-called ‘cutie’ scene. Do you feel happy being called cuties?
Amelia: Yea, I think so.
Pete: Cuties are hard. They’d take out your average Nirvana fan!
Fanzines – do they play an important role with tapes like ‘Big Muff’ and the £3.50 ‘Waaah’ CD?
Pete: It’s good for £3.50.
Amelia: Lots of our friends have said it’s been really good for them.
Pete: Big Muff, he only puts bands with babes in it. He obviously likes young ladies.
Amelia; Seriously, fanzines are important.
What about the Oxford music scene?
Amelia: It’s strange compared to elsewhere. The bands are so diverse like Death by Crimpers (Oxford’s babes in Toyland), The Jennifers (17 year old Blur/Ride copyists) to Radiohead (EMI signed gloom/noise merchants). There’s no similarity like in Manchester and Liverpool.
What about venues?
Amelia: The Apollo used to be really good, but now it’s just Fairport Convention. Oh, and Chesney Hawkes; we really wanted to see him. The Jericho Convention is good, Mac the promoter, has done really well. There’s at least one good band a week. Sometimes we see three or four a week there.
Pete: No, it has a good reputation. The Wedding Present played there for instance. The limitations are financial as they can only pay a couple of hundred pounds.
Do you enjoy playing live?
Amelia: yes, we do.
Pete: It’s good socially, in that you meet people and see interesting places, but studio work is good too.
Recently, Cathy joined on keyboards and vocals. Do you feel it has made a difference to your sound?
Amelia: Yes, especially live. We have always had backing vocals on the records and it makes a difference live.
Speaking of live performance, what bands have you enjoyed recently?
Amelia: Huggy Bear, they’re from London, our tips for the top along with Stereolab.
What are Huggy Bear like?
Amelia: The sound like Sonic Youth’s Death Valley ’69.
Pete: I agree, grunge with experimental noises over the top.
We talked for a further quarter of an hour or so about various subjects including TV advertising! Fun if you were there, but not otherwise. Thanks to Amelia, Peter and Dick for an enjoyable Tuesday evening. Better than watching Quantum Leap!
Interview by Paul Wigley