Music Box

Music Box VJ Amanda Redington interviews Kim Wilde during her show.

The last time I saw you was a few months ago at the Feyenoord Los Vast concert. We had a few sound problems, didn’t we?
Yes. That’s kind of an understatement I would say.

You ploughed through this, they still loved you didn’t they, thank goodness?
Of course… (Kim smiles)

She was a star.
It was dreadful.

Great concert, but did have a few problems, didn’t you.
Well yes, a few.

So, are you all set for the tour, now?
Yeah. It’s gonna be far more successful than that one, I feel. Yeah, it’s good, I’ve just finished production rehearsals, it’s going really well.

How do you prepare for a tour, do you keep fit?
Well, I’m pretty dreadful about that. I did mean to, I was all full of good intentions for the tour, and then I got caught up in this record doing really well and I’ve been doing so much promotion around and about that I hadn’t any time to get particularly fit. I have got quite a strong constitution and I’m not too worried about that. I think energy is very mentally related anyhow, so you can actually muster up energy from getting into a mental frenzy which I get on to just before I go on, too.

Did you get nervous at the Los Vast concert?
Very much so, yeah, of course.

Do you enjoy it?
Yeah, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it.

About your fashion change, you do have a completely different look now, don’t you?
Well, you know, it’s a new set of clothes dear.

I don’t see the leathers now, you’ve been getting into this designer stuff.
Well you know, it’s really weird how people say this to me about dropping the leathers because you know, I never really owned a lot of leather clothes. I had a few leather jackets, like you do, but I’ve never owned leather trousers, I never wore anything else that was leather, except my shoes perhaps, and I never really though of myself as a person who had a leather look. Yet everyone said it to me. I did a press interview yesterday and there was someone saying ‘and then you went through your leather look didn’t you?’ and I thought ‘what are you on about? I was wearing a leather jacket’, which I could quite easily wear now.

It was quite a tomboyish look, though, wasn’t it? With the jeans and the t-shirt and I always think, I must admit, the leather jacket. And black, you always seemed to be associated with black as well.
Yeah, well I’ve always felt better in more sort of type macho clothes. And this is a great departure from that anyway.

Kim, I’ve got to point out, you’ve got odd socks on. She’s got one blue one, we need to show the camera here, and one black. How did that happen?
Well, they do look very similar…

You were dressing in the dark?
It’s a kind of thing I do a lot, actually. I’m not very fussy about clothes, I just throw them on and – it just sums up my general attitude towards everything I do with that.

Of your earlier stuff, what would you say was your favourite of your singles? I mean there was ‘Kids in America’, ‘Chequered love’…
‘View from a bridge’.

That was your favourite? Why?
I just thought it was a really lovely song and enjoyed singing it. I love singing it live especially, it goes down great. That always helps, of course, if someone else likes it. I do tend to like things that other people like.

We’re not going to look at it, we’re going to look at my favourite one, ‘Chequered love’.

(‘Chequered love’ video shown.)

Kim, you were telling me you were out on the town last night, because it was your brother’s birthday. Did you have a good time?
I think so, I can’t remember much about it, actually…

You’ve often got your family around. I noticed in Rotterdam, your mum was involved, your dad was involved, and of course you’ve been coproducing your new album with your brother again…
Yeah, and writing with him too.

That works for you?
Yeah, it does and Ricky’s a great person to work with. Musically he’s got loads of really great ideas, he’s really into writing music so most of the songs on the album I’ve written with him I’ve gotten involved in the lyrics and I got involved in writing music when I was writing with Steve Byrd who is in my band… But I like working with my family, I mean my mother is involved in the management side, we have other people working who aren’t in fact in our family so it isn’t like the mafia, but it’s almost that.

I saw your mum, again, in Rotterdam, she was getting really nervous for you, she was really sort of involved, she’s lovely.
Yeah, I mean she’s… of course she does that and she has all the usual ‘mum’ reactions and all that kind of stuff but in fact she’s a very hot business lady apart from a really good friend of mine, but she’s really into the business side, she knows everything about it. She’s shrude but she’s not callous about it, you know. There’s a lot of shrude callous people around in the business and she’s certainly not one of them. She’s a rare member really. She has a lot of respect within the business from other people too.

Going back to the album, which is your fifth, that’s actually on sale now.
Yes.

How many singles do you plan to release from that? I noticed the first side is all sort of pop and the other side is full of ballads which is new to you.
That was a deliberate thing to do. I mean, there were so many songs being written with me writing as well plus there were some songs by other writers we had a glut of songs, so that’s why there are 12 tracks on the album. And I think there will probably be about three releases.

And touring Europe? Where and when do you start?
I start on Sunday, whatever date that is, I’m not too sure at the moment, in Zofingen in Switzerland, which I’m really looking forward to, because I love Switzerland, and I get champagne truffles when I go to Switzerland.

You did come back from the South of France as well, didn’t you, on a trucking holiday?
Yes… and I like to truck. And off I was with my elbow out, with the flashing lights and the camions going past… I was really getting into it. Trucker Smith they called me.

What made you do that? You could have gone and stayed in a hotel…
Yes, but it’s not really so much fun, I mean I stay in hotels all the time when I’m doing promotion. The last thing I want to see when I go on holiday is a hotel. I love being outdoors and I spend most of my times on the beach.

You haven’t got a tattoo though.
No tattoos, no, I think they’re awfully gauche.

Just before we go into your thirteenth hit single, I wanted to ask if you know any chatup lines?
Um… not really but I think a nice one is, ‘could we have lunch together?’.

Lovely. She’s a bit of a romantic you see. Kim, listen, lots of luck with the tour…
Thank you.

The album is good, the single is brilliant…
Well, actually, the album’s brilliant and the single is pretty good too.

(Laughs) You heard it from Kim herself. Thanks very much for coming to see me.