by Milky
Wendy James is best remembered as the punky Bardot-projecting singer of Transvision Vamp, bursting with confidence and pouty sex appeal she had an undeniable talent for drawing attention to the band. The origins of the band can be traced back to a chance meeting with songwriter Nick Christian Sayer in Brighton before a move to London completed the ranks with friends who had been in other bands without gaining the big break. Transvision Vamp signed to MCA in late 1986 and saw three albums released over a four year period with the most memorable singles “I Want Your Love” reaching no.10 in the UK charts in 1988 and “Baby I Don’t Care’ peaking at no.3 (1989).
On splitting the band, Wendy took it upon herself to write an open letter to one of her musical idols Elvis Costello, asking for guidance. In response Costello wrote a full albums worth of material for her. These songs became the tracks on her first solo album entitled “Now Ain’t the Time for Your Tears” (1993). A move to New York led to her taking some time out of the music business with a focus on writing and performing music using mostly computer and electronic equipment. The band Racine followed….
Milky: Hi Wendy, the general perception (rightly or wrongly) might be that you’ve been away from music for a while. What have you been up to in the last few years?
WJ: I have actually released 3 previous solo albums… completely independently with no real machine for promotion behind them, none the less the music I think is extremely good and on each of the LP’s there are songs which I think represent me very well and always will and which I play in live sets. The most ardent and faithful of my fans are familiar with all of them and so it’s been a progression through my musical life… picking up many new followers in USA and EUR, people that are attracted to what I do now rather than necessarily being familiar with Transvision Vamp. The albums are called RACINE NO.1, RACINE 2 and I CAME HERE TO BLOW MINDS. All are on iTunes I believe and I think there are a few vinyl copies available in selected places…
Milky: How did you manage to entice such a kickass set of musicians to play on your new record? Did you get everyone on your wish list? Did you have a wish list?
WJ: No wish list, it just so happens in my life that I am naturally attracted and drawn to and wish to work with the people who have most inspired me on my own musical journey through life and so I’ve gravitated into their lives and it just kind of works out. Glen I’ve known since my teenage years living in West London, James Williamson from The Stooges and I started chatting on Facebook and decided we very much wanted to do some recording together. James Sclavunos from The Bad Seeds and many other bands is a good friend of mine, we knew each other socially and said we surely must work together at some point and Lenny Kaye from The Patti Smith Group really was one of those magical eureka moments… he lives a couple of streets down from me in Manhattan and someone casually said, ‘Why don’t you ask Lenny?’ and so I did and that’s how it all came together, everyone was kind of connected through musical scenes over the years and the whole thing just worked out.
Milky: Did you have certain musicians in mind for certain tracks?
WJ: The line-up is consistent across the entire album: Myself on voice, rhythm guitar and keyboards, Lenny Kaye on lead and rhythm guitar, Glen Matlock on bass and James Sclavunos on drums, with the exception of the two cover songs which instead are played by me, James Williamson and Steve Mackay from The Stooges and James Sclavunos on drums.
Milky: The Price of the Ticket was launched via Pledge Music, why did you choose this particular platform?
WJ: Malcom Dunbar who is the boss and originator of Pledge Music suggested I come in and meet him and have him explain to me how Pledge could be used to launch a pre-sale campaign allowing fans to buy their CD or Vinyl or other items associated with the LP in advance of the release date. My album was already made and ready to go, so literally we just decided on how to present the site and which items I felt warranted being available to buy, which is the LP on Vinyl, CD, Download, Gig VIP passes whereby fans can spend a little quality time with me backstage, at the soundcheck, hang out, chat and also get all their stuff signed and personalized, the official T-shirt and the official accompanying Poster. Basically a one-stop shop for anything directly related to my album release. It has worked out wonderfully, the team assigned to me have been so good at their respective jobs, completely professional and reliable, honest, efficient and for the fans and myself the whole process is really immediate and transparent. I think Malcom has revolutionized the concept of how to media an LP and be close with the fans. It also means the artist not being stuck with huge debts and waiting 2 years to get paid: PLEDGE: https://wendyjames.pmstores.co
Milky: The album cover is quite raunchy, is this how you normally listen to music?
WJ: The album cover is a beautiful, timeless shot of me, taken by my friend Kym Ellery whose flat I went around to in Paris and she took some photos and then her design team put together all the artwork in collaboration with me, the art for the LP, the Poster, the T-shirt, the 7” Single… all of it. I am very pleased with the overall appearance and content of the entire album campaign, and my website www.thewendyjames.com now carries these themes and fonts over. There is a uniform and pleasing appearance to the whole thing.
Milky: I guess most people might expect the record to be a straight out punky affair but no, you have shifts in tone, short stabby songs, longer story-based songs and a few that exude a parlous menace. Oh no, you’ve gone and matured haven’t you?
WJ: I have no plan when I’m writing songs, I have pages of lyrics and somehow the songs suggest themselves to me, it’s a visceral and instinctual process which cannot necessarily be explained… the songs come to you somehow and sure enough they will naturally reflect one’s feelings on subjects lyrically and the music will of course represent one’s tastes, influences, interests and styles…
Milky: Does this record exhibit a bountiful bouquet of your musical influences/ favourite genres?
WJ: My two most visited periods of time are the late 60’s in Detroit for The Stooges and MC5, NYC for the Velvet Underground and then a decade later in NYC with the Max’s Kansas City and CBGB scenes of New Wave and Glam…. the New York Dolls, Television, The Patti Smith Group, Suicide, The Talking Heads, The Ramones, Blondie… you know these are my most visited and cherished periods of music, but I venture far further afield of course, listening to Country, Blues, English Pop, French Pop, 60’s Girl-Groups, the more West Coast Hippie movement, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Credence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, UK stuff like Marc Bolan, The Stones of course… and I am also very taken by Hip Hop like Wu Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Jay-Z earlier stuff, I really got into the Hip Hop thing though I could never be a hip hop act, I love the production and I love the attitude and I think the beat and lyric rhyming is incredible… and Bob Dylan remains, as he’s always been, my favourite artist of all time.
Milky: King Rat reminds me a bit of Ian Dury without the rhyming couplets. You go up and down the scale a bit on this song, is it a challenge to sing live?
WJ: I was actually thinking more along the lines of… Howlin’ Wolf and The Rolling Stones…
Milky: Have some of these songs been in the back of your head for a while and you’ve just been waiting for the rest of the pieces to fall into place before?
WJ: Everything was written in one flow and flurry of writing… that’s how I tend to do it, the songs build up in me and then kind of burst out in one go, a real writing period of about 3 or 4 or 5 months where I simply don’t stop writing until I’ve exorcized all the feelings within me once again…
Milky: Are you based out of New York now? Do you check the live scene out there?
WJ: I’ve been living in NYC for 15 years now, so my life there contains everything anyone’s does! Friends, favourite bars, gigs to go to, cinema to see, places to eat, favourite places to sit and think… I guess the scene is wherever one’s headspace is at! but yes, in answer to your question I know the New York music scene, but I also travel a lot so I kind of keep up with UK and with European scenes too…. I watch and hear all I can get!
Milky: The musical landscape has altered dramatically from when you first smashed into the public consciousness. Can you get your head round where we are in 2016?
WJ: I don’t really think like that! I very much live in the present moment, I don’t sit around tracing nostalgia through rose-tinted glasses… I love where I’m at, every year gets better and more full and at the same time I am informed by my past experiences and the whole thing just keeps adding up and becoming more wonderful somehow. It’s true that the music business has changed, but still a good song is a good song and when you play live you have to put out a good and honest performance…
Milky: What can the Bedford folk expect from your live show at Esquires on June 4?
WJ: A great, energetic, uplifting, musically wonderful night!
Milky: And lastly, what are your plans for the rest or 2016?
WJ: I will perform and promote THE PRICE OF THE TICKET all across the world and then settle down to writing the next one!
Wendy James & her band play ESQUIRES on Saturday 4th June, tickets available from Esquires, Mario’s Hair Design, Planet Boutique and online at wegottickets.com & seetickets.com.
TO BUY THE PRICE OF THE TICKET HERE: PLEDGE: https://wendyjames.pmstores.co
