Danielle Dax has been on the periphery of indie music now for nearly seventeen years. She first came to prominence in 1980 with experimental/avant-garde punk band Lemon Kittens, a group who's releases often explored the macabre/surreal aspects of society and whose ideas have been stolen by many groups after them. She began her own solo career in 1983, releasing a series of widely acclaimed and influential albums, but after one major label album 'Blast the Human Flower' in 1991, a mysterious silence broken only recently by her new EP 'Timber Tongue'.
What was the reason behind calling the compilation album 'Comatose-Non-Reaction' ?
Well, it was statement of my career really! It was subtitled 'The Thwarted Pop Career', I was making very good pop records but they weren't being as successful as they should have been. Which was a shame, really. Then I suppose I'm taking the piss out of the whole Britpop thing, you know, its not really anything new, is it?
You called your 'exile' from the music scene a "Season in Hell". What were the reasons behind your absence?
Mainly I had been involved with someone who was abusing me, both physically and mentally, and at the time I was being ripped off by this same person, so in the end the police became involved. I was very very depressed for a very long time, as we all know this stunts you mentally and physically, to the point where I couldn't motivate myself to do anything. It was a very bad time for me, and I suppose my not creating or releasing records got caught up in that.
What happened with the Sire contract?
Basically, it was a victim of what I was saying about my depression. Sire were and are really good, really supportive and helpful, I was supposed to deliver another album, and even though they kept extending my contract in the end it just came down to me getting this letter from their lawyers saying my contract had expired. So that was that!
Music has changed radically since you were last around. What music did you like?
I loved and love Nirvana's Nevermind. I know its a cliché but its such an amazing record, and I can't quite get the grunge thing, it was only the image really. I love poppy music that incorporates more challenging styles. I must admit I like Oasis' 'Whats the Story' LP, their music's very...sexy. Oh and I hate all those fucking stupid girl bands like Lush and The Cranberries, they all seem to peddle that same irritating anaemic whine and the same three chords. Fuckin' awful!
What about Garbage? They sound awfully like you....
(In disgusted tones) Really? Ehm...Well I heard the album but I didn't think much of it really. They are doing the sort of music, very badly, that I like to play when I come home from the pub and I'm pissed and I want to hear something noisy like Ministry or Nine Inch Nails or Lard. I don't really think much of them to be honest, and they don't sound like me at all!! The strange thing is that a few months ago a friend of mine called me up from New York and said "I like your new single" and I said "I haven't released one!" and the record turned out to be the Ponderosa EP by Tricky! I've met him since then - he told me loved Pop-Eyes... (in a scarily good Tricky pastiche) "Yeah, Pop-Eyes is fuckin' amazing"
The new EP is completely different to anything you've ever done...
Well I don't really sit down and plan what way a record is going to turn out. I don't think anything I've ever done sounds essentially 'me'. It was recorded mainly with synthesised instruments, so thats why we added water sounds to one song, and toys and things to another, to give it a more organic feel. I do like it a lot, I think its quite interesting set against all the drum'n'bass and electronic music. The first song 'Toygit' has been compared to Nurse With Wound, which is quite funny, I have the record it sounds like at home, and the others were influenced by people like Wagon Christ and u-ziq. But again. it wasn't something contrived, I never work that way. I always have complaints that the music is too strange or odd, but at the end of the day it s the expression that comes through.
But some of your work, in particular Pop-Eyes, was considerably, shall we say, 'left-field'...
Yeah mainly because I hadn't a clue what I was doing! I had just left Lemon Kittens and it was just my first experience making music on my own. I mean, I didn't have the normal experiences of being in a band at High School and so on, I just went from being in on band to visiting Karl (Blake - ex Lemon Kitten, now in Shock Headed Peters) in his bedroom studio in Reading. And I've been more interested in Art than music for some time.
What artists interested you?
Francis Bacon, Joel Peter Witkin...I was actually supposed to visit Bacon once - the guy he lived with invited me over for tea, but it was too much for me to cope with! I couldn't do it!
You've been praised in a lot 'Women in Rock' books recently, how do you feel about this praise?
Well, a lot of time I do asked about my manner of working. I think even know it still wows people when they discover that I'm totally self-sufficient. Its a pain and sexism is still rife, especially in music. In the early days I had to work on my own because people were too put off by the music. They always thought it was too odd. But it only seemed odd when everyone kept saying that. What I really wanted at the time was a manager, that was my real lack, because I culled d everything else myself. But again, no-one would do it because I was a girl and here I was doing all this stuff on my own. So in the end I organised all the gigs, got the bands together and arranged press, even roadied! At the end of the day, however I'm at the stage that I can do what I want without restriction, and that is completely important to me.
Do you think it was your self-sufficiency that put people off?
Do you mean that I'm a control freak...? No way! I'm very shy!
Do you think you've provided a positive role-model for girls in music?
Well, perhaps I'm too obscure to have that much of an influence, people would look to Bjork or PJ Harvey. But at least I hope my influence could be utilised in a good way, I mean that if men are going to make it difficult then fuck 'em do it on their own.
So what have you planned for the future?
Oh god! I don't know! I never ever think that way, because its pointless working that way. I wanted to do some live gigs before the summer, but I'm not sure and at the moment I'm trying to set up some sort of mail-order service for any new releases. I never ever believe in failure - I'd hate it if people thought I was deliberately obscurist, you know this asshole playing for two hundred people forever! With my music, I need it to help discover things about myself. God - I haven't even scratched the surface yet!
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