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How
did you get involved with Andy Van? How did Madison Avenue get started?
Who?
Oh, Andy! Oh, him! <LOL> We'd been working in clubs, as in
night clubs, for about 12 years. So has Andy. He's been deejaying and
I've been doing choreography and dance work and freestyling and
fashion parades and that |
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kind
of stuff. So we were working on various nights together and ended up
hacking around in the studio together as well. Over the years we've
done several different projects together, some of which have been
good and some of which have been bad. Hopefully we're getting better
as the years go on. This project just happens to be one that has gone
really, really big, so everybody has found out about us.
Your
bio mentions that you've been doing these forms of production work,
including the choreography. How has this experience helped in what
you're doing now as an on-stage act?
Greatly,
I think. There's an element when I get up and perform, especially in
a night club, it's something that, because we've been doing it for so
many years, I'm really comfortable and at home with it. Especially in
a night club format, more so than perhaps road shows that are a
little bit out of the norm for me, that's all a bit new for me. I
think it has helped me have an understanding of what is required
onstage and added a consistent level of professionalism that I think
is really important.
You
said you've been doing this for 12 years. How does it make you feel
when people consider you an overnight success? It all seems to have
happened rather quickly.
Other
people's perception of me is entirely their prerogative and not
something that I have any control over or would want to even if I
did. It's a separate thing to me. How people perceive me really
doesn't have anything to do with who I am, and I don't base my
decisions how other people perceive me either. I don't think you can
afford that. You can spend a whole lifetime trying to please other
people, and I just don't have that kind of energy to spare. I have
too much to do. If people like what I do, that's fantastic, and I
love that, of course. And, if they don't, that's OK. They don't have
to like what I do.
How
have things changed for you since "Don't Call Me Baby" hit
so huge?
Obviously
walking down the street has become an interesting ordeal. <LOL>
Also, I think my family has breathed a sigh of relief. I'm not a
teenager that has decided I want to be a pop star and has been picked
up by a record label and made into it. I've been working at it, at
being successful at what I do in production and writing and
songwriting for many, many years and they've always sort of wondered,
I think, if I was going to get a "real job." It's kind of
paid off, and I think they've all gone, "Oh, OK. She's OK. She's
not insane." <LOL>
It
must feel good to have your family finally understand why you're
doing this.
Yeah!
And that I'm capable, too. They don't know me from anyone else.
Unless you know someone that is in the situation that I am, you don't
recognize what it takes to get there because you've never met them
before. But mom and dad are my biggest fans, so it's kind of cool. My
mom can't walk into a record store without asking do they have any
[of our albums]. If anyone ever says they're sold out, she says,
"Oh, good!" <LOL> "So, you didn't want me to
order out one?" And she says, "Oh, no--I've got one!"
She's a mother. They get so excited every time I have more news about
what's happening and what I'm doing.
When
you finished writing and recording "Don't Call Me Baby,"
did you think to yourself, "This is a smash!"?
No,
not at all. We knew we had a good club track. It wasn't until the
bidding war started in the UK that we sort of went, "Oh, shit!
This is bigger than we thought!" <LOL>
You
first hit really big in Australia. What was it like to get such
support from your homeland?
The
whole thing has been a bit surreal. It's strange having complete
strangers, because you're not a stranger to most people, it's the
other people that are strangers to me. To have them know so much
about what I do and my life and where I am and what's happening in it
is a little bit surreal. I look over my shoulder sometimes and wonder
who people are staring at. I don't know if it's one of those things
you ever get used to. Maybe you should ask someone who's been famous
a bit longer--it's all a bit new to me! <LOL>
Certainly
you are enjoying the newness of it?
It's
one of those things that comes along with having a track that does
so well and creates such a profile. It's neither good nor bad, it's
just part of the job. It wouldn't matter what I was doing, I would
make the decision to enjoy it and have fun. It's just part and parcel
of what I do, I suppose.
What
was it like to have a #1 single in Billboard
Magazine, the industry's
pinnacle? That seems like a really "big deal." How did
youfeel about that?
Yeah,
that was pretty amazing. In fact, it didn't really sink in until I
actually saw it written in the magazine that we'd gone to number one.
It was about Wednesday . . . We found out very late Sunday night that
the chart was going to come out in the morning and we were going to
be #1. And we were like, "Really? Wow! That's great!" I
rang my mom and dad, and said, "Guess what? We're going to be
#1!" And they said, "That's lovely dear." Then on
Wednesday in the car, I read the magazine and all of a sudden it came
home. I went, "Oh, shit!" I was very obnoxious for several
hours and was all girly and excited and annoyed everybody.
It
seems that dance music is really crossing over into radio culture.
What do you feel is attributing to this?
I
just think it's a hell of a lot bigger than anyone ever thought it
was going to be. The club culture is an extremely strong culture.
It's not just about . . . where maybe a few years ago it was just
about a few nightclubs . . . nowadays it really is an entire culture.
It has really expanded and developed and has some heavily grounded
roots. I think it also produces a brilliant style of music, and I
think that can only be ignored for so long. It's a big world--so it
takes a while for it to reach everybody. Irrespective of what you're
doing, whether you're an artist and you're painting or you're making
music or whatever it might be, this is a community that is growing
and growing and growing, so it stands to reason that it's going to
take a little bit of time to reach everyone. It's one of those
things, when you're running a business like a radio station or TV
network or a magazine, you really can't afford to make mistakes. You
need to know something is a sure thing before you get behind it and
support it--whether that be a style of music, an artist or whatever.
It might be hard from my point of view, speaking as the artist if
people won't give you a break. Me, personally, I'm not looking for a
break. I'm quite happy to work for what I get. Certainly if I were in
their position at a magazine or a TV station or a radio station, I'd
do the same thing. I'm running a business. It's so much about the
media--of who is successful and who's not and what forms of music are
going to grow and which are not. They've got so much control.
What
is it like to now turn on a radio station or walk into a club and
hear your voice?
It's
completely different for each format. For a radio station, I'm like,
"Ugh! Quick! Turn it off! I don't need to hear it again. I've
got to perform it tonight, and I've got to enjoy it!" I really
don't want to hear it more than I have to because it's really
important to me that I get up there and have a bit of fun while I'm
singing it and that I enjoy it. If I hear it seven times a day, I
don't think that would help me. As for clubs, generally you get the
remixes in clubs, which I particularly like. So I don't mind hearing
it in the clubs at all. Also, we designed it to be played in a club.
All of our music is designed for a night club, so the vibe and the
way that affects a room is phenomenal, and you can see it firsthand.
On the radio, all I'm hearing is what I'm hearing--I'm not seeing how
it affects other people listening to it. It's fantastic in a club to
see people throw their hands up, and scream and run for a dance
floor. <LOL>
"Who
The Hell Are You," the follow-up, has already been a break-out
hit in Australia--and
it's beginning to make waves in the U.S. How do you predict its
success will compare to "Don't Call Me Baby"?
It's
really hard to do. You try not to put any expectations onto a track,
and just hope that it does really well. Whatever it does is good
enough for me. Ultimately, I've already written a track and produced
a track that I was happy with. I'd like to think it would do as well
as "Don't Call Me Baby," but if it doesn't chart that high,
then it doesn't chart that high. It's kind of hard. You're always
setting yourself up for disappointment if it doesn't do anything. I
think you kind of have to get to a point with any kind of art form to
just let it go. "My job's over now. There's nothing more I can
do. I'm doing all the promo that I can. I'm meeting all the people
that I can. I'm talking to the people that want to speak to me and
are interested in what I want to do. I can't do any more than that.
It's now up to the record labels and the radio stations and all these
factors to make it work. I have to let it go." Otherwise, you
spend your nights not sleeping. <LOL>
This
is slated for part of an album that is scheduled to be coming out
very soon, isn't it?
In
your territory it is, yes! I don't know the dates yet, I'm sorry.
When
we first contacted Sony about doing an interview, they had no
information in place about the album. At that time, it was strictly a single.
Yes,
we've been desperately trying to--the album has always been in the
process of being made. We've been making it for over a year, and
everyone's known that. But nobody's ever known what the date would
be. We've been running so far behind because we've been on this promo
run since the beginning of the year. And we were only half-way
through the album when we left. It's really fucking hard to make an
album when you're on tour and finish it. So we've only just sort of
finished it and handed all the pieces over to Sony Columbia in
America so they'll finally be able to start putting something
together, which is why you and I are now able to talk, basically.
What
is the album going to have on it, musically? Will it be strictly
dance, or are the rumors true that it will have a slight R&B
flavor to it?
It's
called "The Polyester Embassy," and it covers the spectrum
of club music rather than dance music. It's not all 120 bpm [beats
per minute] 4-on-the-floor. There's a track on there called "It's
Alright," which is really a sort of lazy, sexy laidback R&B
track. There's a track on there that's also a bit slower, laidback,
jazz-orientated with some nice funky beats under it. There's some
beautiful classic house, and some interesting little interludes
through it all. And there's some of that funky disco house that
you've already heard from us as well, a couple more tracks like that
on there. It really covers "club" rather than 120 bpm dance music.
What
promotional stops and appearances have you planned to support this?
Yes,
all of that. The diary is pretty full--to the point where I don't
really have a day off until half-way through next year. Something
insane like that. There's TV. There's radio. There's mags. There's
all kinds of stuff, and, of course, the live performances. That's
really, really important to us. If people see our club performance,
that's our favorite kind of performance.
Is
a promotional tour of America expected?
Absolutely!
We're coming over next week!
Where
will you be found?
I
have no idea! <LOL> I have looked through the itinerary, but I
haven't had time to sit down and locate where those places are.
Because I don't live there, I'm not as familiar with the territories
as you would be. I know some of the places. We're doing Houston, and
New York, and L.A. and San Francisco and other places I can't
remember off the top of my head. So we're kind of all over the place
in the next couple weeks.
In
closing, is there any particular message that you would like to send
out to those that have been so supportive--and will continue to be
supportive--of Madison Avenue?
Oh,
God! Thank you so much. It's absolutely . . . It's overwhelming.
America's the market everybody really, really wants to crack, and
it's a very, very hard market to crack. The fact that everybody is
being so supportive, and playing the music and interested in chatting
with us, and interested in what we're doing, it's just the most huge
compliment. When the record label keeps sending over these lists
about the Billboard Dance Club Airplay Charts over there, that we've
gone to #1 in so many territories. Seriously, the hair on the back of
my neck just stands up. And I go, "Oh, FUCK! That's
America!" <LOL> So thank you very, very much for all your
support. I hope there's plenty more stuff to come that you'll
thoroughly enjoy!
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