RayGun Dec '92/Jan 93 issue
An Interview with The Sundays

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Note: MJ = Marvin Jarrett - interviewer
      D = David
      H = Harriet

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	When we heard the Sundays were going to be in Los Angeles promoting
their new release, blind, we knew we had to interview them.  Over salads at
the Hamburger Hamlet on Sunset Boulevard, Harriet and David, the forces behind
the Sundays, proved to be as sanguine as the name of the band.


MJ: Did the success of the dirts album place a lot of pressure on you when you
	    recorded the new one?

D:  We want people to like the record, but we were still interested most in
       entertaining ourselves.  We're not a market research department -
             hopefully you have some idea of what people like, nut you still
have to        worry more about the character of the work.

H:  That sounds like a cliche, because everyone says it. But if it's true...

MJ: Nirvana and The Chili Pepper prove that there is a huge audience for
          alternative music.

D:  Yes. But the big surprise to me is that despite Lollapallooza and all
         that, so many of the magazines and companies are not really
responding to      that audience.

MJ: I know you're fans of Nirvana.  Does that surprise people?

D:  I don't know.  But it is a brilliant album, isn't it?  Bands like that
        have helped make America "in" at the moment in England.  Not too long
ago,     America seemed to stand for phoney, contrived music, but bands like
           Nirvana and the Chile Peppers have restored America's image as the
place       to look for the new music.  There were always great American
bands, mind       you, but we're more open to them now.

MJ: To change the subject a bit, I saw you last year in New York.  You were
       great.


H:  At the Marquis, I hope.  I loved that show.  We were up in air conditioned
    heaven in this tiny dressing room, and opened the door and saw all these
      people packed in down there.

D:  It was like instant sweat when we walked down the tiny staircase to the
       stage. It felt as if we had gotten off a plane in a tropical country.
 We      were dripping wet in seconds.

H:  There were even people on the street, who couldn't get in and were hanging
    by the door to hear.  Because our music is not of the straight-forward,
       head-banging sort, we're not used to that. It felt like something was
         going on.  We heard that the B-52 were there, which was a great
honor.

MJ: Will you tour for this album?

H:  We're going into emergency rehearsals when we get back to England.  So
        yes.  I hope so.

MJ: Are you classical trained?

H:  Neither of us have had a day of lessons or training in our lives.  We're
      probably doing everything wrong, which means I'll end up sounding like
        Louis Armstrong and David will have arthritis by the time he's 35.

MJ: You've been compared to bands like The Darling Buds and Lush.  Do you see
     the similarity?

D:  No.  Without making any judgements, if you are not a mainstream pop band,
     people seem to lump you together even the bands don't have anything to do
     with each other.  The Darling Buds, for instance, seem to do conventional
     pop songs - the rhythm section behaves like a rhythm section and so on.
       Our music seems more composed - again, without making any value
judgements     whatsoever.  We treat Harriet's voice like an added instrument,
for            instance, and mix things up a bit.

MJ: Does living together make it easier or more difficult to work together?

D:  We're very much a team on every level, so it goes beyond being a
              conventional songwriting team.  Usually, the way it works is
that I have       an idea.  Then, Harriet helps with it, and adds a vocal.

MJ: Since you live as well as work together, it is impossible to ever stop
        working?

D:  No.  There are times, especially when we're on a break, when we
               absolutely switch it off and don't talk about music at all.
 The more          difficult part is with friends.  What we do is perceived to
be glamorous,      so they often want to talk about you and your music, when
you really want      to talk about them.  They don't believe it when we tell
them that while        we'd be pissed off if the  or music thing ultimately
doesn't work but that     it wouldn't kill us.  There's a lot of things we
could do with our lives.

MJ: Why did you choose the name the Sundays?

H:  We haven't been asked that for a long time.  We looked for a name for a
       long time.  It's very difficult, because that one word or phrase
              encapsulates the mood or image you project.  We wanted something
simple,       so we started with names that were anti-negatives.  The Red Hot
Chili          Peppers, for instance, would not have suited our music.

MJ: Nirvana might have worked.

D:  That is a great name, isn't it?  But you know, I wouldn't wish their
          success on anyone.  The public pressure they're under is ridiculous.
 We       had a fraction of it, and found that small taste overwhelming. In
the          middle of us, we decided to take stock of what was happening.  We
went to      Barcelona to decide what we liked and what we didn't about it.
 But when       we got there, people were already waiting for us.

H:  Don't get us wrong.  We love the idea of selling records.  But while we
       are perceived to be timid or self-deprecating as a result of our
              reluctance to deal with the p.r. game, it was more a matter of
taking          pains to slow things down so we could bring things in line.
 The press         agents told us we were doing the process in reverse by
trying to stop          people from putting us on the cover.  That made us
seem like anti-fame,        but really we were just worried.  We hadn't even
had a record out and          people hadn't had a chance to hear us, so we
didn't want to hype ourselves     out of existence.  Some of the magazines
thought we were too good for them     but it wasn't that at all.

D:  We were just doing our best to enjoy what was happening.  Those first
         months are so exciting - you've worked hard for a long time and the
record     comes out and suddenly people like it.  It was great, but we didn't
want       to be forced into being the next big thing.  If you let that
happen, you       can only disappoint people.  You don't know who you are, so
it's difficult     enough living up to your own, much less than anyone else's
expectations.

H:  Besides, we know we're slow writers and wouldn't be able to come out with
     a follow-up very quickly.  We didn't want a quick p.r. glut, because we
       want to be in this for the long run.  So, it was as much a hard-core
          business decision as well as anything else.

MJ: Your music seems more intricate than most alternative bands.  What in your
    mind makes you alternative?

D:  A lot of people shy away from the easy listening tag because it has a
         negative connotation.  We don't have that elitist attitude.

H:  I think it's alternative to our mind because we can't imagine anyone else
     covering our songs.  I just don't think they're all that hummable.  But
if     the Stones want to cover us..........

By Marvin Jarrett

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Transcribed by:
Johnson Ho, Mon Apr 25 15:37:51 1994
hoj@rpi.edu