Interviews

BBC Radio2
28 March, 2001

Interview With Janice Long of BBC Radio 2
Janice Long

Link to interview audio (RealPlayer):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/realmedia/janicel_bb25_g2.ram

Janice Long presents the Monday-to-Friday night-time/early morning show on BBC2 Radio, featuring an exciting mix of guest interviews, live studio performances and classic tracks.

BR:    I started playing the guitar when I was about 14, you know, um, and like most people who learnt to play the guitar at  14, they try to write songs in their bedroom, so yeah, no, it was just kinda that process.

I love songwriting, I love lyrics and um, yeah, and all that sort of stuff.

JL:    And when you were actually writing, did you want do it for yourself, or did you have aspirations to join a band or what?

BR:     Umm, I was in bands when I was a kid, you know, I was actually a drummer first, um, but I didn't actually like the sort of, the democracy of being in a band, and you know, having to (laughs) you know, be musically social, I'm kind of musically anti-social...I sort of, um, yeah, I find myself,

I got signed to Sony Music when I was about 18, as a solo artist, and you know, so that way I could write for myself, and do things my way.

JL:     Well, it must be quite strange, actually, if your writing  stuff and you hear it, you know, in your head, and in your head you have this vision of how its going to be, to be in a band and have somebody else interpret it as well, must be quite difficult, I think, sometimes.

BR:     Yeah, I think it can be really difficult, um, yeah, you need, it's really weird to find that those collaborators that are really you know, magical and have a, kind of, real understanding of what you are trying to do, I mean they exist but it' s really hard to find them, so....yeah, in the absence of those musical soulmates I produce the record myself..yeah, and I played a lot of the instruments myself.

JL:    It was quite interesting, actually, on, on the point of collaborations, Peter here in Sheffield in the United Kingdom says, um, who have you liked working with?

BR:      Um, well I did this song with Dan from Semisonic, he was amazing to work with..um...I've just finished a tour with ...with Dave Dobbyn and Tim Finn, which are two songwriters from New Zealand, um, and I've worked with Neil Finn from Crowded House quite a bit, um, touring with him, which is, yeah, really inspiring

JL:     You actually moved from Christchurch, didn't you, which  is in the South Island, up to Auckland, on the North Island, is that because, it's more the music scene there, there's more of an industry there, or what?

BR:     Um, yeah, it is. New Zealand's tiny, I mean there's only three and a half million people here, and Christchurch is a farm, it's kind, um, it's very, well, it is a city, but the South Island is quite rural, and all the record companies and, um, a lot of artists are based in the north, being Auckland...that's the biggest city in New Zealand, it's got all of a million people in it?

JL      Hmm..when I was there, it was quite interesting, because,  um, you know, I noticed the healthy music scene and people playing in bars and cafe's and what have you, but there was a sort of munyana feel about it as well, it's not so hustley, bustley, you know, that kind of thing.

BR      Yeaah, I think you really get a sense of people doing, um,  making music for their own reasons in New Zealand, there's definitely no money in it...it's such a small industry, you have to do it for love.