Kink FM 102 - September, 1998
Interview by: Cindy Hanson
Kink FM102
Website: http://www.kinkfm102.com/artists/interviews/bicrunga.html
Note: This interview no longer appears
o the site as at June 2002.
Bic Runga live in Kink's Performance Studio.
Cindy Hanson: Bic Runga is here with us this afternoon. Thanks for swinging by our studios. Your debut album is called"Drive" and you produced this album, wrote every song on the disc, and played a number of instruments. Did you grow up in a musical family?
Bic Runga: Yes. My mother used to be a singer. Both of my older sisters were musicians as well. In my house it was more than just a hobby. I watched my two older sisters go on to music professionally. It made me think that is was a possible career choice, more than a hobby.
CH: So at what point did you realize that this would be your path? Was it always there?
BR: Yes, I think it was always there. I never really learned how to play the instruments. It was just kind of there.
CH: Your current album "Drive" entered your native New Zealand charts at number 1. It did very well over there for the entire year, but we just discovered it in the Spring here in the states. What are some of the differences you've seen in the music scene between the States and New Zealand?
BR: Just the sheer size of the industry here is overwhelming. It's hard to know where to start with a country the size of America. New Zealand is a population of three and a half million people so it's easy to cover the country. I'm actually based in New York because it's just so hard to know where to start. I'm just playing little cafe shows and starting small.
CH: Have you enjoyed touring? How have you been received?
BR: It's been great. It's been really good. I just finished some dates with the Lilith Fair and that was a lot of fun. It was a really good tour to be on. I love it here.
CH: I understand that Peter Asher helped you produce this, or provided you with some guidance on this project, you produced it. How did he influence the direction of the album?
BR: Peter came out and helped with some pre-production. He came and sat on the floor of this little hole of a practice room that I was working in and he was really encouraging. More than anything, he made me not feel silly for thinking that I could produce the record. He was a good, positive person to have around.
CH: And you did it.
BR: Yes. It was fun
CH: Can we hear a song?
BR: Absolutely. This is a song called "Sway" which was just released here.
CH: Bic, one of the hallmarks of your album, "Drive" is the uncluttered, spacious qualities of the songs. Does this require some restraint when you're in the studio?
BR: I think the "less is more" approach is always worth trying. The songs were already there when we went into the studio. So we just operated under the premise that the songs were the most important thing, the vocal and the melody lines were the most important things. On the recording, anything else should be sympathetic to that, tasteful and sparse.
CH: And they are full of imagery as well. The song "Delight" is one of my favorites. Where do these images come from?
BR: A lot of the images and the lyrics are quite domestic. I don't really do much but hanging out at home and writing songs. I guess that's where my inspiration comes from. Words like, "kitchen sink" are in my songs a lot.
CH: How do your songs evolve from there?
BR: Songs just come from...when you just live, when you just go about your day to day business. You are just collecting things all the time to put in songs. They churn themselves up and you hear them come out in songs. It's just a response to your environment.
CH: It's a very natural thing for you. Do you write much while you're on the road?
BR: Not as much as I'd like to. I've been on the road for a year now promoting this record and I'm collecting information all of the time. I think I'm processing the things right now and the songs will manifest themselves someday, I'm sure.
CH: Do you enjoy touring as compared to being in the studio?
BR: Being in the studio is probably preferable to me. I've found that promotion can be quite unmusical and sometimes you forget that you are a musician. Promotion is really just talking about music. (laughs)
CH: Speaking of which...should we get to another song?
BR: This is a song called "Bursting Through"
CH: Thanks for joining us here at Kink.