Saturday, April 25, 2015

Interview with The Glove's Jeanette Landray


Excerpt from a Post-Punk interview with Jeanette Landray:

"Soon after their split and Siouxsie and Budgie’s subsequent pairing, Ginette met Robert Smith and Steven Severin, who were working together in the Banshees. Both musicians were in need of a desperate diversion from their prospective projects, in Robert Smith’s case a break from the personal strains of recording and touring for 1982’s Pornography. “They needed to get their creativity out in another way. They had been writing the Glove album together for quite some time, and knew what they wanted quite well. They were very certain about it. I was a good friend of Steven’s, and I asked him if I could sing for the record, and he said ‘you can’t sing!’ I replied, ‘so?'” And so it was…

During the recording of The Glove record, Jeanette admits that there was a slew of drugs taken and b-movies playing at every turn, both of which served as inspiration of sorts during the sessions. “The only film I can actually recall is Barbarella,” Landray states, but one can assume that during the haze they also watched the film Blue Sunshine, a 1976 zombie film about experimental strains of LSD and their after effects. The title, directly utilized for the record, sums up the playful, maddening chaos of the sound and creation of Blue Sunshine.

“(Robert and Steven) never suffocated me, they let me experiment. There was a time when my singing of ‘Like An Animal’ was not getting crazy enough, and all of a sudden, I hear this soft voice singing from behind a couch. I walk over towards the voice and it’s Robert on all fours singing ‘Diamonds are a Girls best Friend!’ Let’s just say Robert and Steven were easy to work with. Siouxsie and Budgie would often look in on these sessions, and they had the sensibilities to know that we were doing something fantastic… something magical.”

Promotional efforts for Blue Sunshine included releases for ‘Like An Animal’ and ‘Punish Me With Kisses,’ and though the three-piece never played shows together, the album still became a cult favorite.

With the Glove’s popularity growing after almost 25 years (30 now) and the recent remastered edition of Blue Sunshine out on the shelves in 2006, one might wonder if the band will ever perform live…

“Robert and Steve never talk about playing, or at least, they never talked to me about it! I have not talked to Steve in over a year, and I have not seen Robert in over fifteen, but if they wanted to perform as The Glove, I would do it in a heartbeat!”

One could only hope for this dream-laced reality…"

Read the full article and see some of her art at Post-Punk. (Thanks Mintsauce)

5 comments:

  1. Very cool. I don't understand what she's trying to say about Robert's attitude during the recording process with the anecdote about him singing on all fours, unless it's to suggest that he didn't care about her not getting the singing on the record right. In any case, this is neat. Thanks for posting.

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  2. It was average at best let's face it. No need to rehash it live or otherwise

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