NOT JUST ANOTHER FUNNY FACE

NOT JUST ANOTHER FUNNY FACE

LENE LOVICH

by

Dave DiMartino

A part of Stiffs post-Costello, “second wave” of talent, Lene Lovich first visited these shores in December 1978, as part of the Be Stiff Tour at New York’s Bottom Line. In June, 1979, her first album, Stateless, was released to much critical acclaim, figuring prominently at year’s end in several critics’ polls. Born in Detroit, Lene moved to England during her teen years and still lives there. Her current band features guitarist Les Chappell, drummer Justin Hildreth, bassist Mark HaywardChaplin, and both Dean Klevatt and Nick Plytas on keyboards. Lene has just released Flex, her second album, and is currently finishing her first nationwide American tour.

CREEM: Do you think if you were a man right now, your career would be in better shape or worse shape?

LENE: I think that’s sort of a “yes” or “no” question, really, because I think it probably would have taken longer to have gottep noticed in the first place if I was a man,, just because there are fewer women doing what I want to do. And I think people still see the idea of a woman making music as a novelty. But I think once you’ve been noticed, a man has a much easier time in maintaining a serious interest. I think there’s still a lot of traditions and prejudices and stereotyped images that people still try to fit you into. If you fit into one of these, then it’s okay—but if you don’t there’s a bit of a problem. CREEM: Have you found yourself being stereotyped by some people in any particular way?

LENE: People try to, but I never agree with them.

CREEM: Is there any special stereotype or role that people place you in that disturbs you or makes you mad?

LENE: Well, I don’t know. No, I don’t think it makes me mad, because I don’t believe them, and I don’t think it’s going to last very long. I just hope that if I last long enough, I’ll prove people different. I mean, it’s difficult for people to take you seriously if you don’t, wear jgans, if you wear a dress. I don’t really like jeans very much, you see. It’s easier to be taken seriously if you wear jeans, it’s become a kind of tradition—that in the past, women who were to be taken seriously wore jeans or trousers. If you wear a dress, that usually means that it’s more of a lightweight approach. I mean you can create a lot of interest—superficially—in you if you’re a woman. It’s very easy to get noticed. Especially if you want to reveal flesh, and all that. But if you’re just interested in being yourself, it’s very difficult.

CREEM; I’ve seen a few videotapes of you performing. Would you say that image corresponds with the way you are. personally?

LENE: Yeah. I prefer to'think that what you see on the video are the sort of things that I wear normally. You see, I’m not a very fashionable person—which is also a problem. Because I think the public usually expects female performers to be quite fashionable, in some way. Either from the traditional point of view, jeans and all that—or if you’re not going to wear jeans, you’re going to wear a dress, then they expect you to be more fashionable, and wear what’s sort of happening at the moment. Like, you know, a certain type of new wave clothes, which I don’t wear, but I’m sure that if I wore them people would be able to categorize me much easier.

CREEM: I’ve been to a few clubs and seen a few women wearing the “Lene Lovich” costume...

LENE: Oh really? That’s quite rare. Usually they have to be quite extreme (laughs) to do that.

CREEM: Since you’ve been in the business have you found yourself being exploited in any way... In ways that you don’t think would have happened if you were a man? LENE: The only exploitation that’s happened, really, happened because I’ve allowed it to. And that’s not redly been recently, since I’ve been doing my own music, it was more when I was first starting out, when I was in theatre and cabaret. And really, I think I’ve probably allowed myself to be exploited in those situations in order to be able to work and gain experience. I think many women who sort of weyit “fame and fortune” have allowed themselves to be exploited. I allowed myself in the beginning; only because I wanted to have experience, I wanted to learn. I went along with a lot of things I wouldn’t go along with now, only because I was desperate to learn, CREEM: What sort of thing would you not be willing to go along with now?

LENE: Oh, well like just wearing clothes that somebody else says you have to— usually more, you know, sexually-oriented types of things, • more flesh revealed (laughs). Stupid things like that. Or playing music that they say you have to play. I mean, this goes back to the cabaret days, playing songs that I would never play now. CREEM: And you’d say you’re totally in control of all aspects of your music and appearance now?

LENE: Oh, yes. Definitely.

CREEM: How would you define the traditional, historical role of women in rock, from the 60’s onward?

CREEM: Well, I think that women now have a much better position. In the past, I think, there were very few categories that you could be in. Those sort of stereotyped categories are still there now, but there’s some more of them. I think in the past, girls had to be attractive physically, which I don’t think is necessarily the case now. I just think that in the past, also, you had to be much more acceptable, from a traditional point of view, in that you had to sing the kind of songs that people expected women to sing. You had to speak about certain subjects that they expected you to sing about.

CREEM: And the whole Phil Spector thing, where tracks were laid down and the women were finally invited in the studio to sing...

LENE: Yes, I think women were less in control of their own situation, they had to rely much more on men in order to work at all. I think most people has to have their songs written by men, or be managed by men. In that whole industry there were still very few women working.

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CREEM: And how much would you say that you, right now, rely on men?

LENE: Well, I rely on*men a lot, but I don’t really see that it has to be a man that’s involved. It could easily be a woman. It’s just that you have to treat people as individuals, which I think is happening more these days. We have a fair amount of women working at Stiff right now, our promotion lady is a woman. It’s really more on ability now, which I think is really the only way you can judge people.

CREEM: If you’ve looked at the American charts lately, you’ve probably noticed an increase in the number of women, singing in rock ’n’ roll. Do* you think that might be happening because women’s roles in music have changed? Or do you just think the puhlic’s' taste in music has changed? LENE: Those two ideas really have to be inter-related, because times.are changing. Women are more confident and ambitious than they’ve even been before. But, on the other hand, the public will accept women because women’s opinions have become a larger part of the public’s taste. I mean there’s more women now, buying records, doing things and getting more involved. When I first started out, playing in bands and all that, there were hardly any women in the audience at all. Now I can see”more, recently there are a lot more women coming to concerts. And that really pleases me. I mean, I don’t play my music just for men; it’s great to see women there, too. CREEM: Do you think women have a greater potential to be successful in music, based strictly on their abililty, than they might in other businesses?

LENE: I think it’s easier for a woman, really, in the beginning, but it’s difficult to maintain this interest. You can get a little bit of a start initially, because of the novelty value, but to actually achieve a lot is very difficult still, I think. Because all along the way I think there are a great many more distractions for women. I thinktt’s harder to maintain your own feelings without getting discouraged, or upset, or led astray. It’s just harder to keep at it with the same intensity that you started out with.

CREEM: Do you mean, for example, things might be different if you decided that the time was right to start a family? You wouldn’t physically be able to maintain your career in the same manner a man might? LENE: Well; I’m a fairly responsible person, you know, and if I had a baby with me, I’d want to look after it. But I think, yeah, it would be a problem—because when you’re running a band you have responsibilities to the band as well. It would just be an extra responsibility. It wouldn’t change me in any way, I don’t think, but it would just mean there would be more things to concern myself with.

CREEM: Has there been any figure in -music, male or female, that you especially respect for the way they’ve handled the business? Anyone whose career you might like to partially emulate?

LENE: Umm. ..not really, no. I can still feel an affinity with almost any woman you can mention in rock ’n’ roll, really. Because I think everybody has had to be very strong about themselves in order*to get anywhere at all. Vocally, I can relate myself to other people, but it’s still a very new thing. CREEM: Who do you listen to in your spare time? ^ v

LENE: I listen to a lot of different things, really. I don’t always like to listen to music. I’m almost as happy listening to people talking. I especially like going into a crowded room ana just listening to the sound that people make. You know how people, when they’re talking about different things, speak on different frequencies? I just find it fascinating. But I like classical music a lot, only because you can make up different stories each time you hear the music. CREEM: Who do you find yourself listening to most?

LENE: A like a lot of Russian composers. I like Tchaikovsky, I know he’s very popular but I like him still. I like Rachmaninoff. I like people who make thrilling music, I don’t really like subtle music too much.

CREEM: Anything else you’d like to add? LENE: Not really; I just hope that people have an open mind. I think that’s the only thing you can hope for, really. I don’t hope for any speciall attention or anything like that. In fact, I think that’s one thing that kind of does go against you as a woman, that people will always think of you as a woman first. I may do things that people may not want to accept at first, they may judge me in the traditional way. But I just hope that they keep an open mind. That’s all I can really hope for. ^