Coming Soon: Resources

I'm developing a Resource page.  It's under construction at the moment but it will contain lots of useful information including Record Fair listings, Online Record Stores and other useful links.

I know that many of you go to Record Fairs around the country on the look-out for your next big find.  Maybe I can help?

Hit Factory Live! It's back!

After the extremely disappointing news that the Hyde Park concert had been cancelled due to flooding at the venue, we finally have some news! 

Hit Factory Live is back!!!!!!!!!! ...and it's the Christmas present that we've all been waiting for!

Live Nation are thrilled to announce the Hit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker. Set to be the ultimate Christmas party this once in a lifetime concert will take place at London’s O2 arena on December 21.

Pete Waterman said: “Hit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker will be the biggest and best celebration of SAW and PWL ever. This will be the perfect party to commemorate our 25th anniversary. We were devastated when Hyde Park's Hit Factory Live had to be cancelled but now the party is back on with an epic line-up of our classic artists!". Watch Pete's interview here: http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/pwl-hit-factory-live-rescheduled-1647/

Set to perform at this unique event are the classic artists from the PWL Hit Factory who will be performing on the same bill for the very first time. Steps, the multi-million selling group responsible for hits including ‘One For Sorrow’, ‘Tragedy’, ’Deeper Shade of Blue’ and ‘Stomp’, have had an incredible 12 months. They reformed last year and have since played a sold out a twenty-date UK arena tour and had their very own TV documentary. 

Rick Astley’s international success secures his place in the Hit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker line-up. Rick holds the record as the first British male artist to have his first eight solo singles reach the UK Top 10 – including the global No. 1 ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’, ‘Whenever You Need Somebody’ and ‘Together Forever’.

Entertainment megastar Jason Donovan takes his place on the bill following massive success with SAW in the late 80s. His hits include the No. 1s ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’, ‘Sealed with A Kiss’ and the bestselling SAW single ever with UK sales of over a million – ‘Especially For You’, an unforgettable duet with Neighbours co-star Kylie Minogue.

With such classic hits such as ‘Venus’, ‘Love In the First Degree’ and ‘I Want You Back’, the UK’s most-charted girl group Bananarama are an essential addition to the Hit Factory Christmas Cracker bill. Dead Or Alive, fronted by the inimitable Pete Burns, also join the line-up, their timeless single ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’ was the first No. 1 for SAW in 1985.

Also appearing are Pepsi & Shirlie, Princess, Sinitta, Hazell Dean, Sonia, 2 Unlimited, Lonnie Gordon and Brother Beyond. With such signature smash hits between them as ‘Heartache’, ‘Say I’m Your Number One’, ‘Toy Boy’, ‘Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)’, ‘You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You’, ‘No Limit’, ‘Happenin’ All Over Again’ and ‘The Harder I Try’. The Hit Factory Live - Christmas Cracker is set to be a truly unmissable spectacular.

Tickets go on sale this Friday (October 19) at 9am from www.livenation.co.uk and www.ticketmaster.co.uk.

SMI Radio interview

Wanna listen to another great audio interview?  The host is clearly a fan.  There is a photo gallery and a little review of the Seattle show.  Fabulous!

http://seattlemusicinsider.com/?p=10982&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

"We never made a doo-wop album!"

A great new interview from Jeremy Kennedy.

{Note: I have amended an error in Jeremy's article.  The comments about Exotica and Ultra Violet were not quite right.  I think Sara and Keren's comments were put against the wrong album titles in the original article.}

Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/guerillarama-on-bananarama-a-backstage-conversation

Harmony, Hits and Humor: Getting to Know Bananarama

Over the weekend, Britain’s most delightfully amusing pop group from the 1980s made their Atlanta debut – the first in their 30 year history. Supporting the Pinktober initiative launched by the Hard Rock franchise, Bananarama are touring America again (their first tour of the States since 1989), recounting their backlog of radio hits, including the breakout single ‘Cruel Summer’ and their number one smash ‘Venus’. Backed by an all-star band, including guitarist Matt Backer (ABC, Swing out Sister), blonde member Sara Dallin and the dark-haired Keren Woodward, have reached unexplainable heights with their success, selling in excess over 40 million albums world-wide. On Sunday night, these ladies of the Eighties were cheerfully celebrated by a vigorous crowd of 300 or so fans at the posh Velvet Underground inside Hard Rock Café, for what could be their first visit and their last, ever in Atlanta.

With over 32 hit singles to choose from, every stone in the band’s history was turned over. Fans of the early MTV period of Bananarama’s career were highly fulfilled with ‘Really Saying Something’ and their rendition of Steam’s 1970 hit ‘Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye’; both of which were amped up with pulsing techno beats aligned with the duo’s dance sound that continues to make their music relevant today. Showcasing only a couple of the lesser-American known electronic Euro hits like ‘Look on the Floor’, Bananarama have remained persistent as a dance act since their biggest US album ‘True Confessions’ (1986, London Records). It was no surprise then that the majority of songs chosen for this special engagement were produced from the Stock-Aitken-Waterman Hi-NRG period of Bananarama, culminated with the extended version of the wildly popular ‘Love in the First Degree’ (1988, #48 Billboard Hot 100).  Although the curtain closed without an encore, it didn’t discourage two dozen fans from lining up near the stage, praying that the girls would return to sign vinyl record sleeves and CDs or better, pose for a quick snap photo from a Smartphone.

Unfortunately, the girls remained just as distant from Atlantans as they’ve always been, opting to stay hidden from the venue lobby activities. Nonetheless, the author found an entrance, with the help of an inside source and made his way through the kitchen of the Hard Rock Café restaurant, destined to the parlor lounge where he was greeted with a huge banana smile, followed by the question “Who are you?”.

In the author’s quest to mark Bananarama’s first visit to Atlanta as one of the milestone events of his career, he found himself sandwiched between Bananarama, rather giddy and star struck from the invitation. As cameras blinded the trio with lightning flashes, his confidence subliminally elevated him to dare ask the two retro bombshells by his side: “How does an American journalist achieve a proper interview with Bananarama?” As he gripped his leather notebook, armed with serious questions that America craves to know about this dynamic duo of Eighties pop music, Bananarama’s Keren Woodward assertively reaches for his document, pulls it out and begins reading.

Looking at the bystanders of handlers & management, she strikes an unexpected reaction: “Let’s do this,” she says to partner Sara Dallin. “I’ll start with number one.”

JK: Is it true, that you would sew pieces of fabric together to make your stage clothes, including some of the threads from the Deep Sea Skiving videos? Can you still sew today?
Keren: Nodding her head with assertion, “Yes. We’re very good. It’s one of many unrecognized talents! “
JK: What’s the last garment or repair you sewed?
Keren: “A pair of jeans actually.”
JK: Here’s a challenge: Can you recite, in harmony, the synchronized lyric on ’It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it’ that you sung with the Fun Boy Three back in 1981?
Sara: “Sure. Just roll it out like this: Doo-doo-doo-do-dit, do-dit, doo-doo, Doo-doo-doo-do-dit, do-dit, doo-doo.” With a coy smile, she added “It’s not that difficult.”
JK: What are the chances of stripping down the production of your Hi-NRG sound and making another ‘doo-wop’ album like the first three Bananarama records?
Keren: With hands on her hips, “We never made a doo-wop album! We still sing in harmony.”
Sara: “Well, those were the early days. We worked under the guidance of the Fun Boy Three and the Specials and they sort of had reggae-ska wrapped around them vocally.”
Keren: “But we did play stuff for Fun Boy Three. We actually played the piano on those records.”
JK: How autobiographical are Bananarama’s lyrics? What’s the most outrageous testimonial song you have written?
Keren: ‘Move in my Direction’ is pretty much the story of my life.” Looking at Sara for assurance, she continued, “Should have called a taxi. I should have gone straight home.”
JK: In the Band Aid documentary of the making of ‘Do they know its Christmas’, it’s evident that the record was primarily male-dominant. You all looked incredibly bored. Were you? What is one story that you’ve never told anyone about those 24 hours you spent cramped in that hot studio with all of those egos?
Keren: “You know, they told us to tune our vocals down. We must have been incredibly loud,” she says with a smirk stretching toward a smile. “We were a bit hung-over. We didn’t know any cameras were going to be there. No one told us.”
Sara: “We were not informed. Our manager arranged for us to appear after Geldoff asked us to come. There we were, with Bono and Sting and the Durans.”
Keren: “We weren’t expecting to do too much. We just hung in a dark corner and hid with Paul Weller.”
JK: Have you ever met Mariska Veres or any members of The Shocking Blue that originally took ‘Venus’ to number One on Billboard’s Pop Chart in 1970?
Keren: “No, we never met Mariska, but we did meet Robbie van Leeuwen, the member that wrote the song.” Adding, “He kissed our feet. We had just performed on a TV show and he dropped to his knees and literally kissed our feet.” Continuing, sipping her drink, “He said ‘Thank you for making me a multi-millionaire’.”
JK: Bananarama shifted from making free-spirited videos that captured three girls just being casually innocent on film, to making tightly choreographed videos to accompany the singles produced by Stock-Aitken-Waterman. Was the transition a necessity?
Keren: “We were just moving along. Everyone was doing it then.”
Sara: Holding two fingers barely apart, she adds “The Stock-Aitken-Waterman period was such a short period in our career.”
JK: Do either of you own the spitting image puppets used in your 1983 video ‘Cheers Then’?
Keren: “No, but I wish we did. We picked a video company to make those early videos and they came up with those.”
JK: There have been numerous compilations of your ‘best’ work over the years, including a brand new 30th anniversary package featuring most of your videos. Do you like making music videos now?
Sara: “Yeah.”
Keren: “We love making videos; we hate taking photos.”
JK: How involved were you with the new compilation project? Did you have an opinion on which tracks would be included or was it a singles-only endeavor?
Keren: “We were involved with that one because in the U.K., we wanted to release all of the (Bananarama) videos. It’s the first time that the entire collection of our videos is in one package, some of which are seeing a DVD format for the first time.”
Sara: “I don’t think they did that over here.”
JK: You just released a brand new EP ‘Now or Never’.
Keren: Interrupting, she asks “Do you like it?”
JK: Yes. The new single is as essential as any other Bananarama release. Right now, the new record is only available as a download format file.
Will the new release receive a hard copy format on vinyl or compact disc?
Sara: “Probably not. We don’t have a label to put it out.”
Keren: “But I think that the producer did such a great job with it, it doesn’t need another touch.”
JK: Keren, What does your son think of Wham! ?
Keren: Sighing, she says “Well, Andrew (Ridgely) is his step-father. He’s fine with Wham!; better with Bananarama.” (Note: Keren and long-term boyfriend Andrew Ridgely never married officially).
JK: When former Bananarama vocalist Siobahn Fahey makes a new Shakespears Sister record, does she aggravate you to listen to it?
Keren: “No,” as she purses her lips.
Sara: Contradicting her sidekick with a tap on the shoulder, “She did that one time… what was it?”
Keren: “Pulsatron.”
Sara: “Yeah, ‘Pulsatron’; I couldn’t remember.”
JK: On the topic of Shakespears Sister, are you at all friends with Marcella Detroit?
Keren: “No, but we’ve met her a couple of times. So we’re not friends. We are still friends with Siobahn though. We actually might see her in LA when we play there next week.”
JK: How have you remained so ‘wholesome’ with no scandals, criminal records and feuds for 30 years as pop stars or have you just perfected the mastery of privacy when it comes to the press?
Sara: Looking over her shoulder, “Wholesome?”
Keren: “We are scandalous. Where have you been?” she laughs.
Sara: “We have mastered the art of fooling everyone; absolutely,” she giggles.
JK: Sara, your daughter Alice sings with Bananarama often. How did that come about?
Keren: “She was going to sing with us on this tour. She rehearsed all of the higher parts with us, but they had these massive storms in England and her place is knee-high in mud.” Continuing, she adds “She is the most amazing singer. She once sung a cover of ‘Paparazzi’ by Lady GaGa at a school concert, while playing the piano, and it literally made me cry.”
Sara: “She really is a beautiful singer.”
Keren: “She is absolutely fabulous.”
JK: Finally, I’ll list your albums in chronological order. If you would do us the honor and describe in a sentence or statement; whatever comes to mind. Positive, negative, pleasure or pain.





Deep Sea Skiving (1983)
Keren: “A really bad picture on the album’s cover.”
Sara: “Keith Richards really liked it.”

Bananarama (1984)
Keren: “I look like Boy George on the cover. We have a very similar profile, before he piled it on.”
Sara: “But he’s joined a gym now and looking quite good.”
Keren: “You’d really like him if you met him. He’s very funny. We met him before we were famous. We were in London and he said to us, ‘I’m going to be there and I will be famous’, and you know, a year later, there he was, everywhere.”

True Confessions (1986)
Keren: “Our American success.”
Sara: “Our first American hit was on that one, right?”
Keren: “We should have done ‘More than Physical’ tonight.” Adding, “The ‘Venus’ success was amazing because we never came to America to promote it. Suddenly, it was number one and we were shocked; horrified in fact.”

Wow! (1987)
Sara: “I like Wow!”
Keren: “That was a good time for us.
Sara: “The videos were produced by Bruno Tonioli, who’s on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ now.”
Keren: ”He’s one of the guys that we featured on the cover too. He’s our best friend. We still see him a lot.”

Pop Life (1991)
Keren: “I love Pop Life. We went guitary, but we needed to.”
Sara: “It was massive in Germany.”
JK: Did Jackie O’Sullivan actually sing on that record or was she a visual Banana beauty-only?
Keren: “I think she did sing on a few?”
Sara: no response.
Keren: “The Jackie thing was difficult because no one saw her as anything other than a replacement. She was always the ‘new’ girl.”

Please Yourself (1993)
Sara: “I’m not really fond of that one. We were floundering at that point.”
Keren: “We’d done the guitar album, though people didn’t want us to do a guitar album and but then they liked it. So we did (Please Yourself) and yet the general public didn’t like it. We like it now, but...”
Sara: “Do you like it now? I don’t.”
Keren: “Well, we like what we’re doing now, as opposed to pleasing everyone.”
Sara: “Go on.”
Keren: “We call those years – the early Nineties, the lean years.”

Ultra Violet (1995)
Sara: “That was a good time for us. It was huge in Japan.”
Keren: “We started touring and playing live again around this time.”

Exotica (2001)
Sara: “We call that the French Album.”
JK: The album is light-weight, almost airy as it permeates the listener.
Keren: “Do you think it’s airy? Get out of here. Cut the interview.”

Drama (2005)
Sara & Keren: “We like it.”
Keren: “This is our Swedish album. It was made in Sweden.”

Viva (2009)
Sara: “I didn’t realize that some of the singles were popular in America. We thought about performing ‘Love Comes’, but we doubted its reaction.”
Keren: “It’s unfortunate that some of the best stuff we’ve done hasn’t been released properly.”

Now or Never (2012)
Sara: “I love it.”
Keren: “The bonus remix of ‘Movin’ On’ is available only if you buy the EP online.”

Vintage Article: Natural Development Slows Bananarama

Well, it's not the most memorable of titles for an article, but it is worth repeating as it was from a very important period in their career.

Check out this article from 1986:

Natural Development Slows Bananarama
September 19, 1986 By Tom Popson

About two weeks ago, the British trio Bananarama hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard singles chart with its pulsating, dance-oriented remake of ``Venus,`` the old Shocking Blue song from the late `60s. Normally, you would expect to find an act as hot as Bananarama out on the concert trail--or about to mount a concert tour--to capitalize on its success.

But not in this case. Rather than go out on a live concert tour, Bananarama is holding a series of ``video dance parties`` in 12 cities across the United States. The members of Bananarama make an in-person appearance at a club in each city, show the dozen-plus video clips they have made, chat with the crowd, sign autographs but do no live performing. (They arrive at the Charlie Club Saturday.)

There is a good reason the group chose the video route rather than a concert tour: At precisely the time Bananarama finds itself at the peak of its popularity in this country, group member Keren Woodward finds herself about six months pregnant--a case of converging developments that, needless to say, has left the group with mixed feelings.

``Keren knew she was pregnant long before `Venus` went to No. 1 in America,`` says Bananarama member Siobhan Fahey, ``but at first she was just determined that we were going to do a concert tour. We all wanted to tour. That was the plan for September, and she just refused to make us call it off. We started rehearsing. Concert dates were penciled in.

``It was me, actually, who looked at her and thought, `C`mon, Keren, what are you going to be like in a couple months` time, for God`s sake?` I mean, I really admire her for being brave enough to do this video tour. She`s suffering the usual backaches and things.``

While Bananarama eventually called off a September performing tour, they plan to mount a series of live concerts early next year. They apparently will be taking a little Bananaramakin on the road with them.

``We were all disappointed that we couldn`t tour this time,`` says Fahey, ``but the baby`s due around New Year`s Eve, and we estimate that Keren will be ready to start rehearsing for a tour by the end of January. So we`re going to aim to start the tour in April.

``The baby will just have three mothers and come everywhere with us. It`ll be good. It will keep us down to earth. We won`t get carried away by anything while we`re on tour, because that little baby will be there to remind us what it`s all about.``

When Fahey talks about life on the road, she is of necessity talking hypothetically. Even though Bananarama has been together for about five years and enjoyed success in both Europe and the States with songs such as ``Cruel Summer`` and ``Robert De Niro`s Waiting,`` the planned April concert tour would be Bananarama`s first.

``I cannot imagine what it will be like,`` says Fahey. ``I mean, I dread the emotional aspect of it. The sense of isolation you must get from living in hotels in cities where you don`t know a soul and your family is miles away. That`s what would get to all three of us, I think. All of us are quite prone to homesickness. We`re all quite `homey` as people, actually. The others would hate to hear me say that. They`d think that sounds pathetic and weedy, but it`s true. ``On the other hand, the three of us are desperate to tour because that`s all we`ve ever wanted to do since we formed our group.`` Fahey and fellow Bananarama member Sarah Dallin were fresh from a feature-writing journalism course at the London College of Fashion when they began singing together with Woodward in 1981.

``I thought for a brief moment in time I wanted to be a journalist,`` recalls Fahey, ``and that school`s course was the easiest one to get into. It wasn`t such a smart choice of college, though. The course was all right, but it wasn`t too easy to get jobs after going to the London College of Fashion. Especially the way I looked at the time. I was really punky looking.

``I wrote off for the odd job interview, but in the meantime, the three of us were going around together as really good friends, and we got to rehearsing for fun, and the group just took off. It was like fate took things out of our hands even before we`d chosen a career.``

``True Confessions,`` Bananarama`s current album, is the group`s third LP. It was released some two years after its predecessor, a relatively long time lag attributable to the pummeling Bananarama took from the British music press on its second album.

``When our second album came out, we were really stung by the critics in Britain,`` says Fahey. ``It really affected our self-confidence. In Britain we always get bad notices. They`re just very sexist, just very unpleasant.

``Also, we spent six months after it was released going around the world doing promotional trips, doing loads of things like station ID`s for radio stations in Japan. We wanted to get a band together and do a tour, but by the end of the promo trips, it was, `Sorry, girls, too late to tour for this album. You`ve got to start your next.`

``So we just sat down and were really determined to make an album this time that no one could argue with, and it took us a long time.``

USA gigs & TV fun

The Bananarama ladies have been incredibly busy since their arrival in the USA.

Music TV station VH1, even commented on their tour in an article.  Here is the link:  Bananarama Support Pinktober  Journalist Jordan Runtagh describes them as 'beautiful brits' and their opening date as a 'joyous PG-rated rave'. 

The great thing about this article is that they comment on the 1989 world tour, with Keren saying describing that period as 'the best time of my whole life'. 

The ladies also appeared on BetterTV (see video) for a short but nice interview.  Sara described touring as like being on a school trip.  Hard work but a lot of fun!

Hard Rock Tampa posted a short video of the ladies signing some electric guitars and saying a few words to promote 'Pinktober'.  Check out the website: https://www.hardrock.com/philanthropy/pinktober/pinktober-2012.aspx

I can't explain how much I've enjoyed watching the fan videos from the tour dates so far.  It's clear that Bananarama fans know how to party and that there are some fine dancers amongst you!  Excitable doesn't even come close to it!

Chain Reaction with Jennifer Saunders

A couple of months ago, Radio4 aired a radio show hosted by Caitlin Moran titled 'Chain Reaction'. 

In one episode of the series Cailtin interviewed the comedy goddess Jennifer Saunders.  Of course, fans of Bananarama will know that Jennifer has worked with Bananarama in the past on the hit 'comic relief' charity single 'Help'.  The show is no longer available to download from BBC iPlayer.  However, UK residents can listen to a short clip of the show here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xsvzv

As I am a kind, generous person.  I've decided to loosely transcribe that section of the show for you!

Caitlin: When I used to watch you on TV, I totally idolised you.  I used to imagine you going on out on the town with Bananarama, and probably also Kirsty Maccoll, and having the best time of your life.  Please tell me you were!


Jennifer: It happened.  It absolutely happened. The nights with Bananarama were some of the best nights of my life, and I got a lot of gags from Bananarama because they were big vodka drinkers.  Dawn and I were very unprofessional.  When I started doing AbFab, I remembered all of the falls that I saw Bananarama do.  I once saw one of them coming out of a cab bottom first and hitting the road, and I thought 'that's class'.  They were great.  They were such good fun.


Caitlin: This is literally the happiest thing that's happened to me all evening.  I just imagined it, but it was really happening at the time!


Jennifer: On yeah.  We had a good time.

Well, there you have it.  You could almost say that Bananarama were part of the inspiration behind the hugely popular comedy, Absolutely Fabulous. 

US Weekly: Best Girl Groups of All Time

Of course, it goes without saying that Bananarama are one of the greatest girl groups ever!  US Weekly magazine recently included them in their list of the Best Girl Groups Of All Time!

 

 

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/pictures/best-girl-groups-of-all-time-2012317/24103

Media Watch

Any sensible SAW / Bananarama fan will already be aware of the greatest pop event in history.  Hit Factory Live takes place on July 11th 2012 in Hype Park, London.  There was a bit of a media frenzy a few weeks ago.  Pete Watermelon was understandably proud of SAW's achievements and he was accompanied by a newly reformed Steps and spooky/fabulous Pete Burns from Dead or Alive at a press call. 

Here is the bio:

Live Nation are excited to announce the Hit Factory Live, a once-in-a-lifetime spectacular taking place in London’s Hyde Park on 11 July 2012. For the first time ever, the classic artists from the PWL Hit Factory will perform together on one bill. This unmissable show celebrates the legendary Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting and production team, the phenomenal success of Pete Waterman’s PWL label and, above all, the irresistible pop that came to define an era in British music history. Once called ‘The Sound of a Bright Young Britain’, it undoubtedly now stands as the soundtrack to a generation, with sales of over 500 million units worldwide. Acts so far include: Steps, Jason Donovan, Bananarama, Rick Astley, Dead or Alive and many more!

I'm not sure why the Mirror website posted this photo, taken from the pre-SAW era, and with a caption that reads "Bananarama: sulking because they knew they could never have Rick Astley's jacket".  I despise journo's that don't know their Banana facts.  The real reason they were sulking is because Boy George had stolen Siobhan's ciggies. 

Bananarama Bio as per Popjustice

The salient points

Bananarama basically invented the idea of the modern British girlband. They broke and set all sorts of records.

As with all amazing British girl trios, one of them was called Siobhan.

The other two were called Sara and Keren.

It all went a bit wrong for a while when Siobhan left and Meryl Streep joined the band but it was acceptable, as they say, in the 80s. (LoveBananarama doesn't agree, but we do love the Meryl reference as both she and Jac's are fabulous)

Their best songs include 'I Heard A Rumour', 'Robert De Niro's Waiting', 'I Want You Back' and 'Cruel Summer'.

Ace Of Base covered 'Cruel Summer', with 'limited success' (it wasn't very good).

'The Rams' are now just Sara and Keren and are getting along jolly well as it happens. They tend to pop up at outdoor summer events, 'gentlemen's nitespots' and on funny TV programmes.

If you interview them they are 'quite a hoot'.