WE FEEL YOUR INFLUENCE SPRING SUMMER 18 THE WORLD NEEDS ORIGINALS SS18

“IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT COLOUR YOU ARE OR WHAT KIND OF CULTURE YOU'RE IN, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MEAN SOMETHING, YOU HAVE TO DO IT RIGHT AND DO IT HONESTLY.” WHEELERCARON ON CREATIVITY

It usually starts from me, from a feeling of something, either to put into musical form. That’s how I usually make my discontent or something I want to fix. I turned to songwriting songs. I have to feel what the story is. I always try and make because I like writing down ideas. Sometimes I don’t completely stories sit well, and also uplift people a bit, because the whole finish songs, but if I keep going I might get the real thing. world is going crazy! It’s not until you’ve actually tweaked it enough to the point If you feel it’s not working, lay back and sometimes it just where it sounds like something that somebody would want comes to you all at once. I can’t explain it exactly but it just to listen to. starts to happen, and when it does happen and it feels right, I like doing music that can be very, not cathartic, but like it’s time to jump on that feeling and move with it. emotions that you can’t see but you feel. That’s what you’re trying Try to, basically, infuse the air with what you’re feeling. CARON WHEELER

ON WRITING HIT SONGS ON FAME

At first I didn’t know I’d make a hit, ever. But at the end of It got a bit wild in the middle, I had to come out of that bit. the first couple of tunes, like working on the arrangement I was like, ‘I can’t take it any more, I need a break’. It got a bit for Keep On Movin’ with Soul II Soul, it was just one of those intense. For a little while I kind of laid low. But after that I got things where I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve been writing songs for years, myself back in work mode, and that made it easier. let me do something with them!’ And the best songs I picked It’s not been a bad gig so far, I can’t moan. I’m just grateful out worked for some reason. I don’t know why, but they did. for it because you just don’t know what can happen in life. And they stuck around for a long time. If it works and it sticks, then I’m happy because I know that We had no idea that we might go on Top Of The Pops, we did our job and somebody was happy. That’s a blessing. but it turned into a big thing and we were amazed. You can’t make people do this. If they don’t want to do it, We didn’t understand that we were actually getting to they won’t. They’re not going to listen to you if they don’t like it. number one. We were very, very lucky. ON ROLE MODELS It’s not something that just falls out of the air, it’s something that you’re feeling, for me. That’s what really pulls me together We had a little baby group called Brown Sugar. when it comes to songs. It’s been interesting. A lot of things We were Pauline Catlin, her elder sister and me. She taught have happened between having babies, missing babies, us harmonies and it was amazing. She was so good, she used doing good things, doing strange things, life and death. to do lots of club work. A beautiful girl with a heart of gold. You just have to try and move it into a piece of music She gave us a lot of guidance. that people may enjoy. It was like a miracle because she was doing all the ON BELIEF black club nights, all the harmonies, leads, everything. She taught us what to do because we were the younger At some point things really do stick, and when they start generation. She was actually doing it, and we were like, sticking they start flowing. To me, that’s the best feeling ever, ‘She’s doing it, look, she’s doing it’. It was fantastic, because nobody ever thought I could do that when I was a kid. the best thing that ever happened. They said, ‘Oh, she won’t be a singer, she’d be terrible,’ and I was like, ‘I want to be a singer, Mummy’. My mum believed in me anyway, so I’m glad she did. We used to sing and dance in the living room when my dad went to work. You have to figure out what you really want to do and I LIKE DOING MUSIC what’s going to be good for you, and other people that you THAT CAN BE VERY, NOT meet if they’ve got similar goals. Work with people that you actually like, and try to evolve that. It was like a family, CATHARTIC, BUT LIKE we just got on so well. They looked after us. The music was going great. We were getting reviews because our stuff EMOTIONS THAT YOU was so different. It doesn’t matter what colour you are or what kind of CAN’T SEE BUT YOU FEEL. culture you’re in, if you really want to mean something, you have to do it right and do it honestly. CARON WHEELER

“WHAT ONE WORD WOULD ON LOOKING AHEAD “A FEELING. OR COULD DESCRIBE YOUR So I’m looking forward to the next, God knows, I don’t know how many years. I’m not thinking about the years, I’m just CREATIVE PROCESS?” thinking about the work and how the world is right now. There’s a lot of music out there that needs to be done, expressed. Everyone’s got their own version of healthy. Everyone’s got their own version of what they would really love to have in their life, every moment of their life. You don’t know when your life is going to stop, where you’re going to go. So in the time you do have, you have to get what you want done. If somebody has got an idea then run with it, don’t stand there and think, ‘I should have done it in 19-whatever it was’. Like, well, yes, but you didn’t. You’re still here. Do it, before your time runs out. Because if you don’t, who knows, it’s the luck of the draw. Now at 54 I’m like, ‘You know what, time to get serious again!’ I want to make it so solid, the new music I want to get A SENTENCE. down. I’ve got a lot of things I’m writing and finishing. I’ve been blessed to do this and I don’t know how, but I love it. I can’t stop or be away from it too long. I just can’t imagine life without music. You need it. It’s the fabric of our lives to me, it keeps us going. If somebody’s got a good tune that comes out, people are jumping up and down, going to a party. ON PAYING IT FORWARD

You can help some younger children with it. It depends how much they’re interested. My daughter, she’s a pretty good singer. She’s 12 now and she’s going to be amazing. I can’t wait until she gets to 15 because she’s got a big voice already. She makes big noises and then she says, ‘Can I make them into a song, Mummy?’ I say, ‘Of course you can, you’ve been trying to make songs forever. Why don’t we just do it together?’ She says, ‘But you’re always SOME LOVE”. on the road and da-da-da’. I said, ‘Yes, but I can’t be on the road forever, can I?’ She goes, ‘Yes, OK, I’ll see you next Sunday then’. It’s so funny. I N D I

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All Clarks Originals start with their own wooden last, hand-carved by our own expert lastmakers. D U A L “A FEELING.“WHAT ONE WORD WOULD DESCRIBE YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?” A SENTENCE.

SOME LOVE.” MARGOT MULE BLACK LEATHER

TOR TRACK COLA SUEDE “ I FIND THAT DOING THINGS THINGS IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE CREATIVITY COMES OUT OF THAT.” OF OUT COMES CREATIVITY UPSIDE DOWN AND DOING WAY, DOING THINGS IN A RIDICULOUS WAY, MUCH MORE DIFFERENTLY, TURNING THINGS THE WORLD NEEDS ORIGINALS SS18 ORIGINALS NEEDS WORLD THE “IT’S NOT ABOUT THE END RESULT. IT’S HOW YOU GET THERE.” GET YOU HOW IT’S RESULT. END THE ABOUT NOT “IT’S

what they’ve said.what they’ve creative people. People are sofasttobedown on somebody for politicians andleaders,especially celebrities, orvisualpeople, mistakes. This ideathat peopleare supposedto beperfect, towards anegativity peoplemaking I thinkthathasborne slammed on soquickly. Ithinkit’s andsocialmedia. theInternet be controversial, they’re going because tobeslappedaround and forpeopletodothings wrong difficult or say wrong thingsor You know, Ithinkwe’re judgemental society. avery It’s very MISTAKES MAKING ON I think, ofcreativity. mytype thatisbestfor in.that Iputmyself outofthehole, myself It’s aboutclimbing best work comes outofchallenges, dangerous places, weird spots or goodness outofthingsthatgo wrong. Ifindthatalotofmy totakethegoodness outofbadness,losing thatability done wrong.works come outofthingsthatthey’ve Ithinkwe’re anightmare.everything’s Butoutofthatcomes creativity. of creativity. And, you know, sometimes itjustgoes wrong and arenas, pieces ofscary outawholebunch andthattendstobring intodangerous,I tendtoputmyself competitive orchallenging CREATIVITY ON If you look thegreatest atall artists, mostoftheirwonderful SKIN SKIN

I TEND TO PUT MYSELF INTO DANGEROUS, COMPETITIVE OR CHALLENGING ARENAS, AND THAT TENDS TO BRING OUT A WHOLE BUNCH OF SCARY PIECES OF CREATIVITY. AND, YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES IT JUST GOES WRONG AND EVERYTHING’S A NIGHTMARE. BUT OUT OF THAT COMES CREATIVITY.

And what’s the alternative? You never make a mistake? You never And, invariably, you’re going to disappoint people. So I’m kind do anything wrong? Is that the kind of person we want leading of like an anti-role model, or anti-spokesperson. I’ve just got a our country, for instance? I think it definitely comes out of social mouth. I talk a lot. media and everybody having to make a comment. Everyone’s got ON HER ‘RULE’ to have an opinion. I think that’s made people less creative, actually. I think it’s When I’m excited about something, about a charity or made people less willing to make a mistake and less willing to something, I’ll say. But it comes from being excited about get things wrong. And out of that you have less creativity. that, not because someone’s paying me. If I do put something You have safer music, safer art, safer politicians. You know? on my Instagram it’s because I really like it, I genuinely like it. So it’s a millennial thing. That’s my rule. Never promote something you don’t like. ON FEAR Have some morals, people! But you know, I think a lot of things like social media We’re in the age where people tear apart every tiny detail of were borne out of beauty and wonderful and positive things. a person’s behaviour, or a person’s sentence or mannerisms, People wanting to connect with each other. clothes, fashion, or art. Every tiny detail is discussed and torn ON HONING CRAFT apart. People are just so aware of it and so scared. Fear and social conditioning, it’s hindering creativity. Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule comes into play. At the same time, it makes people a little bit more ‘rebelistic – There is just no fast way to be good. It’s as simple as that. I just made that up, that word! It gives people a desire to be more I mean, I do a lot of DJing and the reason a lot of DJs are outrageous and to shock more. To be more crazy and creative as a old [laughs], like over 35, is that it literally takes ten years to kind of rebound. An antidote maybe, to modern culture. really be a good DJ. You know, you can have all the technical ON SOCIAL MEDIA equipment in the room but there is no fast way to learn how to read a room, and play the right song at the right time in I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think twice before I was going to put the right moment in your set. And with learning a musical anything on social media. I’m less prone to putting private things instrument, there’s no fast way. It takes years and years. on social media. I treat it more as a way to connect to people, and And singing. I think talent is the most important thing you’ve as an artistic, creative thing. If you like politics, you have to really got to have, but if you don’t craft and work your arse off and think twice before you say anything. Because even though it’s develop that talent, it really doesn’t matter. good to have strong opinions – and we’ve got to hear everybody’s You’ve got to put the hours in. There’s just no fast way to viewpoint – there can be a lot of negativity that comes out. be good. It takes a long time. I mean, I’m only in a rock band, so I can get away with a lot of But the wonderful thing is – and this is a bit of a cliché – stuff. Because, you know, we’re supposed to be outrageous, aren’t it’s not about the end result. It’s how you get there. The process we? We’re supposed to be naughty. of becoming good and making those mistakes, if you love what I can jump from being a spokesperson, to being the average you’re doing, those moments should be fun. It should be person in the street. Like a time warp. If you can get away with it, stressful and it should be hard work, but you should wake up why not do it? in the morning kind of like, ‘Yeah, you know, I want to this. But I don’t see myself so much as a spokesperson now. If you They say wise people look for problems because when they try to be one of those perfect people that says everything right solve the problems, they become wise. And that’s a all the time and whatever, it’s too stressful. It’s too much pressure. bit of a mantra.

the same. We don’t always want the same things in the same way. way. same the in things same the want always don’t We same. the more control. You have to develop the talent. talent. the develop to have You control. more But finish it. finish But I think it’s good to finish things. things. finish to good it’s think I

a group, as a people, we can go off track sometimes. We’re not all all not We’re sometimes. track off go can we people, a as group, a my voice got lower and fuller and stronger, and I started to have have to started I and stronger, and fuller and lower got voice my accomplishment. Then throw it away if you want to throw it away. away. it throw to want you if away it throw Then accomplishment. But I think that there’s a discipline in finishing things. things. finishing in discipline a there’s that think I But

kind of what’s happening now. I think that’s okay. As a society, as as society, a As okay. that’s think I now. happening what’s of kind As I learned to sing, and I sang and sang and sang all the time, time, the all sang and sang and sang I and sing, to learned I As run out of time or money! Just start something, finish it, have the the have it, finish something, start Just money! or time of out run nonsense?’ this to yes say I did ‘Why like, you’re when moments

weird direction or a strange direction to come back. I think that’s that’s think I back. come to direction strange a or direction weird It’s in the genes. the in It’s When you’re in the studio, when do you stop? Usually when you you when Usually stop? you do when studio, the in you’re When there are going to be good times and bad times and cathartic cathartic and times bad and times good be to going are there

done, I think society stagnates. Sometimes you need to go in a a in go to need you Sometimes stagnates. society think I done, always sing. There are a lot of people in my family that can sing. sing. can that family my in people of lot a are There sing. always Yeah, that’s hard. That’s just experience. When is a song finished? finished? song a is When experience. just That’s hard. that’s Yeah, do you anything in that think I hopefully. Accomplishment,

expect things to be done the same way that they’ve always been been always they’ve that way same the done be to things expect head! You have it at six years old, don’t you? But no, I could could I no, But you? don’t old, years six at it have You head!

A PROJECT A ON KNOWING WHEN SOMETHING IS FINISHED IS SOMETHING WHEN KNOWING ON I think there’s space for everybody, you know. And if you just just you if And know. you everybody, for space there’s think I – being of Jamaican parents, it kind of gets beaten out of your your of out beaten gets of kind it parents, Jamaican of being –

OF END THE AT FEELS SHE HOW ON by-product of that. That’s a definite change. change. definite a That’s that. of by-product I had the inner confidence, which didn’t last very long, actually actually long, very last didn’t which confidence, inner the had I You can’t teach that. That’s just intuition. intuition. just That’s that. teach can’t You

celebrities, and all kinds of people. people. of kinds all and celebrities, think sometimes that’s the main goal. And success is kind of a a of kind is success And goal. main the that’s sometimes think two weeks later I sang and was like, ‘See, I knew I could sing’. sing’. could I knew I ‘See, like, was and sang I later weeks two Frank Sinatra just had it. had just Sinatra Frank

a space for all kinds of different types of people – all kinds of kinds of all – people of types different of kinds all for space a by-product of being successful, of achieving your aims. Now I I Now aims. your achieving of successful, being of by-product talent show and I was kind of like, ‘But I can sing’. So then, like, like, then, So sing’. can I ‘But like, of kind was I and show talent something. phrase to how learning and singer, a being

to write songs and are much more interested in that. There’s There’s that. in interested more much are and songs write to a singer, that bit was just like a by-product. It was like a dirty dirty a like was It by-product. a like just was bit that singer, a it. I was in a room full of these people who wanted to sing on a a on sing to wanted who people these of full room a in was I it. it, X-Factor that some people have, and some people don’t. Like Like don’t. people some and have, people some that X-Factor it,

want actually will people some And that. in interested more Do you know, when I got into a band or when I wanted to be be to wanted I when or band a into got I when know, you Do Six years old. I hadn’t sung a note but I was very arrogant about about arrogant very was I but note a sung hadn’t I old. years Six You have to feel the room. There’s the whispery kind of, dare I say say I dare of, kind whispery the There’s room. the feel to have You

much are and camera the of front in be to love people Some BEAUTY”

ON FAME FAME ON ON KNOWING SHE COULD SING COULD SHE KNOWING ON ON INTUITION ON

“WHAT IDO?” DO I CREATE I

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Only true classics stand the test of time. I C “WHAT DO I DO?” I CREATE BEAUTY” WEAVER OAK SUEDE DESERT WELT INDIGO SUEDE THE WORLD NEEDS ORIGINALS SS18

“FAITHLESS - THERE WAS A PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE, FEMALE DJ / KEYBOARD PLAYER, AND A BUDDHIST RAPPER.” SISTER BLISS ON CREATIVITY

I think for me, creativity is not a set thing. I’m a musician and I’m a DJ, and I write music for film, TV and sometimes the theatre, so each discipline is slightly different. But there’s definitely a craft element to it when I go into my studio. I try and go every day and do something, make some kind of music. Where it ends up, I never know. But I also feel that I can’t be creative unless I’m living in the world. It’s really important to engage and I’m very, very lucky to be a Londoner, so everything is around me. All kinds of culture from the highest to the very lowest. For me particularly, things like art, theatre, cinema, typical things that most people do, they really feed my imagination. When I make music for Faithless, there’s a whole concept that goes with it, a visual, aesthetic side. It’s really important for me not to be trapped in a cycle of, ‘Make music in a studio and then go out on the road’. It has to be fuelled by books I’ve read, conversations I’ve had, other shows I’ve seen. All of these things inform what I’m doing. ON WORKING AT IT

There is definitely a workmanlike attitude I have, in that I might not be thinking, ‘I’m feeling really creative today’. In fact I might feel awful, and everything I’m making is really uninspired. But even if I come out with something that could be just a groove for a bassline, I can come back to it. It’s like the building blocks. Sometimes one has to force oneself into the space. It might not come naturally that particular day, but then you call on the experiences you’ve had, or you listen to a piece of music, or you look at the book you bought at the last art exhibition you went to, and things will come. For me, I don’t know if it’s the same for other people, but there is a natural kind of flow. People are generally the most SISTER BLISS

inspiring things – when you hear other musicians, other artists, and you’re wowed by either their presence, their lyrical agenda or their visual aesthetic. Going out to see live music’s also pretty IT TAKES MORE important. From a style perspective as well. You’ve got to know what’s going on. EMOTIONAL ENERGY ON STAYING POWER TO ENGAGE WITH I hope there’s a real consistency to what I do, and I never sort of pander to being a pop artist or the very lowest common SOME OF THE THINGS denominator. Some people might find it takes more emotional energy to engage with some of the things that I’ve done, but THAT I’VE DONE. somehow that has staying power. I don’t think Faithless was the most accessible band. On paper it looked kind of odd. There was a philosophy graduate, female DJ-slash-keyboard player, and a Buddhist rapper. A very unlikely combination. But we thought it sounded good, and we felt Maxi’s With Faithless, I love that when people come to see a show, lyrics were so universal, emotive and poetic. They weren’t preachy or even when we make an album, they’re stepping into our world. and they weren’t talking down to people. They weren’t simplified, So creating a world that is slightly different from your own is yet they sort of seemed to contain the essence of a blueprint of important. But reaching out and connecting within that, that’s how to be a human being. where that universal consciousness happens, where the audience For me, the best music on the planet teaches you something feels at one with you. There’s a real connection. about yourself, or illuminates in some way. As does the best ON TRUST AND AUTHENTICITY art, the best sculpture, the best theatre, whatever it is. It’s just a medium, and I hope I’ve maintained some kind of standards in Basically, why I’ve managed to have this amazing 20-year plus what I do. relationship within Faithless, with Rollo who’s a very important I’m always trying to go beyond my limits. There are certain producer and also a songwriter, and Maxi who’s a lyricist, rapper, things I know that I can do quite well, but going beyond that iconic frontman, is because there’s mutual respect. is where the magic can happen. Hopefully that’s why I’ve had The band started on our own label, so there wasn’t anyone a career with Faithless for over 20 years, and with music and telling us it had to be this sound. We had success as an the arts generally. independent before we were signed to a major record label, so ON PERFECTIONISM they weren’t trying to mould us. We brought our fans with us, our sound with us, and we curated it. We A&R-ed ourselves. I take it really seriously. I want to hear the best DJ when I go I always chose the remixes because I was in the dance world out, so I want to be the best DJ. I want to hear the best live music, as a DJ simultaneously. There is a strategy to it. It brings your even if I’ve never heard the album or the artist. music to a wider audience and you also think about artists that I’m a perfectionist. I’m a Capricorn. I might not be the very, you want to expose, and offer them a remix. So there’s a sense of very best, but I’ve got this kind of tenacity, and I think that’s also collaboration, which is really important. But there is also a sense something. I mean, I’ve met people that are way more talented that the highest standards are the ones we set ourselves. and creative than me in my life, who I’m just in awe of. But I Very early on I did a solo record as Sister Bliss, and I remember think tenacity and having a workman, workwoman-like attitude the A&R person saying, ‘If you just do it a tiny bit more goes a long way. commercially, this could be all over the radio’, and I remember we ON CONNECTING listened. It was quite glossy. But after that I remember not feeling hugely proud of what we’d done. We have to be satisfied, and our I feel that my musical bent has led me on a path that is about aesthetic tastes are the ones we trust, not someone from outside. connecting, and living in the real world. Living the same life ON CREATIVITY V CRAFT that people live, and not being off in a five-star bubble the whole time. Being subjected to the frustrations of life, whether it’s being I think creativity will only go so far without the craft. There’s a lot stuck in London traffic or relationships that aren’t always perfect of graft that goes into making a finished record. Just coming up – I think that keeps a relatability. with the melody and the bassline, where there was just air before “YOU LISTEN TO IT SISTER BLISS

and suddenly there’s music, that’s the moment of creativity. We were never interested in that. But the moulding and shaping it to be fit for human So I feel very blessed to have been successful in music consumption, that’s the graft bit. and maybe recognisable within my field, but generally not That’s the bit that can go quite off-piste, because you could recognised on the street. have something that was such a simple, beautiful, pure idea. I think it’s a very odd thing to be famous for the sake Then it gets mucked about with, because apart from anything of being famous. Everybody wants affirmation in some way, else, I work in the form of electronic music. There’s lots of digital, but it’s an odd thing. I can’t speak for a whole generation. fabulous, exciting plug-ins. You can manipulate sound to sound But they’ll grow up, or they’ll become famous and realise any way you want it to. You can spend hours mucking about. actually, it’s a poisoned chalice. And, unfortunately, because It’s not as simple as the troubadours sitting down with the guitar, of the anonymity on social networks, there’s a lot of abuse strumming, and out comes a song. that comes with it. There was one single that was a very big hit for us. We did 16 ON THE SENSE OF AN ENDING different versions and I road-tested it at a club in Amsterdam. I remember them singing the riff back to me – they’d never heard it Sometimes when you make a record, it’s never finished, before. I just looked at Rollo, because he’d come with me on that because you can always look back and think, ‘I could have occasion, and we just thought, ‘Wow, we’ve got something here’. done that slightly differently’. Graft and craft. It’s knowing when to stop. But, luckily, because we’ve made six or seven albums, you ON FAME don’t just bang an album out straightaway. You listen to it, you live with it, and then we revisit it and kind of fine-tune it. I think I might be a bit unusual in that coming from the Then it lives on, because we play the music live in the live dance music community – which was definitely less starry back shows. So it’s never really finished. We’re still playing the music in the day – I never felt famous. People wouldn’t recognise me. we wrote 20 years ago, so even that has a new lease of life. We were punters as well as DJs. The DJs were not quite this It’s about staying relevant and keeping things feeling deity, which obviously we wrote a song about, God Is A DJ, current and fresh, and as a musician, exciting your crowd. about that strange cultural phenomenon. Before that, the dance For me, music and creativity is often self-referential. music community was very friendly. It was just a different arena, It’s referring to music that you used to love, but for me it’s if you like. always got to be forward-looking too. That’s what I find I know DJs have become popstars now. But I think there’s exciting. Timelessness, when you transcend fashion, sometimes also a circuit. If you want to be famous, you have to go to certain it just happens. It’s hard to manipulate. But I’ve been very WITH IT.” places and be photographed staggering out of them. lucky that my music, I think, has a timeless sense to it. R E

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Design and expert craftsmanship come together. Elegance emerges. Pure and simple. “YOU LISTEN TO IT

YOU LIVEWITH IT.”

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WALLACE BLUE COMBI THE WORLD NEEDS ORIGINALS SS18

“BACK IN THOSE DAYS, I THINK PEOPLE ASSUMED WE WERE MANUFACTURED, BUT THAT IS RIDICULOUS. BECAUSE IF YOU LOOK AT US, HOW COULD ANYONE HAVE MANUFACTURED THAT?”

FAHEY

SI“IDEAS. I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE THEY ARE GIVEN BHAN AS GIFTS FROM UP THERE.” ON CREATIVITY ON CREATIVITY V CRAFT

The weird thing about it for me is, the more I try the less it I think you need the creative spark to initiate or make something. comes, and it comes in the least expected places and times. But then you have to apply what you know. I have learnt over the Usually when driving the car actually, and there’s not much years how to write a song. I know the format, I can manipulate you can do about it. But with the wonders of the iPhone and an idea into a song. memo notes, you can record any ideas very quickly as you’re I have always been a complete dilettante, I wouldn’t consider driving along, which is very helpful. myself to be a master of any craft really. It is a very fragile I never sit for hours trying to come up with ideas, because process for me. But I probably have learnt way more than I give they just don’t come. The more you chase them, the more myself credit for over the years. I have made a lot of records now, blank the page. and written a lot of songs. I don’t know where ideas come from. I always feel like they ON STARTING OUT are given as gifts from ‘up there’ somewhere, so I don’t feel in control of the process at all. It is hard to talk about because Sara [Dallin, from Bananarama] and I met at the London I have never understood it. College of Fashion. We were both doing Fashion Journalism ON THE BLANK PAGE there. So, I suppose both of us were drawn to the idea of being writers. Journalism is definitely a skill of organising ideas and I fear the blank page for sure. Yes, I try to avoid it at all times, words, though it is maybe not as creative as song writing. but inevitably it is there. I didn’t get any jobs. I didn’t really look the way people looked. It is really helpful to have a deadline, because for some In those days, people who worked on magazines looked like they weird reason you will find every excuse in the world not to worked in banks! I didn’t get past the first post. work. There is always that shopping you have to do, and then But, my first love has always been music, and I have always there is a bit that needs cleaning in the house. I don’t know just been obsessed with it. I couldn’t see how I could make music why it is so painful to make yourself go and do it! But if there because I wasn’t trained in any way, but then punk rock came is a deadline, you have no choice. along and it was like, ‘It doesn’t matter!’ It’s also helpful to collect moments of inspiration so you Basically, I was out every night seeing bands, reading have got something to draw from. Creativity is definitely 10% NME Magazine from cover to cover, and listening to music all inspiration, 90% perspiration, but you need that moment of the time. I guess I knew a lot about music and I had a certain inspiration to do something good, I think. taste before I even started writing songs. SIOBHAN FAHEY

With Bananarama, it happened so quickly for us. Before we took it seriously we were doing it just so we could get on stage. But then we were signed, and we were making IF YOU DISCOVERED A an album before we had even written a song. We learnt on our feet and we started writing with that punk attitude. SCENE, IT WAS LIKE AN ON HER INFLUENCES ALADDIN’S CAVE OF NEW I was obsessed with music from the age of about 12. I went through a singer/songwriter period, then I became a soul girl, MUSICAL SOUND OR VIBE. and then punk rock happened. It was brilliant. The 70s were brilliant because we were bombarded with so many different new forms coming along all the time. If you discovered a scene, it was like an Aladdin’s cave of As soon as something new comes along, it’s jumped on and used new musical sound or vibe. Clothes were very much part of it to sell stuff. as well. It was all about tribes and identity, very much about ON THE CULT OF CELEBRITY personal identity, I think. ON DISCOVERY I think there are as many creative and artistic people around as there ever were, but it has been confused with this new cult of Everything that comes too easily, you don’t value it. You don’t celebrity. Now you have got loads of kids who have become really treasure it. It doesn’t have a resonance in your life if you just see famous and really rich because they are YouTube stars. But they it on the Internet. The way I dressed and the music I listened to, have no talent, and they are not particularly creative at all. I discovered through the clubs I went to at night, or the bands Whereas the truly creative, artistic and original people, you maybe I went to see and through my friends, the people I hung out with. don’t get to hear or see. The clothes you wore and the music you listened to was very ON FAME much an expression of who you were. Nowadays, it is like looking through a catalogue, ‘I will have that, and I will have that, and I I honestly don’t think fame affected us much at all. The first year will have that.’ It’s not so integrated with your lifestyle. we were ‘famous’ if you want to use that word, we had three top ON FIGHTING FOR YOUR TRIBE five singles in the UK, but we were on the dole. We had no money and we were living in a council flat. We disguised ourselves to go Back in those days, it was very tribal. There were the skins, and sign on. So it’s not like our lives were suddenly catapulted to the Teds, the soul girls, the punks. They fought each other. being any different to anybody else’s. You had to fight for the right to party in those days. It was I actually don’t think we really felt famous or took it in. It didn’t quite a commitment. affect the way we lived. When we were punks, I remember my boyfriend getting It was pre the cult of celebrity. When we were first pop stars, beaten up by Teds on the Kings Cross platform. And I kept for want of a better word, there was a whole swathe of us – being pulled over by the police all the time because I was in a Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and Wham – and we all came out painted shirt driving my car. If you looked in any way different of the same kind of post-punk, London soul scene. We all went in those days, you attracted the wrong sort of attention. to the same clubs. If you had been on Top Of The Pops, it was like ON DIVERSITY everybody was a star, everybody was an anti-star. It was a cult of anti-celebrity really. I think diversity is great, and I think it is harder for kids ON AUTHENTICITY these days to find an underground community. That's what's been destroyed by the Internet, the underground. Actually, in You can’t cheat it. I think that is why, because everything has LA at the moment, there is a kind of really interesting little got so manufactured, people now have a different perspective underground psych scene, which I really like. They are all in their on Bananarama. Because we were so natural, no-one would have 20s but they dress like it’s 1966, and they play music that sounds produced anything like that. Back in those days, I think people like The Birds. That to me is exciting because they have got this assumed we were manufactured, but that is ridiculous. If you look identity and community. at us, how could anyone have manufactured that?! Everything has become so ubiquitous. I’m hoping that will With the revisionism of the 80s, people have begun to create a new underground that will be homegrown and very appreciate our band more. It was tough back then. We kept being particular, so it won’t be jumped on by the fashion brands. laughed at, and the press were never very kind. But now… “SO, JUST SOME FUN ONE-WORD ANSWERS. FIRST THING THAT COMES INTO YOUR HEAD. THE FIRST ONE – ONE WORD, WHAT DO YOU DO?" ON REGRETS, NO REGRETS.

I never regret anything, there is no point in regrets. How could I regret my life? It has been an amazing life, and it still is an amazing life. But I wonder if “LIVEwe had just had a year of rehearsing and playing live before we had a hit and writing, maybe we’d have been more evolved in our craft by the time it happened. It was ridiculous. We had something like three rehearsals and then my friend dropped down to our rehearsal and he was a talent scout for an indie label, Demon Records. He told his boss about us, and the boss said he would pay for a demo, and that was our first single. It was very DIY. But then I think part of the reason people took to us was our charming naivety, our sort of DIY ‘taking the piss’ kind of thing. -IWe were anything but polished. LIVE” A U

T H E N

As now. As always. True to our craft, our heritage and our inspirations . T I C “LIVE I LIVE” MILLIGAN LIGHT PINK SUEDE

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DAME GILLIAN

“CREATIVITY IS SO VITAL AND ON CREATIVITY SO BUZZING IN YOU The creative process with me starts very early on. I grapple with LYNNEit, and then once I get in a room with actors or dancers, it sort THAT YOU CAN’T WAIT of takes off on its own. I don't have rules because it changes all TO GET IT OUT.” the time depending on whether it’s a musical or a play or a ballet, so it sort of changes the rhythm according to what you're doing. I always have an idea because otherwise I wouldn't even enter the room. But I think, ‘This is what I’m going to attempt today,’ and in I go. And then the room itself usually has an atmosphere, and the people have a feeling, and off I go. ON CREATIVITY V CRAFT

With some things, creativity is so vital and so buzzing in you that you can’t wait to get it out, and usually your creative forces are running pretty well. But craft is usually more intellectual, something you're thinking out more carefully. So maybe you're a little slower. If you've got either of them in you, a bit of creativity and a bit of craft, I don't think you're ever going to give up totally, because otherwise you wouldn't have got there in the first place. DAME GILLIAN LYNNE

ON INSPIRATION

I get inspiration from space, absolutely everywhere. I suppose if you make musicals or you make ballets you are interested in the space because you've already got an idea, and you're already putting it into the space and you think, ‘No, that one’s not good, but that one’s wonderful’. So the whole idea of space and you within it and putting your people within it is something that’s forever alive, if you're at all creative. I can’t imagine not being creative. That sounds very stuck up, it’s not stuck up. It’s just that it’s about the only thing I’ve got, creativity. It’s always exhausting. I don't ever think it’s a curse. The curse is when you don't come up to your expectations. You get these wonderful ideas and you start off on them, and you can tell fairly early on whether this idea is really going to take off. If it takes off, then you're on a high roll.

ION CHILDHOODLIVE, DANCE AND I was a pain in the arse. Mummy took me to a doctor and said, ‘What can I do? She doesn't stop moving, she leaps about the place. I’m at my wits’ end’.

They went outside the room and he had one of those “WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?” wonderful, old-fashioned doors with glass in, so you could see through it. He was very clever, as he went out he turned on the radio and there was music. I leapt onto his desk, I leapt off it. I climbed back on and he watched with my mum, and he said, ‘There is nothing wrong with this child, she wants to be a dancer. Take her tomorrow’. And I’ve been at it ever since. ON STARTING OUT

I had a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dancing, then my mother got killed in the most ghastly car crash, and then the war came. So suddenly my scholarship and my whole dance life went, ‘Phhttt’. I was lost for about a year. I ran away from where I’d been evacuated, so my poor father, who was in the Army, got onto the school. LOVE DAME GILLIAN LYNNE

I still had to do the audition, but I got it. So very soon, from not Sondheim thing, and I couldn't because Cats was such a having it at all I went back into it. And I seem to have been stuck blooming success. I had to keep going and putting it on with it ever since. Amazing. The war was a very exciting time. everywhere. It wasn’t until five years into it that I managed When I joined Sadler's Wells we always had the bombs raining to train someone else up to the point where they could do it down on us. We did not stop. Dancers are so well trained. without me. So that was a bit of a blow. In fact, a huge blow. ON HOLLYWOOD ON STAYING FOCUSED

I was once with Moira Shearer, who was incredibly beautiful. I don't know how it happens but it just happens. I think I’ve We had just given a season in Los Angeles and Fred Astaire got the sort of brain that is totally ill-educated, I mean with had quite naturally asked her to do a film with him because the war and everything, nothing much in the way of education. she was that beautiful. She’d just done this huge movie called Everything I’ve ever known I’ve learned it being in the theatre, The Red Shoes. She told me on the bus, we always sat together. or travelling and doing things. But I think the whole thing of I was like this, ‘Moira, oh my God, how wonderful. What’s it wanting to do it, wanting to be in the theatre, wanting to be going to be? When are you going to start?’ She said, ‘No, Gill, no, with theatre people or film people – I just love the atmosphere. I am not going to do it.’ I said, ‘Not going to do it? Fred Astaire?’ Thankfully, I’m always feeling it. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I am going to have four children Dance requires an enormous amount of stamina, and and it will get in the way’. And blow me down, she had the dance requires a lot of thought. If you're constantly alive with four children and she didn't do the movie. Isn’t that amazing? it, it’s good. Fred waited, he tried again, but it never worked. Such a shame. I’ve got lots of shows to deal with, I’ve got a husband I I'd have liked to have seen that. worship to deal with, I’ve got a dog I love, and I’ve got quite a ON ROLE MODELS lot going on. I should go to the theatre much more than I do, and sit down. I’m always getting ideas, and then I never have Dance wise, I think Diaghilev [Sergei, founder of The Ballets enough time to develop them. I’ve got two shows that are Russes] and what he created and the people that he led one to buzzing away at the moment. I’m in mid-develop now. was pretty special, because it was new and it was first class. I’m going to keep going until they say, ‘Time’s up’. He was an incredible man, and a lot of the people that came And then I shall say, ‘You sure?’, and that’ll be that. out of that were, and still are, role models. I guess I am very lucky because I’ve worked with such a brilliant man, Andrew Lloyd Webber. I’ve had really fruity things to work on of his that were lovely. Not only that, I’ve done lots of strange plays and things. I’m always trying to do new things, I’M ALWAYS TRYING TO and some of them are awful, and some of them are lovely. DO NEW THINGS, AND That keeps you at it. ON REGRET SOME OF THEM ARE No regrets, but I did have terrible bad luck after Cats in AWFUL, AND SOME Vienna. I just went out and did it myself, and it was such a hit that I got all sorts of offers from opera houses, particularly OF THEM ARE LOVELY. the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, which I danced in a lot. Another one in Frankfurt wanted me to do a Stephen I N

N O V A

No compromise. No limits. Ideas made real as the future takes shape. Here and now. T I V E I LIVE, DANCE AND I LIVE, LOVE TRIGENIC EVO SAGE NUBUCK TRIGENIC EVO SANDSTONE NUBUCK THE WORLD NEEDS ORIGINALS SS18 “EVERYONE’S CREATIVITY WILL FIND AN EXPRESSION.” AN FIND WILL CREATIVITY “EVERYONE’S SHERRYLAMDEN

ON CREATIVITY ON STARTING OUT

I don’t really have a process or any particular way of working. I came from a period of time where you would go somewhere I like to work with people, use a team. It’s always a team thing. to be with your tribe of people, and listen to the music you all You're not coming in dictating. I think it’s a very democratic liked. And you dressed a certain sort of way to identify process, creativity. It’s working off of other people, getting yourself with them. excited about their ideas as well. Through that, we felt like we were creating something. I don't know about the term ‘creatives’. Everyone’s creative, So that’s how I felt towards designing. With the people that I aren’t they? Apart from a robot possibly, but maybe they are too? recognised, that liked the same things, felt the same way I did. SHERRY LAMDEN ” LOVE

If I work with people, I appreciate their ideas and where I don't do Facebook, I don’t engage in any of those things. I do they're coming from. I become inspired by them, the people think people can manipulate themselves to look beautiful, and behind the design process. everyone can look fantastic now. Instagram pictures, everyone CREATIVES USUALLY ON SELF-PERCEPTION looks amazing, don’t they? CREATIVITY V CRAFT CREATIVITY & DON’T GROW UP SO It can be a difficult area as you get older. Self-perception, QUICKLY. THEY'RE sometimes, starts becoming quite fragile for women. I think I’m so aware that everybody is creative, and a craft is something I help women be themselves, or help them with image. specific which will be the learnt tool. I prefer to believe that most PLAY When your subject is inspiring, you try to work as best people’s creativity will find an expression at some point if they're ALWAYS LOOKING FOR you can for them to realise themselves as they’d like. lucky and fortunate enough to find that through work. THE PLAYTIME IN LIFE ON HER HIGHLIGHTS I like to be creative. In school you learn things, you can learn a craft, and then the creativity comes from your play, from your TO CREATE. I’ve had a lovely working career. I’ve enjoyed all of it, and have interaction with others. That’s why it’s lovely to be in creative been inspired by most of it. I’ve worked with amazing people. teams and work with them. I worked at Ghost with the lovely Tanya Sarne, a wonderful For some of us, maybe, it takes longer, the arts and crafts area woman. I’ve worked with lots of fantastic people, I’ve been very of life. It’s not easy. It’s a difficult time when you're younger to fortunate. And Lee [Alexander McQueen], another wonderful find your way through the music or the arts, or your painting. person, very creative. He used to say, if anything got too stressy, A famine or feast lifestyle, no security. ‘It’s only f**king clothes!’ That’s what he used to say just to I apprenticed when I left school with a designer, he wasn’t impress us all. It was, of course, much more. particularly famous, just a tailor. I didn't go to college to learn. But I like to keep that sense of, you know, every one of us has I went to university later, but not to learn design. It was similar to dress. We all have to wear clothes and everyone’s creative. to work experience I suppose, more like an apprenticeship. Everyone enjoys, to some degree, expressing themselves through Learning to cut, and patterns. A bit of craft. it. It’s a creative area. I’m just lucky to be working in an area ON PLAY where I can do that as much as I have. ON SOCIAL MEDIA I think where creativity finds its expression, if you're fortunate enough, is with the right people at the right time. We were working with some kids recently and it was brilliant Maybe even through learning, and experience through because so many of them are no longer camera-shy. They’d been education. Most learning is through play, isn't it? Love, working on an advert and I just cast them in streetwear, play, creativity. or whatever you call it. They were all so au fait with the camera, Think about the way we’re brought up – stuck into school and so relaxed and easy. I’m hideous in front of the camera quite quickly to learn something. But the time when you're most because I’m from a generation who were camera-shy. creative is, and the time you most look forward to and love, is For these kids, their bedrooms and their phones are their playtime. Creatives usually don’t grow up so quickly. They're platforms. They're just talking to themselves, singing, doing – always looking for the playtime in life to create. That’s what it’s like amateur night every night! They've become much more makes us most happy. confident. They've taken the mystery of the camera and the I do believe it’s a sense of still being allowed to play. fear of it away, which I think is great. That’s all through social I’d say, in a way, that’s what I’m still doing. I’m dressing

media, and growing up with their phones and computers, my dolls, looking at characters and thinking about stories, “YOU LEARN BE TO CREATIVE THROUGH PLAY. and that’s great. For other people, I’m not so sure. drawing them and colouring them in! THE INDEX DRESS DRESS

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