Reproduced from DMA Vol 4, Issue 11, December 1996

DMA: What happened between the releases of "Please Yourself" and "Ultra Violet"?

Keren: The "Please Yourself" album for us, was very much a complete stalemate all around. We felt very stuck in a rut with our record company [London], who were being of no help whatsoever. The easy option was to go and record with Mike Stock again, which was difficult, to say the least. Basically, ideas had run dry on every side, not so much from our point of view, but from the people around us who sort of helped put things together. It was the last album we had to do for London, according to our contract, so, the time after that was spent getting away from London, and doing new deals. Basically, doing deals with different labels in different countries, rather than getting stuck in that same major company thing. We just felt if we were with more sympathetic labels in each country, we'd be with labels that actually wanted us, as opposed to labels that were given us. They're much more enthusiastic in the countries throughout Europe, and the rest of the world. It's been great.

That gave us, basically, a different type of agreement, a licensing agreement, whereby we have complete control, and provide them with the product at the end of the day, without any interference whatsoever. We just went off and did what we wanted to do. Initially, were going to work with various people, and we contacted various people with a view to writing and recording, most well known names. A couple seemed very interested. While they were sort of doing their own stuff, rather than hang around, we decided to go and work with Gary Miller, who was doing alot of underground dance mixes, club mixes. He had his own sort of writing and demo studio, and it all just went really well. So, we thought there was no point in changing, really.

DMA: How did you come to work with Gary Miller? Did you meet him at PWL?

Keren: Initially, we met him there. He was a keyboard player there, a programmer, but we didn't really work with him. He was in the studio a couple of times, getting up sounds and stuff, working the equipment, but we didn't work with him at all. When we did the album with him, he wasn't working at PWL at all. It's really after the album that Pete (Waterman, chief of PWL) had got him in, because Mike and Matt (Stock and Aitken) had separated now from Peter. The last time I spoke to him, he was working there again, on a more or less full-time basis, which is something I didn't expect him to do. But, I guess it's safe, you know, it's safe, guaranteed work for a producer who is just starting off. I'm not sure.

DMA: Gary certainly seems to be bringing the label back to prominence after the recent spate of high-level defections.

Keren: Hopefully, he'll turn into a force to be reckoned with, as the others were.

DMA: The "Ultra Violet" LP is an amazing mix of both current Euro/Techno sounds, and classic Bananarama melodies and harmonies. How do you consistently manage to be so current, while maintaining your musical vision?

Keren: Well, I think the basic thing we've always done is we've wanted to sing pop songs. We love melodies, and we love harmonies, and that's the most important thing. As far as any other influences go, I think we've always been influenced by what's been happening at the time, in that we like going to clubs, we love dancing ourselves. So we're only influenced to the point of hearing different sounds or rhythms, and wanting to incorporate that in the stuff we're writing. I don't think we've ever just sort of followed a trend, because I think that would be a huge mistake. The band has its own characteristics, the main thing being the way we sing, and the melodies we sing. We'd be stupid to lose that, as much as it's sometimes tempting.

DMA: Was "Every Shade of Blue" your choice as first single?

Keren: It's one of my favorites. Basically, we kind of asked the various companies what they thought they would like, and it seemed to be a unanimous decision. I was actually quite surprised in that I felt they would have probably gone with something uptempo. Melodically, it's more moody, I think, than a lot of the others. I actually really like it because of that. I think it's got a really good mood, and an atmosphere which you don't often find in a dance track. I'm very fond of the track itself. It's certainly one of my favorites on the album. I was surprised at the choice, pleasantly surprised.

DMA: The first single in Japan was "I Found Love" produced by Tetsuya Komuro. How did that come about, and why was it omitted from European copies of the album? It was quite the coup for Curb to license it for the US release.

Keren: It wasn't actually going to be on the US release. It's a track that... (she pauses) We've met him a few times, he's absolutely huge in Japan. We'd met him, and he wanted to do something with us. He sent us this (... she laughs), we couldn't sort of get our schedules together to work with him in person. He sent us over this track which, I hope he never gets to read this, we told our manager, "you must be joking." It was the biggest piece of pap I've ever heard. It sounded like a steel band or something, it sounded so bad. I'd heard some of the stuff he'd done dance-wise, and it was great - brilliant, fantastic stuff. However, he just sent over a backing track, basically. Al (their manager) said, "please, just try and write something over it, then it'll at least show you had a go, and we'll send it back, say we had a go, say it's the best you could do, but it's just not good enough." It's in the wrong key. We did the best we could, and everyone loved it.

DMA: Exactly - the fans loved it. Many thought it would be the first single in the US, as it has such a "Real McCoy" feel to it.

Keren: It did improve hugely. I think it's the Gary Miller mix that's on the US album. If you'd have heard the original, I don't think you'd have the same opinion (laughs).

DMA: There were rumors that you had signed a deal with Arista for the UK. Will the album be release there?

Keren: I know the fans want it - we must sort it out. Initially, to be honest, we kind of didn't want to. I think we just, in a way, didn't need the hassle, and it's the fans that have turned our minds around. Within the sort of people we'd been working with, the record companies, and the media in general, we felt there had been a lot of negativity in the last few years.

It was always a bit of an uphill battle, as far as dealing with those people are concerned. You just get to the point where you think, I just can't be bothered to do all that rubbish, and I really don't need the hassle. Then, all of a sudden, you meet these fans who say, "I've just paid thirty pounds for your album on import..." and you feel sort of really bad and guilty. So, our manager is trying to pull together a deal over here, so we can release it. It will come out here.

DMA: The fans will pay it. I paid $100 for a copy of the rare "Hammond Version Excursion" remix of "I Can't Help It".

Keren: I don't have it, I probably haven't even heard it. We hear most of the remixes. With "Every Shade of Blue", they sent over the remixes, but they get so many done these days, that you lose touch of which ones get used where. Every territory wants one they feel will work in their market. It's not always the one that's our favorite.

DMA: Perhaps then, you might not be able to answer this, but I'll ask anyway. Is it true that 12" mixes were done for the track "Is She Good to You" from the "Please Yourself" album?

Keren: Do you know, I honestly only know that track - I've forgotten most of that album - it sounds very bad, but it wasn't a great time in our history I think, so it's not an album I studied, or performed a lot. I only know which track you're talking about because I walked in, and my son was playing it. He found it in a box, and was dancing around the room to it, that album. "My God," I screamed to him, "Get this off!!" with all this mates in there.

DMA: That surprises me, because your fans love the "Please Yourself" album. In fact, I was in England the day it was released, and there was a line at the cash register waiting to buy it. Why wasn't that album released in the US?

Keren: The record company wouldn't release it. It was as simple as that. They refused to release it.

DMA: That's ridiculous!

Keren: Well, we thought so. this is why we wanted to get away from our record company, and do deals where people were behind us. Bryan at Curb is fantastic -= he's a fan. It's so refreshing to work with people like that, not people who just feed you some sort of bullshit line, and then, when you've gone back to England, they say "...oh well, they've gone now."

DMA: You recorded several tracks with Stock/Aitken/Waterman, for what was to be the "Pop Life" album, before switching gears to work with Youth. Who owns these tracks, and will they ever show up, say, on a rarities compilation? Also, was "Love Connection" one of those tracks?

Keren: I can vaguely remember that title, but I think that ended up being something else. There was one called "Heartless", one called "Nothing Lasts Forever"...

DMA: "Heartless" did show up on the "Pop Life" album, along with "Ain't No Cure".

Keren: Did it? There was, I think we did three. I think that "Love Generation" ended up "One in a Million" or something, and it was, we performed it once on a TV show in Italy, and we hated it. We changed our minds about that one.

DMA: You know I'm now going to write to Italy, trying to find a copy of that...

Keren: I don't think it was released. It was one of those things where they asked us to go on TV and perform our next single, and that was kind of going to be, and then, of course, it wasn't. Do you know, that'll probably turn up. I recently bought, at a discount thing somewhere, a compilation of our sings which, I have no idea why it was released, or who released it. A selection of songs, really funny, B-sides and album tracks, very odd selections. I don't know...

DMA: It must be "A Bunch of Hits".

Keren: That's the one. I mean, where did that come from? The trouble is, the other thing about being on London Records, is the same thing which George Michael was fighting in court - they own your stuff. We own everything we do now, so it only goes out on things we want it on - nothing goes out without our permission. I presume that London Records owns all these tracks you're talking about, and any time now, could put out, you know, "Bananarama - The Unknown Tracks", at which point I should probably leave the country! (laughs)

DMA: Your fans would love it.

Keren: It would be funny. There are a few tracks you don't even know about, that I hope never see the light of day - but I know are going to be hanging around the vaults at PWL somewhere...

DMA: Speaking of PWL, I've read interviews in which you weren't happy about being handed songs, and told to sing them.

Keren: They didn't do that with us at all. Their attitude was only really like that toward the end, because when we initially went to them to record the "Wow" album, they hadn't really had the huge amount of success. When we did "Venus", the only hit they had was that Dead or Alive singer. They were more than willing to sit down and write with us, it was very much a collaboration, and a team effort. We felt, in a way, that the people they were working with at the time, we all kind of had our own sound. There was Rick Astley, Mel and Kim, and whoever else, and then there was us, and then everyone else got our sound. It was almost like, "we did that with you", and then, all of a sudden you're hearing a record, and you think "it's us, turn it up", and it's someone else! You know, it would be like Donna summer, or Kylie, or, and it all just got too much.

Then, they got the attitude where they felt, we've got this great backing track, instead of wanting to work from scratch, which we were used to doing. They'd say, "we've got this great backing track," and we'd say, "well, I don't like that", and they'd say "Oh fine, we'll give it to someone else then."

DMA: Many of your fans see the partnership between Bananarama and Stock and Aitken as musical nirvana - perfection, if you will. Is there any chance that you will ever work with them again?

Keren: Yes - I can see that point, but they have Robson and Jerome, now (laughs). The thing is, I think Mike Stock was a great songwriter, and he was absolutely fantastic with melodies and harmonies and arrangements. But, he wouldn't know what was currently happening, dance wise and music wise - that came from us, or even Peter to a certain extent, who wasn't really involved apart from on that level. He'd bring records in and say, "... listen to this, it sounds great!" It's very difficult working with someone like that. I do think (Mike Stock) is a great songwriter.

Our argument was, you may do this with different people every day, but this is our album, and I want to feel like it's special and personal to us. Their attitude was like, "that's money in the bank", and it's more than that to me.

DMA: So, will the reunion between Bananarama and Stock and Aitken ever take place? I'm hoping it will...

Keren: Well, you never know. You never know, do you? The 25th Anniversary (laughs)...

DMA: Why was "Trick of the Night", a song originally produced by Swain and Jolley, re-recorded with Stock/Aitken/Waterman?

Keren: I really love the song, and I think it was a case of the record company panicking because it wasn't uptempo, trying to liven it up a little. I actually liked it the way it was. I think it had a lovely melody, and I loved the ending where everything overlapped, it was just a big, gorgeous mush of harmonies, which is always a big favorite with me. I remember there being a huge panic at the time - we were in Miami. We recorded it, I think it was in the Bee Gee's studio. We were doing a promotional tour in the States. I remember it well, because I was rather largely pregnant at the time, trying to hide it. That must be the radio tour where I have a rather large face.

DMA: In the wake of such high profile reunions, such as the Beatles and the Eagles, will Keren, Sara and Siobahn ever re-team?

Keren: Sara was with Siobahn on Friday. I didn't go out. She bumped into her. But no, I can't see it, from any of our points of view really.

DMA: Not even for the "25th Anniversary"?

Keren: (laughs)... There's always a chance for one of those one-off concerts, "The Reunion Concert"!!

DMA: We're hoping you'll tour the States soon. What kinds of dates have you done in support of "Ultra Violet"?

Keren: We did a New Year's Eve P.A. at the Astoria in London, in front of a 100% gay crowd, where you've won them before you've even gone on stage, but it really was fantastic. We thought, that'd be good fun, New Year's Eve, we're always trying to find something to do. We did 30 to 40 minutes - it was unbelievable. I enjoyed it so much.

DMA: I know some people who attended, and they mentioned you were wonderful, and went over a storm!

Keren: We were kind of under-rehearsed, and didn't really know what we were doing, but it just comes to you. The atmosphere was great. I had such a laugh. I really enjoyed it.

DMA: So, will you tour the States?

Keren: I would love to do some stuff, but it's the organization. When we came before it was, we felt we had to have this band and everything was played live and stuff. I'd much rather just sing live to tape, and just put on a decent show. Half the songs didn't sound as good because the band couldn't play them as well! (laughs)

DMA: So, Bananarama will remain a duo from this point onward?

Keren: Yeah. We wanted to be a duo when Siobahn left. Everyone around us was panicking, and somehow managed to persuade us that people saw us as three people, and we had to be three people. Jacquie was great, for a while, but she never really fit in and I think we sort of knew that. She was as near as we could have got, we knew her, and it was always based on a friendship thing. She was a good singer and stuff, but it was always going to be virtually impossible, I think, even though we wanted her to get involved, for anyone to get involved with something that had been going on, that we'd lived for so long. It just seems so easy with the two of us - we've known each other since we were born, virtually. We never really know. We're very different, but we think alike over a lot of things.

DMA: Turning back the clock a few years, tell me what it was like working with Darryl Hall on "Riskin' a Romance" from "The Secret of My Success" soundtrack.

Keren: Scary. We were really, really nervous. I remember drinking a lot of vodka, which probably didn't do me any favors at all. He liked to drink a lot of vodka as well, actually, if I remember rightly.

I remember, when it came to doing some backing vocals, he said he was going to come and sing them with us, and we all stood 'round this mic, all of us, and when he joined in, you couldn't hear us at all! (laughs). He drowned us out. He's a fantastic singer. Itwas very, very nerve wracking for us, we were in New York City, and we were with someone who was a star as well as being a producer. It takes a while to settle into a situation. One of the important things about the people we've worked with, as in Swai n and Jolley, Mike and Matt, and Gary, - there's been an affinity there, a real understanding. Coming from similar backgrounds, begin very English, sharing a sense of humor, everything that goes into making you feel as relaxed as you can, that's important.

DMA: Wrapping this up, let me ask this: You've enjoyed a career rich in both success and accolades. How do you manage to sustain such amazing success?

Keren: I don't really know. A lot of groups split up for personal reasons, or just don't want to do it anymore. It's very difficult, being on the road a lot, and being stuffed away in a studio. We're very good friends, and we enjoy what we're doing. We're fans of music, maybe that's the secret, and we're true to ourselves.