Pete Burns has been accused of doing many things. His
willingness to give flight to sarcastic remarks has given the press mmore gossip column
inches than Helen Terry has round her waist! Indeed his stunning repartee has had many a
Culture Clubbie rushing towards the Basildon Bond, frothing at the mouth, as the press
make the most of another side shot at George's merry men. These remarks are fast becoming
history though. They were, after all, prompted by unfair accusations that Pete and Co were
merely ripping off Vulture Club in an attempt to steal a moment of glory.
Now, those of you who remember Pete from the old days will be aware of the fact that he
has always dressed and behaved this way. Whi his first band, Nightmares In Wax, were
considered quite outrageous way back in 1977 when they first began performing.
Indeed if I were to compare Pete to anyone it would be Tina Turner. There is of course one
important difference _ behave yourselves! _ and that is, where Tina merely suggests, Pete
only offers.
Recently I talked to Pete and put some questions to him. The answers he gave reveal an
amiable and articulate human being, and not the pontificating plagiarist some would have
you believe.
AMERICA
"Well, shopping wise, it was great, but I think the music industry over
there stinks. The people are really like computerised robots with capped teeth, you know.
I've no great wish to break through over there at all either.
"We got whizzed around to all the trendy parties and everything. Everybody thinks
they must be massively exciting, but they're no more exciting than your next door
neighbour's birthday party. It sounds terribly glamorous but America was solid slog and
work. We did only two gigs, but we did something like 58 interviews within 4 days. At the
moment my memory's totally addled. I think I've spoken to everybody and his mother!"
THE PRESS
"To be honest, although it sounds pretentious, I haven't actually
noticed any hassle, the only things I've seen have been quite positive. I haven't had a
hard time off the British press in general, although people like to get bitchy comments
and things, which is very easy for me to do because I'm quick witted. Actually, off the
mainstream music press I've had a really good time, they've taken me quite seriously.
Obviously the hatchet will eventually come out, but up until now it's all been running
quite smoothly and a lot better than according to plan, shall we say. The thing is, I've
never been somebody that's been interested in massive press coverage, I don't read a lot.
In fact I've just got hold of a press release with everything in it and I intend to read
it on the toilet tonight!"
BOY GEORGE
"I think it's well documented that I don't actually like what Culture
Club do, but then I don't like what the Nolans do either. I don't mean to go on bitching
George and everything, I intend to stop that because it's getting really trivial and below
the belt."
MARILYN
"Maybe his records aren't doing it but if looks alone could sell, he'd
be number one, he looks great. I mean, I don't know the guy or anything, but people keep
expecting me to bitch him, whereas I like his last single _ 'You Don't Love Me'. I don't
own it but I think it should have been a hit."
DURAN DURAN
"I actually like Duran Duran although it's unhip to say it, because
they're honest about what they do. They're a teeny bop band and they're aiming for the
jugular, you know, they go right for it. I admire them for doing that."
THE FANS
"I hate to use the term fans because it sounds a bit condescending, but
we actually do have very nice ones. They're not hasslers or anything, you know. You set
yourself up in public, but when I want private time they leave me alone, which is really
good because I'm not somebody who likes to be on 24 hours a day."
THE CLONES
"I've been spotting some lately. I think it's probably the sincerest
form of complement. It's hard to feel about anything like that. When you seen pictures of
yourself, or read reviews and interviews with yourself, it's not really like you, you
know. I mean me is me slobbering around the house with me hair tied up in a pony tail and
wearing a dressing gown most of the time. It's not really like they're looking like me,
they're looking like my creation. I consider myself to be very much my own creation, so
all they're doing is looking like my creation really. It's nice of them to take the time
and trouble."
FRIGHTENING MOMENTS
"I got really abused by somebody about six weeks ago. We'd done a TV
show somewhere and there was a mob of about three hundred kids, they ran round the back
entrance and we thought they were after another group, but they were after us, screaming.
It's all very nice but you can't go out among them, you know. They attacked the bus and it
was like Duran Duran mania on a smaller scale, it was really dangerous.
"One of them starting going, 'I buy you f**king records, all I want is an autograph!'
That really stuck in my head because what she got wrong was, she buys me records, she
doesn't buy me. I'm not going to risk life and limb amongst three hundred screaming kids.
I appreciate the screaming, but more than once in a while it gets very dangerous and
extremely frightening. I keep away from that situation, and when it looks like it's going
to get like that I watch it, you know. I get out of the media and lie low for a bit.
"I don't mind people who recognise me and are being polite. It takes an awful lot of
courage to come up and ask somebody for their autograph, and I'm as embarrassed as they
are. I'll sign it, but I'm dying of embarrassment, I'm dying to get away really. Actually,
in my normal everyday life, I'm quite a shy person. I talk to a lot of people, but only on
a one to one basis.
"My stage persona's something different that I slip into. It's a false side of me,
but it's also an alter ego that's there and has to be released. I mean I couldn't go
around the street acting like I do on stage, I'd get arrested! It's not so much false as
an alter ego, I like people to know that there is a border line and I'm not going to be
like that in real life. I'm quite quiet and I like to go about my own business."
FLAUNTING SEX TO
SELL RECORDS?
"Well I do, hilariously so, it's such a joke isn't it? I mean you've
only got to look at me to realise what an amount of contradictions it all is. If I
happened to have in 38 inch D cup bust or something, I could understand that people could
accuse me of that, but seeing as I'm a bloke, you know, I don't use it as flaunting sex
that much."
SHOCK TACTICS
"If it was simply to get out and shock people it would be easier to just
wee on somebody in the front row! It's something I see as being humorous. Without being a
total pantomime it's got humour. It can make people laugh at things that are usually
touchy spots."
SOPHISTICATED BOOM
BOOM
"Before anybody actually judges the album, what I want them to know is
that it was recorded well over 12 months before it actually came to be released.
"I heard it the other day and I think it sounds quite dared. Nevertheless, it's all
right. The next one's going to be a lot better because it will be recorded and released
very quickly. It'll be recorded in September and probably be out by November, so it will
be new. That is old that album."
VIDEO
"Well it doesn't thrill me silly. I mean making the records, writing the
songs, and some performances, interest me more than anything. Video doesn't thrill me but
it'sa very important step for the media."
50 NUDE SAILORS
"If people ask silly questions, you give them an equally silly answer,
you can't just block them you know. If they're gonna be silly, then you can be silly too
and have fun when it's in print. I mean you can use the media, the cheap Fleet Street
papers, you can manipulate them for your own publicity reasons. I did use them for a while
but now I've had my five minutes with them I'm not interested in using them any more.
They're something you make use of as a facility to further your career really. I used
them, so I've had the last laugh. They're not getting any more out of me for a
while!"
THE FUTURE
"Well it's going to be writing the next album and recording it,
hopefully with Giorgio Moroder producting it. That's all that's on the agenda for now, no
more touring or anything. There's going to be some things happening in Europe we think.
This country, well we've had one hit single, we might have another one out of the next two
that are coming out, you know, but it's no big deal, they still sell."
Karen Penman (Record Mirror, 07.07.84)