Steve Newton's 1984 Phone Interview with Mark Hollis - Transcribed

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights and my transcriptions aren't 100%. Oh and hey! Any Brits out there who can correct and add to this, please feel free to comment or email me and I'll keep this as up to date as possible. I was able to translate the Canadian just fine. This transcription is for educational and accessibility purposes and with the kind permission of Steve Newton, we've been allowed to keep the transcript here. There is a link to Steve's page at the bottom and portions of the audio can be heard here. There's a 'Translate' tool to the right. While it's not 100% it will better help any non-anglophone have a better idea of what this interview was all about. 

Enjoy!

Steve Newton: Hello?

Ziggy: Hi Steve?

Steve: Yeah?

Ziggy: Steve Newton? This is Ziggy from Capitol Records.

Steve: How you doing?

Ziggy: Not bad. How are you?

Steve: Good.

Ziggy: Good. Good. How’s the weather out in Vancouver?

Steve: Ah it’s nice today. Beauty actually.

Ziggy: Do you like golfing?

Steve: Yeah. (both laughing)

Ziggy: Okay. I’ve got Mark here.

Steve: Okay.

Ziggy: Okay. And you’re all set?

Steve: You bet.

Ziggy: Okay. I’ll pass you over to him, buddy. Thanks.

Mark: Hello.

Steve: Hi Mark? How you doing?

Mark: Yeah. Okay. Thanks.

Steve: Uh. Where you calling from?

Mark: Uh. Toronto.

Steve: Toronto, eh? What’s happening with the band right now?

Mark: Uh. Well, what they are at the minute they’re back in London rehearsing for a tour that we’ll start. We start our British tour in about three week’s time. And then hopefully we would be over here about June or July. I mean, one of the purposes of this visit is uh, actually to go down and sort the touring arrangements out.

Steve: Uh huh. So are you going to be touring Canada?

Mark: Yes. Definitely.

Steve: Making it out to Vancouver?

Mark: Well, we’d certainly hope so. Yeah.

Steve: Alright. Um. Talk Talk. Did it used to be a guitar-less band?

Mark: Yes. That’s right.

Steve: With just three? Just three of you?

Mark: So there would…  Yeah. Uh, three instruments. Yeah. it was just, you know, It was just vocals, keyboards, bass and drums.

Steve: Why the change?

Mark: Well, you see the original premise for that first thing was at the time you see we started, uh,  i mean the actual idea is, you know, like, I mean, I, I know you won’t, i’m sure you won’t see a direct comparison,

Steve: Mmm hmmm.

Mark: But you know like with John Coltrane, when he’s in his quartet?

Steve: Uh huh.

Mark: That was the initial idea for that actual line up so that it was like, you know, a bass that could be sort of melodic at some points and could be rhythmic at other points

Steve: Mmm hmm.

Mark: and then, like, keyboards and drums and the vocals to actually state the melody. Uh, the other thing about it, you see was, being a line up like that it was an easy one to actually increase upon because it - it immediately made everything, sort of, you know, keyboard orientated.

Steve: Mmm hmm. Um. “It’s My Life”, is that your second album?

Mark: Yes. That’s right.

Steve: Mmm hmm. And Robbie McIntosh plays guitar.

Mark; That’s right. He plays acoustic, yes. That’s right.

Steve: Oh. It that the same Robbie as in Pretenders?

Mark: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Steve: How did you happen to get into him?

Mark: Well, he’s someone that Tim Friese-Greene has worked with in the past.

Steve: Oh yeah.

Mark: And, you know, I mean when we were talking about getting an acoustic guitar player on, he just said, you know, how ‘bout trying Robbie. And I mean the bloke’s great, he’s very sharp.

Steve: Mmm. hmm. How many tracks does he play on? Approximately? Do you know?

Mark: Oh. Uhh… well I …

Steve: Most of them?

Mark: If I think through the album… Let me think. Uhm. One… Two… Uh… Three… Four… Oh. I mean… I’ll guess. Say about six or seven.

Steve: Mmm hmm.  So uh, more than half anyway.

Mark: Yes.

Steve: Uhm. Well, uh. what about your touring band? Will you have a guitar player with you then? or…

Mark: Yeah. We’re actually going to tour as a six piece.

Steve: Oh yeah.

Mark: So uh, which would be two keyboard players, you know, one specifically for acoustic piano, and then one for, uh, synthesizer. 

Steve: Um hmm.

Mark: Uh. A guitarist, bass, drums. and you know maybe on a couple of things I would like pick up an acoustic myself.

Steve: Um. Hmm. I saw your video out uh, the other day. I don’t know if it’s the new one or not I forget for which song it was… How many videos do you have out now, Mark?

Mark: Well, did the video you saw the other day have a lot of animals in it?

Steve: Um. I forget. I only saw it once. Uh.  

Mark: Well, I mean, if it was the new video, you see, it’s- virtually the whole of the video are animals.

Steve: Oh. Did it -  Yeah. I think I saw a monkey in there.

Mark: Oh. No, no. You-You’ve an early.. (?)

Steve: Oh. It’s a different one. Huh.

Mark: You see, with - with the new video we’ve actually done two videos for “It’s My Life”.

Steve: Uh huh.

Mark: You see, uh, during the course of the album… I - I dunno. Have you heard the whole album?

Steve: Um hmm. Yeah. I’m listening to it right now.

Mark; Well you know there are quite a few animal noises that crop up during the album.

Steve: Oh yeah. 

Mark: You see on the video what we’ve actually done - we just wanted to take a different approach to videos you see, I think they’ve become so sort of cliched in their ideas and everything in terms of, you know, expecting, you know, the girls and the fast cars and all this sort of stuff where, you know, story lines which is so sort of esoteric no one at the end of the day has a clue what it’s even about anyway.

Steve: Um hmm.

Mark: Ah. So what we actually wanted to do then, you see , uh, we got together with Tim Pope and what we’ve done, we’ve done two videos for “It’s My Life”.

Steve: Um hmm.

Mark: The ideas behind them are like… a few (?), you see with one of the videos uh, what it is it spends about 95 % of the time with animals. Of the other 5%, the band aren’t in it anywhere, and in this other 5 %, when I’m in it, I actually have my mouth taped so I can’t sing or anything.

Steve: Um hmm.

Mark: Now, what happens is at the same time you see there is a small graphic that runs along the bottom of the screen which, sort of, you know, moves from like, you know, like say a little sperm into like zebra stripes, you know, an into, like, an egg and then, into, like a third eye and all that sort of business.

Steve: Oh yeah.

Mark: Into cell division and stuff.

Steve: Um hmm.

Mark: So then that is mean to be like say, you know, like a sort of subtitle to an extent in terms of like a theory of evolution.

Steve: Oh yeah.

Mark: Then you see coupled - coupled with this again because-because of the fact that there is no lip-syncing in this thing at any point the actual idea of it, is, you see, what I think’s happened - ‘appened a lot with videos is you’ve been given the song and then the videos have to sort of, you know, fit around the song.

Steve: Uh huh.

Mark: Now what I think should be happening with videos and what we’ve tried to actually, you know, implement here, is that what you actually do is the video is a film and that is all important as being a film and the music actually becomes a soundtrack to that film.

Steve: Oh I see

Mark: But we like reverse it so you see with this… with one of these videos for “It’s My Life” what you can actually do is watch the video and have someone else’s record playing to it, if you wanted to…

Steve: Oh. That’s interesting.

Mark: Do you see what I mean?

Steve: Yeah. Um hmm.

Mark: It - It isn’t restricted to anything

Steve: That’s a good idea.

Mark: But you see why we’ve done two of these is this second video that you can play to anything is actually.. you know like, if you watch a, you know, you’re watching TV and on the TV that you’re watching you’ve got people watching TV (Steve: yeah) and they’re watching a film and you think well I’d rather see that film than this film. So what you’ve actually got… this - this animal video is that film within the film. Do you see what I mean? So in our other video you will see us and then this sort of, you know, animal thing with me without a mouth and everything is almost like say like sort of a surrealist film within our performance that then we’ve removed it a stage further so that it is actually a video within it’s own right as well.
 
Steve: Mm-hmm. Excellent. Uh Talk Talk toured with, uh, Duran Duran?

Mark: Yes (-?).

Steve: An extensive tour of England there. How did that go?

Mark: Well that was very early days. That was when we first - very first signed to EMI in England.

Steve: Oh that was, uh -

Mark: I mean, that was like, about two and a half years ago.

Steve: Oh, I see.

Mark: So um, you know. I mean-

Steve: Is Duran Duran as - I guess they weren’t as popular then as they are now? They’re - they’re huge now.

Mark: Yes. That’s right and you know. I mean, since then, when we tour England we do our own tours, I mean, you know, that was just, uh… I dunno, it’s just, you know, like, an early tour, I mean, I don’t think it really has much relevance to us.

Steve: How would you describe Talk Talk musically?

Mark: Who did-?

Steve: How would you describe Talk Talk musically?

Mark: The track or the band?

Steve: Uh, the band.

Mark: The band. Oh. We just say uh, concerned above any - everything with song-writing and then trying to be uh, as diverse as possible in terms of influences that we bring into it.

Steve: Mm hmm. Your, um, older brother, Ed Hollis,

Mark: Yes?

Steve: Uh, former Eddie and the Hot Rods -

Mark: That’s right, yeah.

Steve: Was he in Eddie and the Hot Rods?

Mark: No he. What he used to was produce and manage them.

Steve: Oh yeah.

Mark: I mean, he’s been very influential to me because, you know, I mean, I’m sure if you’ve got an older brother, you’ll know, I mean, his age difference between him and me is about slightly over three years.

Steve: Mm hmm.

Mark: So what meant was, like, at a stage when I was ten and he was thirteen he was starting to get - starting to listen to music that was, you know, slightly more off the track, than… do you know what I mean.

Steve: Mm hmm.

Mark: It’s like you start sort of …

Steve: Yeah

Mark: … hearing other - other input coming in so… what he’s done, you see, all the way through, I mean he’s - he still does it now as well, he just - he just listens to a phenomenal amount of records. I mean his collection is extremely extensive.

Steve: Oh yeah.

Mark: and what he does he just sort of, you know, guides me into things that I should be listening to, you know, so that, say like, you know, maybe like when I was sixteen he was, sort of, you know .. oh… it was, say like, when I was ten, you know he started playing me, like, the Traffic stuff, you know, and the Doors and all that sort of thing and then, you know, on the Floyd and everything and then sort of you know he’d say “Well start listening to this,” and it would be all this sort of early blues stuff like Howlin’ Wolf and that.

Steve: Oh Yeah.

Mark: You know early Hooker and stuff… (?)

Steve: Yes it’s nice to have someone turn you on to that stuff-

Mark: Then he’d sort of go “Well, now, you know, start listening to this” and it’d be like Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, you know, and early Mars(?) and stuff and then he’d go “Listen to this” and it’d be like Carl Orff and you know, Shostakovich. People who were sort of quite intense.

Steve: Um Hmm.

Mark: Uh. This is just sort of been like that all the way down the line, you know,

Steve: Um hmm.

Mark: As… You know. He’s been a… You could say he’s like a mentor to me in a way ‘cos he’s just always, sort of trying to give me new ideas in terms of things I should be listening to basically.

Steve: Great. How is the album selling, do you know?

Mark: Uh, this … well, it’s actually, I think, in it’s first three days I think it’s done 50,000.

Steve: Oh yeah… In uh, Britain that is?

Mark: No. That’s in America.

Steve: Is that right, eh?

Mark: Yes.

Steve: Alright! That’s not bad.

Mark: Oh, I think it’s wonderful.

Steve: Mmm hmmm. What’s the single out right now?

Mark: “It’s My Life”

Steve: “It’s My Life”… right. Uh huh. Um hmm. Okay! Well, when you get to Vancouver* here I’ll try to get backstage and say ‘Hi’ Mark.

Mark: Sure! That’d be great.

Steve: Thanks for calling.

Mark: Ok. Thank you.

Steve: Take care, eh.

Mark: Ok.

Steve: Bye.

Mark: Bye. 

*Note: It is my understanding that they never made it to Vancouver for this tour. They played Kingswood Theatre (just outside Toronto) with the Psychedelic Furs that year. I'm unclear if there was a Montreal or Edmonton/Calgary date that year. Canada just used to get so little love back in the day. Thanks Steve for letting me know that this interview had been intended to be published in a magazine called Georgia Straight weekly but it didn't happen because Talk Talk never made it to Vancouver. 

#CreditWhereCreditIsDue - Obviously, this interview is by Steve Newton. If you wish to utilize parts or all of this interview (text or audio), please contact Steve Newton steve@earofnewt.com for permission. He also hosts a Patreon here and he's a pretty prolific interviewer so pop over and take in the sights (and sounds)! 

Many thanks also to @threadpennyvinyl and @alla.pw on Instagram for bringing the interview to my attention and to the sheer number of Facebook Talk Talk fans who's first language is not English who (by way of 'Like's for my other two posts) encouraged me to transcribe this whole thing. It takes me about three minutes to transcribe a minute of audio, so forgive me if it's a while before I'm brave enough to take the Tim Pope / Mark Hollis interview.