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| And so it begins...A screen-cap of my desktop. |
I do have a special bonus for any Francophones! The most wonderful Yael Bolender (link to her YouTube channel here) has actually translated this interview in to French. And was kind enough to allow me to post the video here. I also encourage you to go to her YouTube channel though. She's a wonderful person with lovely videos. You'll learn a lot and her passion for Mark Hollis and Talk Talk... well, that just automatically makes her a great person, eh? :)
For anyone else, there is a handy Google Translate tool just to the right of the post which should allow you to translate this into the language of your choice.
Some things to note: The notation -(?)- designates a part I was unable to understand. Words surrounded by (?) indicates that I made a guess but am not confident of the word that was spoken. As always, I have trouble with their accents and the fact they were speaking on top of one another means I have likely made mistakes. Please feel free to add your corrections in the comments below! Finally, if you know the name of the interviewer I'd love if you could provide it to me. UPDATE: Thanks!! Alla from instagram who gave me the interviewer's name and helped me correct some of the spots where I had zero clue what they were saying. You are truly awesome!
Without further ado, the transcription. Video of the interview itself and Yael's French translation follow the script.
Music Box Interview with Tim Pope and Mark Hollis
Simon Potter: Tim, let me put the first question to you: Talk Talk and It’s My Life-
Tim Pope: Yeah.
Simon: Um… to what extent did the song conjure up those sorts of images to you in the first place for the video?
Tim: Well it wasn’t much certainly the way the song conjured up. It was like a way of life really that whole film really. It was about … It was about evolution, I think, wasn’t it? And animals. That’s what it was about.
Simon: Okay… Hey, Mark, were you happy with the end result or…?
Mark Hollis: Well it wasn’t a question of being happy or not with the end result, it was just a question the way in which you (?)lead your life(?).
Tim: It was a manifesto I think is what he’s saying.
Mark: Yeah I think it was a (?)practical reference(?) (?) party conference (?).
Tim: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah.
Simon: So did you have a lot of input though Mark? I mean throughout the video production.
Tim: No…
Mark: Well, in actual fact I did actually. In actual fact I did. Because all of those animals that you see in that video are in fact me inside little outfits.
Simon: Really?
Tim and Mark: Yeah.
Simon: He’s a master of disguise isn’t he?
Tim: Yeah. In fact that cost actually more to shoot than all those Duran Duran videos ‘cos we actually shot most of it around the world. We actually went around the world didn’t we when we shot it?
Mark: Yes. Yes. Well you did.
Tim: Yeah well I did. Well you did all the animals.
Mark: Yeah.
Simon: See I told you it was going to be a lot of trouble, friends.
Tim: The thing is It also took about five years to make because there different quarantine regulations around the world…
Mark: (laughing) Yeah.
Tim: So he had to be left in quarantine for like six weeks.
Simon: So it’s nice to see you out and about again Mark, that’s all I can say.
Mark: Yeah. It feels good. It feels good. Feels good.
Simon: So how did the pair of you -
Mark: It isn’t much fun being on heat in quarantine.
Simon: Wasn’t it?
Mark: No.
Tim: It didn’t smell good either.
Simon: That’s what it is now, is it? I wondered what that was.
Tim: Yeah, it wasn’t. When he’s on heat, watch it.
Simon: Okay. (laughter). Well you’re sitting next to him. Listen. How did the pair of you come to work together anyway in the first place. Let me try and get serious just for a minute.
Tim: I think when we first met each other it was like, um, a sort of animal relationship wasn’t it?
Mark: Oh God.
Tim: Naw. No, it was. It was. No. I mean… How did we meet? Ah. Ah.. One day we were like called up and that and then we were, like, thrown together in, like, one of these meetings. And, um. And then I came up with a terrible idea for that thing. And then somebody went out the room. And then we met I think. And then I said this is what it should be about, didn’t I?
Mark: Oh yeah, and then you said… You said ‘I’ve got just the suit for you’.
Tim: That’s right. And it fitted.
Mark: “I’ve got just the suit,” and it fitted.
Simon: it was a Zebra.
Mark: Yeah.
Tim: You know I’m a tailor. Yeah. It was a zebra crossing. And it was a big crossing in our life.
Mark: Yes.
Tim: That was a good link .
Simon: This one could run and run for us. I think it’s time for another video right now and I know Mark is much more keen to talk about this one. Well at least he said so two minutes ago, but he could have changed his mind in the meantime. This one’s called Such a Shame.
Simon: That's from Talk Talk in the studio with me and film maker Tim Pope. Mark..
Mark: Well I wouldn’t exactly describe you as a film maker.
Tim: Well, I make some sort of films don’t I. You know what sort of films I make.
Mark: Yeah seedy films…Yes.
Tim: Same colour as this sofa, you know what I mean?
Simon: They always give me this interview folks. The sort of people like Nick Hayward, I get. Kevin Rowland of Dexy’s Midnight Runners and now these two gentleman.
Tim: Like how they put us into that bracket with Nick Heyward.
Mark: Yeah. I’ve always thought of myself as a cross between Nick Heyward and uh, Kevin.
Simon: Mark. Can I ask you about uh. Can I ask you about Such A Shame. The video. What inspired first of all the song… ‘cos it was a book, wasn’t it?
Mark: Yes.
Simon: Tell me about the book then. Like what interested you about it.
Mark: Uh. It is just a book called The Dice Man. It’s just about changing personality at random through throwing dice. And all we did with the video you see is it was just sort of to think more in in terms of a, like a film. It’s just think in terms of making like a little three minute film of the book trying to sum up that book in three minutes. Well, four minutes twenty five but uh. Just thought I throw that in as a little touch.
Tim: Yeah, yeah.
Mark: Well all that was you see was to actually use the premise of the book, uh which… And just follow that for the film so we just, uh, threw a dice and just changed personality with the throw of that dice.
Tim: Yeah, Yeah.
Simon: Was that a difficult thing to do though Tim? I mean, to actually convey what is essentially a game of chance visually.
Tim: Well a lot of people think that film looks like a load of crap. I don’t personally, but you know, I’m a bit biased. But there were like a lot of of ideas like within, like, loads of ideas. Which I can’t quite remember. But I remember some of them like, if you look, we played with the dice ideas a lot, like he plays six characters in it sort of thing. And when we were actually doing it the way we sort of did it was like I literally gave him a little piece of paper and I’d written a word on it, right? I’ve literally written a word and then start the camera and then you would do that character wouldn’t you? Maudlin?
Mark: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Tim: Remember Maudling?
Mark: Yeah. I thought he meant Reginald Maudling, but you know…
Tim: So he started playing Reginald Maudling which is a very political character he came from
Mark: Yeah. Sure, sure.
Tim: But that how, we like come up with the characters. And then those, the bits we did outside like, we went out it’s very arty this, ‘cos we went out, i would say so. I would say… artsy?
Mark: Yeah, we just went out and chose locations by, you know, if we wanted a number one location we’d look for something that had one prominent figure in it if we want -
Tim: Like the post box, right so the two…
Mark: Well, the post box was in fact the three actually. Yeah, but I…
Tim: Was it? (laughter). It's good someone was counting.
Mark: Yeah. Yeah.
Tim: And then that building was where Mark walks outside of that’s got five major bits in it…
Mark: Six.
Tim: So that was five…
Mark: Six actually. Six.
Tim: Oh cool, and then his jacket has six buttons on it -
Mark: Five actually. Five.
Tim: Did it?
Mark: Yeah.
Simon: Aw, give him a chance Mark.
Tim: Yeah, give me a chance. He’s like this all the time.
Mark: I just like the facts that’s all. I just like.. you know.
Tim: Yeah, it like has got six buttons on it sort of thing, so like all the way through the film, and like the band being lined up ‘cos the record company said to me they wanted something like with the band in. So I thought we’ll put in a straight line, you know, that’s what we thought. Wasn’t it?
Mark: Yes.
Tim: Straight line? Put them in a straight line. And there’s six of them, then it’s five, four. So there’s loads of play on dices really. That was like the basic idea.
Mark: Everything’s done, even the editing, was down to dice throwing, I think the whole thing -(?)-
Tim: I shut me eyes in parts of it. I literally…
Mark: -The whole thing was absolutely to do it in…
Tim: -The structure -(?)-
Mark: -In the way the book was written you know absolutely…
Tim: So the actual method we used to make the film was like throwing the dice literally. Didn’t we, like the order we shot things in and everything.
Mark: Yeah. Yeah that kind of shoot…
Simon: Really? You’re not winding me up again because it sounds .. believable.
Tim: No. This one isn’t a wind up.
Mark: -(?)- … true.
Simon: There’s often a lot of hanging about on videos Mark. I mean, do you have to make them under sufferance really, or do you enjoy them?
Mark: No you see the thing is, when you’re working with someone who actually has sort of the personality and the beauty of Popey here you know you never sort of lost for… I mean he’s fascinating. I mean if you know things, you know all the bus time tables don’t you for the last eight years, all the rain fall?
Tim: But you see where he hangs about. I’m not going to tell you where he hangs about when we’re not filming 'cos I know.
Simon: Really?
Tim: I’ve got it on film. One day we’ll release it.
Simon: A bit tacky is it?
Tim: A little bit that way, yeah a little bit that way.
Simon: Okay. I think cue another video then. This time we’re gonna take a look at Talk Talk’s Dum Dum Girl. I’ll have Mark and Tim hanging around for a bit more comments after this.
Mark: I like how you said Mark and Tim and not Tim and Mark that’s… -(?)-
Simon: Yeah, well you know.
Tim: He’s tired of (?)understating(?) it isn’t he?
Simon: Any particular difficulties with that one? Because once again, although it was fairly simple in it’s concept I mean all the shots look pretty complicated to me.
Tim: Well. It wasn’t really .. the whole idea was it should be quite simple really. ‘Cos we just shot it in a field. It was like the idea of just doing something, ‘cos like, you know we don’t really like all that, you know, that sort of, like, that stuff we have to work too hard and that. So it was like literally a matter of setting up in the middle of the field. I mean it was hard for him really ‘cos he had to sing live vocals. It’s actually a live vocal which i don’t think many people would have the bottles to do. So that was like the hardest thing. Although we didn’t scream out that. And it was quite good fun to cut ‘cos I like leaving all those shots of the camera goes like that to give it a feeling of spontaneity. I mean I could have cut it all together to be really beautiful and pretty stunning but i thought you know better to make it all look spontaneous a bit like that. I like a bit of that myself.
Simon: (Laughs) What about you Mark? I mean, do you feel that he managed to capture that kind of spontaneity?
Mark: I think what we were really looking for there, you know, we just, with all these videos that we’ve made together or with any of them that they’ve been just sort of, as much as anything as a reaction against other things that are going down at the time. At the time we came up and made that video there were just so many videos getting made everywhere which were having so much money spent on them they were being, you know, so gross in terms of their production and everything and they were getting more and more distance from music and just getting closer and closer just to pure and cheap advertising. You know that all we wanted to do with that was try and make something that was very simple and very honest and that was it. It really was that simple. You know.
Simon: Ok. The pair of you have been working on a movie you were telling me as well which sounds quite interesting. So what’s been going on there?
Mark: Well, it’s like a sort of cross between Terry and June and Dallas isn’t it. It’s got a little bit of porn in it.
Tim: Yeah, just a little bit.
Mark: Yeah, just a touch.
Tim: Like 90% of it. It’s called the “Green Kagool”. It’s quite interesting we were just on location up in the, um, the Lake District which was quite fabulous really, wasn’t it?
Mark: Yeah. Yeah. It was.
Tim: But we, like, swapped roles in it. Actually a little bit this time. ‘Cos we believe in that sort of commune sort of way of working and I -
Mark: Yeah. ‘cos you see my belief about art is that art is open to everyone. I mean, you know, the thing of technique doesn’t come into anything. The thing of chance, and randomness and spirit is definitely the most important thing. So that’s the way we worked, it was all to a spirit, you know,we all just got a lot of gin, got totally out of it, and then maded it.
Tim: I like, for example in this wife-swap, well, I wouldn’t quite call it a wife-swap, but this sort of system I was like camera operator which I don’t usually do. And he was, like, first assistant which is like the person who gives you all this sort of stuff, all that, and who shouts “Be quiet!” all that sort of stuff. So he was doing that. And then Tim Friese-Green, who’s his, um, producer on the record who he works with a lot, he was the locations but he didn’t find us many great locations really did he, I felt.
Mark: Oh yes, but he had some good ideas though.
Tim: Oh, he’s got fabulous ideas.
Mark: I mean his latest idea is the esophagus, that’s his latest idea for location, yeah.
Simon: Really? Sounds fascinating.
Mark: Yeah.
Simon: So when can we expect to see the film? Is it gonna go out on release ever do you think?
Tim: Well hope one day it will go out on general release. Um. It’s fairly mainstream I think. And I think that’s really what, you know, I think a lot of people would get a lot from it.
Simon: Ok. Keep us posted on that one. I wanna move the conversation round now to your brand new single and video Mark, which is Life Is [sic] What You Make It. Uh… a little bit disappointed in one aspect you were saying earlier because the video’s been fiddled with?
Mark: Yeah.. uh.. Like I say, you see, the thing in making all these videos, all along is been that they should be different. You know, they should try and do things that out of the value of doing them not.. ah… at the minute, you see I .. I don’t like the way all these videos are sort of working in that they’re getting closer and closer to advertisements. And advertisements are getting closer and closer to pop videos. And you’re ending up with very little difference between something selling soap powder and someone actually making a video for their record and I think that’s quite shameful. I mean, you know, with this video for our new record we went in and we went into making it like a film. We went in and approached the soundtrack in the way you would approach it for a film. We shot it all so that it would work to the mood of the film and so that the band would be incidental to what we’d actually made they’d just be there like as kind of like a motivating force but they wouldn’t be what was trying to sell it at all. You know and what has happened is someone’s gone in and just re-cut all these horrible shots into it and just made it look like a regular promo.
Simon: So somebody outside of your working relationship has actually tampered with the thing, I mean, some people at the record company maybe?
Tim: - Yeah, I thought, ‘cos it’s like sort of the first time this has ever happened to me. So it’s terrible. I hear about a lot of these things happening to other people. ‘Cos I just don’t…
Mark: Yeah. We’ve never had this.
Tim: No. We’ve never had this happen. We had a few problems with It’s My Life because everyone thought it was a bit weird, and that, but they sort of accepted it. But, um, so you know, um it’s is a bit sad because as Mark said the whole idea, right, when we started something was like the whole see like there is this other version which is basically like a performance cut against animals then it’s stuck over the soundtrack. Then it’s completely superfluous to the song you see which is a bit sad really because as Mark said our whole idea was that the thing should really work as a whole, right, but the band and all these little animals and that, and then, and we actually remixed the soundtrack you see, not in an ostentatious way, that’s near Ostend, not in that sort of a way, but um, just to really make, you know not so we’d get an award, for hey they’ve remixed the soundtrack but really to make, i mean that is the thing about all of these films, i think, they’re not made to get awards and that, they’re just like supposed to really like sort of show the song.
Simon: And convey the music.
Tim: Yeah. That’s right. Well you see a lot of of them, it’s very easy if you cut them on the beat right and you do all this snappy snappy stuff, you see, then it’s great and I’ll be up there you know for this award and you know we’ll be up there and making emotional speeches about awards but they’re sort of about the opposite to that really. Simon: Ok. Tim, sorry. If can stop you there because we are right out of time. I wish you luck in trying to get the thing as you wanted it, in other words, getting the original back together. And it’s called Life’s What You Make It. We’re going to take a look at that right now and thanks for joining me in the studio, Mark Hollis and Tim Pope.
Link to the Interview:
#CreditWhereCreditIsDue: Link to Yael Bolender's French Translation: (re-posted with kind permission from Yael - Merci!)
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