Cindy Wilson is a founding member of the delightfully bizarre and hilariously Beehived B-52s. They’ve recently released a new album called Funplex and are currently touring it across the world. We phone her before their gig in London at the Roundhouse and find her sitting in her hotel room in a bathrobe with a cup of tea in hand. Where’s the rock ‘n’ roll, corset-wearing, bouffant mistress? Still very much there…
BCR: So we should start with this whirlwind press thing you're doing now, how does feel to be so in demand?
Cindy Wilson: Well, it's really exciting. We're extremely excited about the new record and touring and seeing everybody’s faces. That's really the glamorous part of the whole job is doing the shows. It's wonderful. This part of the tour we're doing Cyndi Lauper's True Colours shows and it's amazing to see all these other wonderful artists play and tonight I get to see Joan Armatrading.
BCR: You don't really seem to have stopped working apart from taking some time out to be pregnant and barefoot...
Cindy Wilson: Absolutely! The band were nice enough to let me step in and out and that means a lot to me. Such good friends to do that. And I've got my wonderful family now and it's my husband who lets me step in and out. They're going to come part of the tour with me. Only part of it. It gets too hectic, too much. So just a few dates.
BCR: So how are you feeling about the new album? It seems a bit more electro...
Cindy Wilson: Well, Keith Strickland wrote all the music and he took awhile to figure out where he wanted to go musically with it. What would suit the B-52s. We wanted to keep it upbeat, you know... He would bring his ideas, his music to the studio and Fred, Kate and I would jam for melodies, lyrics over his music. It worked so well. He said it's kind of rough guitar but synthesized and it was perfect!
BCR: So you're still doing the basics in the jam sessions?
Cindy Wilson: Well, that's the way we work, you get this multi-layered sound and it’s more complicated to write that way but we laugh a lot and we find it very entertaining so we hope it translates to everybody else.
BCR: Cosmic Thing must have been a strange record to write, did you have to figure out a new way to write without your brother there?
Cindy Wilson: Oh yeah, that was healing and it was difficult. We just went in to see if we could do it. The first song I think was June Bug and it just covers the first top of writing. After that the songs were coming easier. I have to say the band really pulled together and Keith Strickland was a marvel, it was really brave of him, he worked so hard after Ricky died, to write the music by himself and bring it in. But like I said, it was a really healing time. The way we work, he'd bring in music and we'd all jam over it. It felt like Ricky was there anyway, when we did that. It was really cool. I think it was meant to be and was part of the healing process.
BCR: You can see all of you in all your albums and this new one is no different. You can still hear the Go Go Girls in there.
Cindy Wilson: We love upbeat songs, definitely, and we love interesting lyrics. Being playful. A lot of people think it's throw away music, pop or something. But also, if you really listen to it, there's really some interesting poetry in there, kinda Dada, Absurdist poetry. It's really quite beautiful.
BCR: There's one song on the album that goes "keep doing what you're doing cos it's what we like" and it seems kind of like a two fingers up to anyone who says you shouldn't be doing what you're doing...
Cindy Wilson: Absolutely, I think there's an age discrimination here in the states, people say y'all are crazy doing what you're doing. When you should be sitting at home doing whatever.
BCR: I've seen you live, there's no way I can see you in slippers and a house coat.
Cindy Wilson: No, we're not that! It really does keep you young. I think it's relevant to a lot of our fans.
BCR: Definitely, also new fans. How did you get Scissor Sisters and Peaches to do remixes of the title track?
Cindy Wilson: It's amazing, I guess they're just tipping their hats to us.
BCR: Yeah! It's the recognition you deserve…
Cindy Wilson: We need respect!
BCR: Even in the fashion and everything, it just seems to be such a joyful band, even though there's been great sorrow along the way.
Cindy Wilson: I think everybody has the sorrow, it's life! Death is a part of life. Especially in the 80s, apart from my brother, we lost a lot of people to AIDS. And besides just AIDS; parents dying and... you really have to use your art to get out of it and we did, we have.
BCR: It seems odd that you’ve got Steve Osbourne producing the album, he's more famous for New Order than for anything that sounds like Peggy Lee. How did that come up?
Cindy Wilson: Actually we wanted to do everything right because we thought the material was so strong. We had a short list of people to be the producers and he was at the top of the list. We sent him our collection of music and asked him if he wanted to do and he just said he would love to do it! He loved the music. We had to wait cos he was still doing KD Lang, parts of her record but it was worth waiting for.
