Forget the superfluous "girl group" label, The
Bangles have been one of my favorite rock groups from the '80s
for quite some time. From their early work like "Hero Takes A
Fall" to their kick-ass cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter",
they've got a great body of work that really stands up decades
later. They still sound and look great, making them the hottest
moms in music. Drummer/vocalist Debbi Peterson took some time
to talk with me about their current tour, their new concert DVD
Return to Bangleonia, and plans for a brand new CD next
year. And hopefully next time I interview someone from their
group, I won't keep referring to them as "guys".
So you guys just wrapped up your current
tour. Do you have any new dates lined up?
That pretty much wraps it up. We have a
couple little things coming up in the coming months. Right now
we're home, got to get the kids ready for school. We're going
to possibly start writing for another
record.
Cool. So what's the timeline you're looking
at for a new record? Or is that just a wait and see how it
happens thing?
I think it's just a wait and see thing at
this point, but we're looking at releasing it next year.
What's the biggest difference about touring
now versus touring together in the '80s?
Well, it's not as hectic. We don't tour as
long because we all have children, so we kind of go on two week
increments. We make it so it's comfortable for us and not too
crazy. And everybody seems to be actually getting
along better now than we did in the '80s (laughs).
So why weren't you getting along so well in
the '80s?
I think as time went on we were just together
so often that, like with any relationship you're just sort of
breathing down each other's neck all the time. You tend to need
a little space. We didn't have any space and now we kind of
give each other a little room.
Who were your drumming influences growing up?
Oh, wow! Well, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon,
Charlie Watts. Karen Carpenter (laughs) she was inspirational
because there were not hardly any female drummers around at
that time. She was the only one, you know? A lot of males,
actually.
Yeah, really between you guys and The Go-Gos
and more recently Meg White there really hasn't been a lot of
female drummer role models out there.
Not that many. Not that many as there should
be.
Have you noticed a lot of young drummers
coming to you and letting you know that you were an inspiration
to them?
Yes, actually I have and I love hearing that.
I love hearing one of the moms letting us know that their
daughter is learning to play drums and I just get very happy
about hearing that because it's nice to be an inspiration to
somebody. It's just a total thrill. I didn't have a lot of
females to look up to in my youth. We're out there, there's
just not that many of us.
So what's your favorite Bangles song looking
back on all that you've done and why?
Ummm...I don't know if I have a "favorite"
favorite. There's a few that I like. I like "Hazy Shade of
Winter" because we really helped in the production of that. And
it ROCKS (laughs).
Yeah, that's a great song.
I like the song "Let It Go" because it's like
the first song that we all wrote together. It was a Bangles
group effort. There's so many songs I like, it's hard to name
them all (laughs).
How about as far as the videos that you all
made, is there one that was more fun to make than all the
others?
I really liked making "In Your Room". That
was fun because we all got to film little vignettes, and it was
very retro, '60s, and colorful. I think that one turned out
very well.
Have your kids watched any of your old videos
and get a laugh?
My son has. My daughter hasn't watched them
yet. But she's already picking up a guitar and pretending to
play it (laughs) so there you go!
Now I was reading this story that when Prince
wrote "Manic Monday" for you guys, it was this unsubstantiated
story on some internet thing, that he kind of showed up and
jammed with you all night in the studio.
Yeah, actually he invited us to his studio.
He was recording at Sunset Sound and he invited us over to sort
of hang out with him. It was kind of an impromptu jam. We had
done a show or something, I can't really remember, but it was 2
in the morning and we went over there and were just jamming
with him. It was pretty awesome.
Was he a pretty shy or approachable guy with
you?
He was shy. He's a mystery man, you know?
He's kind of in his own world and, man, he's a genius, I tell
you. He's amazing.
So the new DVD that you've got out, Return to Bangleonia...have you had a chance to sit down and watch all of
it yet?
Not really. The only time we've watched the
actual performance is when we sat down and did the commentary
for it. And that was kind of spontaneous, because we hadn't see
the whole thing. So as we were doing the commentary we were
watching the actual performance. That was quite funny.
I really enjoyed it. So this was recorded in
2000 a The House of Blues in Los Angeles?
That's correct.
I was surprised how tight and nice everything
sounded. In fact I was telling my wife that I wished there was
a bonus CD that came with it to listen to on the side because
the audio was so nice.
Well, you know we actually recorded some
shows on this recent trip to do that, because we do want to
release a live CD. So that's the other project we have to work
on. The thing is with the DVD, kind of just hearing it
sonically, it didn't really work as well as having the visual
and the sonic together. We didn't feel it was tight enough. So
that's why we want to get a better product out that everybody
can enjoy.
A video collection would also be nice.
Well there's one that Sony put out. It's
missing "Hazy Shade of Winter" because it's a different record
company, but they did put a DVD out, the "Best of" videos. So
it is out there.
Now in the '80s, and I it's hard to always
have The Go-Gos brought up because they were the other dominant
female group of the time. Was that a distraction to have them
out there? Were they rivals or were they friendly competition?
There was a little bit of friendly
competition, as would be expected. We actually did one show in
Las Vegas together in the early '80s, which was kind of fun.
There was no cat fighting or anything like that (laughs) They
did their thing and we did our thing. People liked to compare
us, but we were two different bands. Just like two different
boy bands, you know? There just happened to be two
different girl bands out at the same time.
You did some work with Gina Shock (The Go-Gos
drummer) at one time?
Yes, in the early '90s, after The Bangles
broke up. I did a little thing with her. We did a Slice
commercial in the '80s. I think it was '87? (laughs).
What was the Slice commercial like, what was
the setup for that?
It was two drummers. We're sort of having
this drum off kind of thing with water. Slice was very much
into the water concept. They'd have like a couple of tennis
players and water. It was really cool. We got hooked up with a
hose system so when we were drumming water would be spraying
out of the drumsticks. It was kind of interesting.
Maybe it'll pop up on YouTube someday.
I'm sure it will! (laughs) Everything does!
It's amazing!
Well thank you so much for your time. People
can still pick up the DVD, and it looks like you update
your website,
thebangles.com, pretty regularly.
Yes we do!
We'll be looking forward to some more shows
and hopefully a new CD soon.
The Autism Coalition of
Nevada to benefit The Lili ClaireFoundation at
The Miracle of "Yes" Gala, featuring
THE BANGLES The Lili
Claire Foundation needs your help to keep growing! Join us for
The Miracle of "Yes" - a Concert, Dinner and Auction
to benefit The Lili Claire Foundation as we extend our programs
and services to special needs children and their families in
Reno, NV. For more information or to RSVP, please call (775)
329-2268 or (702) 862-8141. For advertising please contact
(702) 595-2067.
FEATURING: THE BANGLES
with Special Guest DILANA
HONORING:
First Lady Dawn Gibbons
& Annette Whittemore, Founding Director of the
Whittemore Peterson Institute
