The Waitresses - Interview
Originally Published 24th April 1982 NME
IT WAS a memorable day.
A day on which I... HELD open a door for Val Doonican.
He wouldn't walk through . . .
NEARLY bumped into Melvyn Bragg, but just avoided him
. . .
SAW Rick Wakeman go into the gents' toilet, accompanied
by Stray Cat Brian Setzer and Suggsy of Madness.
Yes, a visit to the BBC TV studios in Shepherds Bush
is never without its quota of famous faces and magic moments. Yet these
events, dramatic as they were, were only incidental to the purpose of my
outing - which was to view an American group, name of The Waitresses, in
the filming of their guest-spot on the Old Grey Whistle Test. And so to
Studio Two, where this talented six-piece performed three songs off their
recent LP, 'Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?', including that wonderful single
they had out last year called 'I Know What Boys Like'. And when they were
done, and Annie Nightingale had agreed with her auto-cue that, yes, these
Waitresses really were jolly interesting, then I went down to their dressing
room and met them. Introductions, therefore: The Waitresses are not, as
their name might imply, an all-girl group, although they do include two
females - Patty Donahue, who sings (in a fascinatingly dry, knowing drawl)
and Tracy Wormworth who plays the bass. For the rest, there's Mars Williams
(saxes and stuff like that), Billy Ficca (drummer, once of the renowned
Television), Dan Klayman (keyboards), and one Chris Butler, who plays guitar
and writes the songs. It's to Chris Butler, in fact that the bulk of my
interview is aimed, since he's sort of The Waitresses' leader, and spokesman,
and probably one of the songwriters I admire most at the moment. Butler
it was who brought the group into this world, first emerging among the
crop of bands based in Akron Ohio (remember the Stiff compilation?), then
taking them to New York City - where, some months ago, they finally arrived
at the current line-up; whose personnel make what they describe as "that
Cleveland Akron Chicago New York Delaware sound", a label that I don't
imagine will catch on in any big way. Over in New York, it was the people
at Ze Records (you may have seen the name before in NME) who picked up
on The Waitresses, leading to the'Boys Like' single, a cut called 'Christmas
Wrapping' on Ze's Xmas album, and then to the debut LP - which; in Britain;
comres out through Polydor. As you read thls, the group are completing
a miri-tour of the UK; their first so far. If you've seen them, then lucky
you, because The Waitresses' poppy, lumpy, shuffling, bustling rock noise
does have an insidious appeal. And it has those lyrics . . . Laced with
a literate wit, and much droll sanity, Butler's songs seem like very acute
dissectioms of life in modern America. Especially intriguing is the way
that he, a male writer, obviously, offers such credible material to his
female vocalist Patty - an ideal medium as it happens, one he's fortunate
to have - ending up with songs which offer a feminine perspective with
refreshing authenticity, and humour. The'Wasn't Tomonow Wonderful?' LP
has a girl coping with personal life in a tough-but-vulnerable way. For
the next album (being written right now) Butler says: "I think we're
gonna expand on the characterisation. I think we're gonna get her out more
into the world. It's the hardest thing in pop music to write good, Pogitive,
happy songs. It's so easy to go on about death, doom and destruction -
cheap emotions. But to do something which leaves you with a feeling of
encouragement, that doesn't sound stupid, that is intelligent, is really
hard to do. And I'm trying to go for that. It's not sappy-happy, oh-everything's-wonderful,
but it's like, yeah, that was nice . . ." But adapting your songs
to a girl's viewpoint, isn't that a difficult thing to attempt, even audacious7
(The Waitresses' unanimously glowing UK reviews always focus on this aspect).
"Well yes and no. I don't see what the fuss is about - otherwise there
wouldn't be female characters in plays, y'know7 You've just got to psyche
yourself up a bit, ask a lot of questions. I know it's audacious, and I
don't claim to get it right all the time, it is a built-in difficulty.
But I just try to avoid the traps by asking a lot of questions: does this
really happen like this? Could Patty legitimately sing this? Would these
be her feelings in a particular srtuation?" Sharp, funny and observant
as Butler is in his cameo-sketches of "relationships" (to use
the US jargon), and life's little ups-and-downs, it's not hard to detect
a wary idealism, a broader concern, running through most numbers. Perhaps
the album's last track 'Jimmy Tomorrow' hints at this most strongly - even
if, line for line, its message is more obscure than usual. "Yeah,
that's my favourite. It takes about as long to explain as it takes to sing!
I went to college at Kent State Universrty, where those kids got shot (the
gunning-down of four students by the National Guard during an anti-war
demo in 1970). I was there at that incident, a really horrible incident.
And I went back there to see my friends in 1980, the tenth anniversary
of that. So you go back and you see people you haven't seen in ten years,
and you wonder how they're doing now, and how much of that we're - gonna
- change - the - world mentality you can retain, or how much of it got
kicked out of you, or bought out of you, how you've changed. "And
the gist of that song is somebody trying to hold on to that idealism, even
though it doesn't seem to make much sense in the modern world any more
- but not wanting to go and give up, like so many other people do; and
get depressed. The character is trying to fight all that. It's a problem
to hold on to those things, you're going against the grain of the rest
of the world. Like now in America it's all Moral Majority, and right-wing
revival, and the military build-up, and it's directly the other way from
the'60s mentality . . ." Butler, in fairness, isn't comfortable with
the intenview-imposed role of know-all and pundit, spacing his thoughts
with self-deprecating shrugs which say, hell, what do / know about it?
But I think he knows enough to get by, and write many more fine songs.
And I know that when he does, that I'll be listening, with pleasure. soon.
Webmasters note: I have a copy of the Whistle Test performance on
VHS and am currently hoping to transfer it to a web friendly format for
your pleasure.