Phone interview with Basia broadcast on Radio Hey Now, January 28 2005
George Matlock (transcribed by Leslie Osborn)
(NOTE: in some areas the sound was garbled on the studio side-- but not on the telephone side-- so some of George Matlock's comments are paraphrased)
GM: I have on the line right now a very dear lady indeed, Her Excellency, Basia Trzetrzelewska. [Basia laughs] Good evening!
BT: Hello, how are you?
GM: I'm fine! And how are you?
BT: Excellent, excellent too! I'm looking forward to being on stage again with my band so you know, I'm feeling quite excited.
GM: Superb! You are probably one of Poland's best-known exports, how long did you come over to the UK?
BT: Oh, my gosh I came in--my gosh-- '81. [laughs]
GM: '81?
BT: Can you believe it? So I've lived all my grown-up life here, really, but I go to Poland incredibly often, I mean four, five times a year, so you know, I never forgot about my country, ever. [small laugh]
GM: That's very important.
BT: Absolutely.
GM: Tell us, you are doing something very sensational in March, you're going to be performing in London at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. This word is gonna get round, we're going to do our bit to be sure that everybody in London and the home counties hears about this, but I've got a question for you: why oh why did it take [Basia gets what is coming and starts to laugh] this many years, which is quite a few years now, to actually come to London?
BT: Well, you know we had such a turbulent story to our band because Matt Bianco was put together in '83 I think, and we had only one album together. Although we traveled around the place and promoted this first album, called Whose Side Are You On, we actually never played live, we only did tons of TV programs and other kinds of promotion but we actually never played live. And after that, I think '87, I left the band and I had a solo career working with Danny White who actually is another member of this band and we toured a lot together as "Basia" [laughs].
But the boys had this idea of getting together again and recording another album, a follow-up album to the first one from twenty years ago. It happened two years ago and I'm really glad they did ask me to join in because it was such fun-- I think now we are much more grown-up and we are much more serious about stuff and less serious about ourselves, you know, and more into music. This is the first time that we as a band, as Matt Bianco, going to go on tour ever. And actually one of the first shows we're doing is the London show. So now we are in the middle of rehearsing and this is a very exciting time because we've never been on stage at the same time, the three of us, and apart from the three of us we have a band which is a ten-piece. So it's a lot of music and a lot of noise on stage and it promises to be a quite interesting show.
GM: Lot of firsts there, I've lost count of how many firsts in there! You mentioned that it has been sort of traumatic there some years ago and looking at the cover I see the boys are a bit like me, follicularly challenged [Basia laughs]. Is that what you meant by the trauma?
BT: No, it's not that, I don't think so! I mean the boys in the meantime have had families and children and I think-- I don't think that's why they lost their hair! [both laugh]-- I think it's a bit of a fashion statement because recently everybody finds that its much easier to keep their hairdos intact when you have good clippers [both laugh harder] so you don't have to go to the hairdressers... I miss their hair because I liked the bushy hair that Mark used to have--and Danny-- but that's what they chose, you know. I make up for it because I have long hair, quite a lot of it [laughs heartily].
GM: You're the poetry, you're the one with the long flowing locks. [Basia laughs while George makes a crack about haircuts getting cheaper for him] As you can see I can take as well as I get so I hope the boys will not take me the wrong way over there.
BT: Nooo... of course not.
GM: It's fantastic that you are back together again since the 1980s-- of course there are a lot of bands like Culture Club and Duran Duran, all sort of doing renaissance tours. Now put me in the picture here-- this tour you're doing which I know is going to take you to a number of cities, this is not a renaissance thing is it? This is new material, you're basically rejuvenated.
BT: That's right, I mean we are going to really promote our album, the one that was just released, but just to remind people what we used to sound like we are going to do I think three songs from the very first album. We are going to play around Britain and then we are going to America where especially my solo work was quite successful and because of that we are going to play some songs from my three or four albums that I released on my own.
But basically we are going to concentrate on the new album Matt's Mood which I think is quite contemporary sounding. Although it has traditional elements of jazz I think it has elements of new music and I think that's what the boys, especially in the production, they are most proud of. But you know, I'm quite a traditionalist so I think my vocals are quite traditional [starts laughing] quite "in tune." [they both are going at this point]
GM: Now I love the cover, it's purple, I love purple and a lot of people know me for it. It's almost like the new black isn't it?
BT: That's right! [laughs] It was a little bit of a bit of a nod towards traditional jazz records when Blue Note used to release-- that type of picture, black and white, with maybe a blue wash over it. Famous records come to mind like Miles Davis and John Coltrane and that was the idea behind that artwork. And the photograph was taken actually at the studio where we mixed the album so we actually worked in this studio. I like that photograph because it actually shows the true atmosphere of the record-- you know, it's not sort of pose-y or something silly, it's just us being at work. I particularly like that picture and I'm glad it is the cover.
GM: Yes, it's brilliant and I'm sure its doing very well-- it was released, when was it, late last year?
BT: Yes, that's right, it was late last year, but it still has a few territories to be released in. That's why we are going to continue our tour to the States because that record is coming out on the first of March. So it's still for a few people to discover this record, I hope. [small laugh]
[George details a contest offer the station is running. He says the answer is something he and Basia have said a hundred times, which makes her laugh.]
GM: Basia, I would just like to ask finally-- do you remember which cities in the UK you will be frequenting on this tour in March?
BT: Unfortunately I still can't tell you this, I only know about this London performance, my manager is still working on it so we just have to concentrate on this one.
GM: Okay, and I know you are hoping to come into the studio hopefully with the boys right?
BT: That's right, that I hear is the plan which will be great.
GM: Absolutely, well I think we should keep that date a secret (if everyone can make it, logistics, etc) I wish you a lot of success with the album and I look forward the show at Shepherd's Bush Empire.
BT: Wonderful, thank you for all your kind words, thank you.
GM: It was a pleasure Basia, have a good weekend.
BT: Thank you.