Tanya Donelly and David Narcizo have just come into AV Deck for a quick chat - hi, welcome!

T - hi
D - Hi!

So you played in London last night - how did you think it went?

T- I thought it was great- I had a great time
D - yeah, it was fun
T - yeah,
D - it was a three show tour so I think we were just warmed up for last night

Its been a while since the last one hasn’t it? So what have you both been up to?

T - well, we’ve both had children. not together! we each have a child with other people and I’ve basically been focusing on that and then in and out of the studio. He’s been a lot busier than me!
D - musically I’ve been working with T, and I did Kristin Hersh’s second to last

(jo interrupts thinking he means artwork on Sunny Border Blue, when he actually meant the Sky Motel tour)

D- no I didn’t do that one, I did the tour - I didn’t play on any of it, but I did the tour. Apart from that my wife and I started a graphics design business so that’s pretty much what we focused on most of the time

oh cool! I was gonna say, I’m hearing about you playing in so many bands at the moment, I was wondering what takes up your time, working or doing that?

D - actually I play with a songwriter in the town that I live in and this guy Bob Kendall, I also play with him, pretty frequently, local stuff annnd I think that s it?
T - I think we’re allowed to talk about the Muses thing too
D - ahh yeah, we recorded with the Muses
(both look at each other, should they be talking, jo says Billy has announced it now on the Throwing Music board)
T - I was asked about it before I did that interview, in fact before I did the singing!

I think everyone thought it was inevitable, what with the two Gut Pageants...

T - oh you know, its all gonna come down on me,

its noooot!

T - I get this feeling of foreboding
D - yeeeaaaah I think you’re right! No, there’s documented proof there...
T - oh I know.. I know
D - its been talked about... its all of a sudden.... lets get back to me! I’ve been doing a lot of graphic designing, in the last six months there has been a ton of music going on for me between the Muses record and this and Bob Kendall so...

And what about Lakuna?

D - I would love to do another Lakuna record, I just can’t figure out how to right now. with time. But I know Bernard Georges who plays bass with the Muses I know he’s interested as well, so I’m thinking about trying to get him to start it on his own and I’ll join it in progress
T - wow!
D - and that’ll be the best way to get it done - he’ll have a lot more time to spend on it

Moving on to Beautysleep, quite an album, it was released just in the last week, how does it feel to be back again?

T - good! you know it was weird, when we played Glasgow, I’d been kinda assuming, pompously, that once I got on stage it would all come back to me totally natural, but I got up there and.... “holy s....”!!! I didn’t feel natural, it didn’t come as quickly as I thought it would, but by the time we played the second show, I felt I was back in the swing a little bit

Are there any more singles planned from the album?

T- I don’t think so, no. The Storm wasn’t technically a single, we haven’t been going for anything really

You did well over here on the radio

T - yeah, that was a lucky coincidence

I was going to say as well, apart from all the Throwing Muses stuff that’s going on, there’s also going to be a Best Of Belly released this year, how easy was that to work on?

T - it was hard actually, Rhino gave me a list of songs that they were thinking of and then I sent them my revisions, then we kind of went back and forth several times until we came to a final list, then I wrote the liner notes for that, which was the hardest homework I’ve ever been given! It was just really difficult to do

A lot of people have seen the tracklisting and its getting a lot of good feedback, especially having Lilith on there

T - yeah, I’m glad that it has a place to go - I really like that song and it was really hard to place anywhere for a long time, so this is a good place to put it

Its good as well, it has quite a few rare tracks on there

T - yeah, you know what, its really cool

yeah, the french version of

T - the french version of Judas my Heart which I really love, it sounds so beautiful. I think its gonna be really good. And if I can use a bad psyche 101 term, it was really cathartic for me. I was really afraid to go back there again, but as I was going through it a lot of good stuff came up and it was a really nice thing to do

Going back to Lakuna, I was asking you this before, but do you remember the track you did, prior to the album, which never made it onto the album...?

D - I totally forgot about that, and what it was called - it had cheerleaders on it... (fact fans, the track is called ‘Cheerleader’ and is unlikely to see the light of day...) I can’t remember, it was so long ago
T- oh! Dean knows what it is - because he was disappointed that it wasn’t on the album - he’ll know
D - I don’t even own it.. it was done separately

Both of you have been involved with 4ad now for a lot of your life - how does it feel to have kind of grown up with the label?

T - 15 years, 16 years

that’s a long time! And loads of different bands as well

D - the building keeps changing and moving
T - but the heart remains

So really, just to finish off, what kind of stuff do you have planned for the future - I noticed a lot of your stuff is sounding a lot more countrified.. is this your new direction.. moreso the direction everything now is heading

T - I think that the next record will go further in that direction and then I’ll get it out of my system. A lot of the songs that Dean and I are writing now are “country flavoured”. I’ve been listening to a lot of it, so I think its working its way in!
D - it seems like its a very natural style for you as well
T - yeah, I feel really comfortable singing it

I noticed on songs like After Your Party you sounded comfortable with it and your voice came through like the record

T - you know, I’ve always been attracted to it, and I’ve always liked singing it, but I kinda shied away from it for a long time, like I didn’t have the right to sing country music, cause I’m from New England which is about as far from Southern Gothic as you are here, so I kinds thought it might be an affected thing to do. But I don’t care. So.

And a cool new website!

T - Oh YEAH! oh. do you ever visit it?

yeah, and I left a message after you said on the stage last night (Tanya had asked someone to tell the webmaster she was having problems with the tour blog, and could they let him know)

T - I tried again this morning. There’s something wrong with the software on the computer. I got the right number, for out of the country, the right kind of cord, I sat down cause I thought I had it all together and its my computer

he actually said “she didn’t use the name John Dark did she”

T - whhy?
D - why?

I don’t know...

T - gasps... is that a secret?

no no! he uses it a lot, but I don’t think anyone knows his real name and you do obviously

T - ohh nooo

don’t worry, I think he was laughing about it - don’t worry, you’re not in trouble! O no I feel really bad now, I’m making you feel like you’re in trouble

T - don’t worry, this happens to me every day

and then what can we expect, apart from a possible Lakuna - what about the other bands, is anything going to be released?

D - like I said, I’d love to do another Lakuna record, but if I did, it wouldn’t be this year

Any exhibitions as well?

D - ooh I’m glad you mentioned that - I need to talk to you about the videos .. nothing planned. when I get home I’m gonna talk to Bernard and see if we could get ???/ but otherwise, the graphic design thing is really the forefront for me right now

so chances are, the next gig we’ll see you at apart from the May gig, will be the next Gut Pageant

T - apart from the May gig...

are we allowed to say about it?

T - I think so, I’m not gonna have any information anyway - we are coming back in the first week of May sometime to do a show with a bunch of other bands. Its an uncut magazine festival thing
D - its one of those days. It goes on for 3-4 days
T - hey, so where is the next Gut Pageant then?

THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW IS CENSORED UNTIL THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!