Lush, L’éternel Retour du Shoegaze

A little warm up interview before tonight's show in France.

Route du rock 2016 : Lush, l’éternel retour du shoegaze

http://www.telerama.fr/musique/lush-l-eternel-retour-du-shoegaze-a-la-route-du-rock,146110.php

Stream and Listen to Miki on Radcliffe and Maconie

And here she is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b073j45c
The interview is 1:30 hours into the show. And of course Miki is brilliant as always! This broadcast will be available for your streaming pleasure for the next 29 days.

Miki from Lush

Radcliffe and Maconie Listen in pop-out player 

Berenyi from 90s shoegaze pioneers band, Lush.
Formed in London in 1988 by childhood friends Emma Anderson and Miki Berenyi, Lush also included Chris Acland on drums and Phil King on bass (originally Steve Rippon, who left in 1990). Signed to 4AD in 1989, over the course of 3 full-length albums, an early mini-album and a number of EPs and singles, they went on to sharpen their pop sound, outliving and outgrowing the 'scene' with which they were initially associated. Miki's here to chat about their new EP, which was produced by Jim Abbiss (Adele, Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys) & Daniel Hunt (Ladytron) at Abbiss' own Lime Green Monkeys studio.

Photo fresh from RadcliffeMaconieShow ‏@BBCRadMac

Miki on BBC's Radcliffe and Maconie - Listen!

The latest word from Lush: 

"Quick heads up - Miki is going to be on on the Radcliffe and Maconie show on BBC Radio 6Music show in about 15 minutes talking about the reunion, new EP, upcoming shows and much more besides. Turn on those digital radios.....(and you can listen on catch-up later on if you miss it)....http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music"

.@lushbandtweets Miki Berenyi live on air at @BBC6Music @BBCRadMac NOW! pic.twitter.com/dyrXFE0dzW https://t.co/qh7XKsBPh9

— Lush Fan Tweets (@lushfantweets) March 21, 2016

How to be a Woman (in a Band) with Miki

Great new interview with Miki!

http://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/how-to-be-a-woman-in-a-band-with-lushs-miki-berenyi

Miki and Phil on Recording 'Blind Spot'

This from Lush's own site:

Lush have announced details of the release of the Blind Spot EP on Friday 15th April 2016 on their own Edamame Records.

Talking about the recording of the EP, Miki Berenyi commented:

 

"It certainly took sometime to come together, but once we were in the studio, everything came together incredibly quickly. It was great fun!
It's been a long time since I've written Lush lyrics, and I realised early on with this EP that what I wrote about then is not what I feel comfortable writing about now. My perspective, and what is close to my heart, has changed, and I think that's conveyed in the songs."

Bassist Phil King added:

"I know I’m biased, but I work for a music magazine and so much of the music I hear played in the office sounds non-descript or derivative. Emma has this way of writing unusual chord changes and manages to weave lovely melodies over the top, and it immediately sounds distinctive, like Lush."

LUSH Interview :: The Guardian

LUSH in The Guardian:

Lush reunited: ‘We were seen as a band who’d turn up to the opening of a packet of crisps’

Ethereal, angelic shoegazers or boozy scenesters? Seventeen years after they split up, Lush talk about their legacy – and why they have reformed

"Drinking red wine on a couch in a London hotel library for their first joint interview in 19 years, Lush are still excellent company. Berenyi, instantly recognisable even though her distinctive shocking-pink 90s hair is now ink-black, gets told off for vaping indoors. Co-frontman Emma Anderson wages a war of nerves with a passive-aggressive desk clerk who keeps silently opening the library door. Silver-haired bassist Phil King regularly interjects with wry, elegant anecdotes, like an indie Peter Ustinov."

Follow the link for more.

'Girl In A Band' Interview Featuring Miki

Video is up for Miki's recent interview from the BBC documentary 'Girl in a Band: Tales from the Rock 'n' Roll Front Line', presented by Kate Mossman.

Watch Miki :: 'Girl In A Band'

In case you missed Miki's interview last Friday night on BBC4's documentary 'Girl In A Band: Tales from the Rock 'n' Roll Front Line' 0r914&sns=fb&app=deskto https://
status/661469375061446656

The Making of 'Hypocrite'

I love sharing all these fresh new posts that keep coming straight from the band! Today they're talking about the making of the 'Hypocrite' video (one of my personal faves).

. . .

Miki: 'Chris LOVED making this video! So sweet to see him laughing and being his lovely happy self. I remember going on the Octopus ride with Phil and they ran it backwards and forwards and it went on and on and what started with riotous hilarity ended with both of us having one hand clamped over our mouths and the other frantically waving in the air desperately trying to get the bloke to STOP!!! '

Phil: 'I remember that before we decided on getting Matthew Amos to direct this we met up for lunch in Notting Hill with a now famous French film director who was making pop promos at the time. Chris nicknamed him 'consumptive child' as he looked very pale and sat throughout the meal in silence while his manager did all the talking. The concept was us floating around a haunted house. It would need to filmed in a pool on a Hollywood soundstage. “100,000” his manager told us. “Pounds or dollars” asked our manager. “Pounds” he replied. Meal over. Think PJ Harvey ended up doing it in the end. We instead decided to hire a funfair near Heathrow Airport for the day and shot the video there for half the price. A bargain...um.'

Emma: 'I don’t remember a massive amount about it except them trying to create that effect where the camera and the subject is moving unnervingly toward/away at the same time..they do it using the camera on a track and the subject (us individually) on the same track with both moving at the same time. It wasn’t a massive success.
Wasn’t there also an extra who was also in Eastenders?'

Phil: ' I do remember seeing one extra (old bloke looking miserable) all the time afterwards in Marylebone library’.

Miki on BBC4 Tonight!

Just a quick reminder from Emma today:

"Don't forget.. tonight on BBC4 at 10pm Miki  (along with a fantastic array of other of female musicians) is appearing in a documentary called 'Girl in a Band: Tales from the Rock 'n' Roll Frontline'. I haven't seen it but the previews have been great: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06l17fn. Can't wait."

For those in the UK the program will be streamed on the BBC site an hour after airing. But outside the UK? We can only hope that the program will be found on YouTube soon.

Update-
Lush Appreciation Society has added that:

Lush will also feature on a programme following the BBC Four documentary 'Girl In A Band' (which airs at 10pm tonight). Titled, 'Girls In Bands At The BBC', the programme will feature performances from Lush, Elastica and Garbage, amongst many others.
It airs on BBC Four tonight at 11pm.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06mxpjc

'Nothing Natural' & Pyramids Centre 24th Anniversaries

It was 24 short years ago today...

October 29th, 1991 'Nothing Natural' was released as a maxi-single disc. It had peaked at number 43 on the UK Singles Chart. The EP was followed by a national British tour, during which time bassist Steve Rippon left the band and was replaced by Phil King. 

Incidentally, on the same day, 100's of screaming kids - the 29th of October - The Pyramids Centre, Portsmouth - LUSH is there to play. With the opening acts of Passing Clouds and Gallon Drunk on a two-leg UK tour debuting the songs from the just released Black Spring EP.

Reflecting on the music video, Miki said it was "an effing nightmare" and that the video's director had "some ludicrous idea of what he wanted [Lush] to look/act like in the video and it was nothing to do with how [the band was]." Miki further explained that the band went along with the director's suggestion as Lush "had no ideas of [their] own at all, and back in the [19]90s the solution was to offer directors a shitload of money to come up with something fabulous that MTV would play." According to Berenyi, Nirvana vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain became a Lush fan after seeing the music video.

'Nothing Natural' - 'official' promo video

'Nothing Natural'- live at Toad's Place, New Haven, CT - March 23, 1992

Miki on BBC4 Friday Night, 10pm

Yes, there will be a delayed stream online an hour after the program airs for those of us who live outside the UK.

http://bbc.in/1PIUb5o

Phil's Vapour Trail Interview

New interview with Phil on Vapour Trail Blog-"Lush, the final piece in the shoegazing jigsaw are back and would 'like to get back in the studio'".

'"We've wanted to reform for a few years", Phil said. "It was more that we've all got families and jobs", denying that the Lush reformation was the band's way of riding the crest of the zeitgeit. "And also its 20 years, next year, since we split up, so it's a nice round number". At the moment, Lush have only got June's roundhouse dates chalked up, but King insists that they're just sorting out some more dates for a wider tour, as well as festival appearances.'

'The biggest revelation of our small conversation was that Lush certainly have a desire to get back in the studio, and put out new material, which is something that MBV did extremely successfully a couple of years back, although you'd maybe like to hope it'll take a bit less than five years of being back together to produce some songs. "If we can find time, we'd certainly like to" says King, which is something which is pretty exciting, especially seeing as the band's members have all stayed in music just a little bit since the band's break up, King especially keeping his noise-cred high being a full time touring member of the Jesus and Mary Chain...'

And there you have it, there will be more touring to come and the desire to record new songs... after the details get worked out. 2016 will be the Year of Lush!

LUSH – A Video Retrospective With Miki Berenyi

Andy over at the Von Pip Express has posted a new interview with Miki discussing all the juicy behind the scenes lore of Lush's music videos.

Miki also has something to say about Lush's reformation (I never get tired of seeing those two words together):

"‘Hey, ‘ if financial constraints and time were not an issue I’d be on my 10th LP and recording a Greatest Hits compilation with the Royal Philharmonic by now. I would love to make music again, but it’s precisely those things that are stopping me!"  – Miki Berenyi (Lush) -2008 

Thanks Andy and Miki!

http://www.thevpme.com/2015/09/29/lush-videosmikib/

Miki Talks About LUSH Reunion

LUSH ARE BACK and playing The Roundhouse on May 6th! Hear Miki Berenyi telling @elizabethalker more:

https://audioboom.com/boos/3626957-lush-are-back-hear-miki-berenyi-telling-elizabethalker-more

LUSH's Last TV Appearance - Sep 8, 1996

It was September 8, 1996, on this blogger's birthday, that Lush appeared on First Cut in San Francisco. It was 19 years ago...

This is Lush's very last TV appearance, with a brief interview and a performance of Ladykillers and 500 (Shake Baby Shake). It was recorded the day after their show at the Fillmore.

Miki and Emma on 1996 Album “Lovelife” and the Last Days of the Band

New interview with Miki and Emma for Under the Radar Magazine - Apr 28, 2015 By Frank Valish 

"Lush was so tied up with Chris, and without him, it's just really, really difficult to consider [a reunion]." - Miki Berenyi

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/lush_-_miki_berenyi_and_emma_anderson_on_1996_album_lovelife_and_the_last_d/

‘Split’ 20th Anniversary Interview

My interview with Lush | ‘Split’ 20th Anniversary

"Anyone that knew me in high school, or at least spent any time with me driving around in my old Toyota Corolla, will surely remember the English band Lush. In the very least, they may have some remaining hearing damage to help remember thanks to me blasting their 1994 album ‘Split’ – which also seemed to be on constant repeat – as loud as it could go. This album was epic to me, and it still is. Every little element of it, from the songs, to the artwork, to the tour dates I attended in Boston and Rhode Island that accompanied the album’s release, the band’s style, lead singer/guitarist Miki’s always flame-red hair and even her half-Hungarian/half-Japanese background, it was perfection. Lush was like a beautiful art project with all the pieces and elements fitting together just right. I had found my band and they spoke to me right down to the rarest of B-sides."

  - ghostlifeghostlife.

A mighty fine piece. Eloquently penned (or typed rather) by a true fan. This recent interview was conducted with all three surviving members - Emma, Phil and Miki. Now that's something I don't think I've seen happen often since the old band days...

Lord Tarquin Vs Miki Berenyi

The very lovely Miki has surfaced online in a recent video again!

Writer and broadcaster David Quantick reads passages from his book 'Memoirs Of A Shoegazing Gentleman' - with the help of Lush's Miki Berenyi - at The Social in London on July 7, 2014.

NME "Tubular Belles" :: October 26, 1991

The noteworthy musical mag NME devotes yet another article (Oct. 26, '91) to the very lurvely LUSH for the second time in as many weeks. This time its an in-depth, behind-the-scenes, one-on-four think-piece searching for what makes the band tick, titled "Tubular Belles."

And it goes something like this:

NME: ". . .Why do you like yourselves?"(as in Lush's music)
Chris : ". . .Personally I like it because I'm involved in it but if I wasn't in Lush I wonder if I'd be into it!"
NME: "If you weren't in Lush, would you play your records to do the washing up to?"
Chris: "Uh. . ."
Emma: "Yeah!"
Chris: "Well you get up in the morning and you play records that lift you up and on an evening you play something that is. . . moody. . ."
Emma: "SHAT AP, CHRIS! JUST SHAT AP!"
Chris: "Well, you do. . ."