Modern Rock Live
PJ Harvey, Feb 21st, 1995

Polly Jean Harvey on Modern Rock Live, Tues., Feb. 21, 1995. Transcribed by Liz Lippow

MRL: Our first guest on MRL celebrates her fourth release on Island Records. Her album is called "To Bring You My Love," and it hits stores on Feb. 28. It was produced by Flood of U2 and Nine Inch Nails fame, John Parrish, and herself, and it's also been announced that's she'll be touring with REM in Europe in March and April, and begin her US tour in May. Please welcome, in our Los Angeles studios, Polly Jean Harvey. Hi, Polly.

PJH: Hi, Tom.

MRL: Thanks very much for doing the show tonight.

PJH: That's okay, it's my pleasure.

MRL: There is an incredible buzz about this new record. As a matter of fact, people are just saying that they can't wait for Feb. 28.... I mean, the press has been great.... Are you feeling it from where you sit right now?

PJH: Um, I have to say I'm feeling it more since being over here in the US. Um, in England I hadn't really had a sense of that. But it -- since coming here, I've kind of picked up on the excitement and the buzz that's going around. It's a... very very exciting time for me.

MRL: Does it make you nervous at all, or...

PJH: Um, not nervous, just.... I'm just very pleased that that's what is happening. Um, I'm very pleased with this record, and.... in a way I kind of feel justified about it and about the buzz. If I was unhappy with it, then it would feel very uncomfortable, but.... no, I'm glad.

MRL: The record's great, I mean, it's just a tremendous effort.... on your part, in the sense of where you've come and and how you've evolved and everything, even to the point where the way you recorded the record, in the sense that you've kind of gotten rid of the 3-piece ensemble, so to speak, in the last records, and you basically almost played all the instruments yourself. You wanna talk about that?

PJH: Um, that's right. I think.... in order to feel and to remain close to the songs this time, I knew I wanted to play a large amount of the instruments myself. And it is mostly myself and John Parrish.... who also co-produced the record, that are the instrumentalists on the record. Um, but for live, I have assembled a new and bigger band that is 5 men and myself, and I'm just singing -- well, mostly I'm just singing for this new tour.

MRL: What's your favorite instrument to play?

PJH: Um, at the moment, I'd probably say it's keyboards or drums. I've kind of -- although I do still play guitar a lot, I've.... gone over my.... my guitar phase, and I'm enjoying playing around on keyboards, something which I've never had lessons on, and so it's a bit like feeling your way round in the dark, which is actually quite interesting, because you can come up with some interesting things if you don't really know what you're doing on an instrument.

MRL: Does it also -- playing all the instruments on the record and then having other people play it on stage -- does it give you a certain tolerance, maybe, or be a little more patient, because, you know, you actually created the music on the album and they've got to kind of follow the subtle, even subtle nuances that you did on this record?

PJH: Um, I don't think it's taught me to be any more patient. I think -- I'm quite demanding when it comes to being the boss woman of a band. I think they've all come under my rough (?) at some time or other. But... at the same time they do put up with me, and they're willing to -- I made it very clear from the start that I kind of was wanting things played pretty much exactly as I'd played them, and uh, so they knew that was the score to start off with, so that they kind of accept it.

MRL: At least it's out in the open in the beginning, right?

PJH: Yeah, that's right.

MRL: Hey, let's listen to, I guess, the first single from your brand-new CD. Here's "Down By the Water" on Modern Rock Live.

["Down By the Water"]

[as music fades out] MRL: From the soon-to-be-released Island CD, "To Bring You My Love," PJ Harvey and "Down By the Water." If you got a question for Polly Jean, she's in our Los Angeles studios tonight. Call us toll free... [phone number and advertising stuff deleted]

MRL: And we're back, this is Modern Rock Live, I'm Tom Calderone (?). Joining us in our Los Angeles studios, PJ Harvey, Polly Jean. If you've got a question for her, you can give us a call toll free... [phone number and advertising deleted] Let's travel to Providence, Rhode Island, and talk to Seth. Hi Seth.

Seth: Hi. Are you going to come out with any new videos?

PJH: Yes, we are. There's a -- the next single, I'm going to be making a video for that when I return to England in a few days' time. So.... I don't know if you've seen the video that's out at the moment, "Down By the Water." That's the last one we've done, and that was the fifth that I've made with Maria [last name? help] I tend to keep working with her, and intend to in the future.

MRL: That's a great video by the way --

PJH: Thanks.

MRL: It's running on MTV, I guess on Alternative Nation, 120 Minutes, so check it out. Thanks, Seth, for your phone call, appreciate it -- Aaron in Augusta, Georgia... Hi Aaron.

Aaron:Hey.

MRL: Thanks for calling.

Aaron:Hey. I was wondering.... What inspires you to write music, or what do you use to... you know.

PJH: I suppose, initially, I have the need to write the music -- it's my outlet in the way that other people's outlets might be through art or through writing prose or poems, whatever takes your fancy. But... and I suppose inspiration comes from many different things. It can be as obscure as just a photograph, or a word that I might hear or overhear someone say, or an idea from a book I've read or a film I've seen, or sometimes just a feeling that I've felt and think I'd like to try to capture that feeling, but in musical terms. So, it's no kind of one set way, it's many many different ways.

MRL: Where's your favorite place to write music?

PJH: Inside rather than out, and usually in wherever I happen to be living at the time, because I just like to feel comfortable and at ease, and that usually tends to be wherever I am.... most stable at that point in my life.

MRL: Are you the type of person that will wake up in the middle of the night to write something, or do you have to discipline yourself and say, "Okay, today I'm going to write music," or does it just kind of flow when it happens?

PJH: The ideas kind of.... just happen whenever they're going to.... and I kind of collate them all, note them down, and then... decide some time later on when I'll rework them further. But the initial ideas come at any time, I don't know when they're going to happen.

MRL: Aaron, thanks for your call, appreciate it. Let's travel to Washington, DC, and talk to Brian.... Hi Brian.

Brian:Hi Polly... I heard Tori Amos on the radio here, and she said that you, her, and Bjork were working on a project together. What is it, and how's it going?

PJH: Um, hi. I don't think -- what she probably meant was... we did an interview together for a British magazine not that long ago, and we kind of all got on very well. We haven't actually talked about working on any project together... maybe it's just kind of got misconstrued down the line, but... we're just very good friends, and we stay in touch, all three of us, and help each other out when we need it.

MRL: Is there anyone else that you haven't worked with that you'd maybe like to hook up with and record a song?

PJH: Um... I can't think of anyone off the top of my head right now.... but... oh, I'm going to be working with Nick Cave [?] later on this year.

MRL: Oh wow.

PJH: He's a friend, and he's working on a murder ballads album, which he's asked me to duet with him on one song.

MRL: That's great, good luck with that, he's great. Let's talk to Caroline in Minneapolis, Minnesota... Hi Caroline.

Caroline:Hi. I was wondering if you heard Red Cross's [?] version of "Oh My Lover," and if you did, what you thought of it.

PJH: Hi Caroline. Yes, I did hear that... somebody gave me the CD. And... I thought it was great, I find it very flattering that people would even want to do a cover of some of my songs. It's just very interesting to hear somebody else's interpretation. I particularly liked the guitar solo, I think.

MRL: Caroline, good question, thanks for your phone call. And now exclusively on Modern Rock Live, another track from the brand-new PJ Harvey CD, which is not available anywhere yet, except here on Modern Rock Live. Here's "Long Snake Moan."

["Long Snake Moan"]

MRL: Yes, PJ Harvey, and "Long Snake Moan," from the brand-new CD. You're hearing it here first because the CD won't be available in stores until Feb. 28 on Modern Rock Live. Polly joins us in our LA studios, and we're going to go travel back to the phones and talk to Jason.... Hi Jason.

Jason:Hi. How do you feel about being able to tour in Europe with a great band like REM?

PJH: Hi Jason. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to that, because... well, I've respected REM for quite a while, and... it's -- it's very good -- it's a very good discipline to open for a large band like that, and to play in those large venues, to have the opportunity to do that... And it's also nice -- I enjoy not headlining... it kind of takes the pressure off you in a way, and kind of keeps things in perspective as well, it stops you -- making you feel like you're the best thing on the planet, when you're actually supporting a much larger band, and very often... in cases like that.... the audience really don't pay too much attention to you... it's nice... it's a nice ego-flattener, which I think is healthy for anyone.

MRL: Have you met the band before?

PJH: No, I haven't, but they expressed interest in us supporting them quite a while ago, and I think Michael Stipe has liked my music for quite some time.

MRL: Yeah, that's gonna be good, that's gonna be a great tour. Let's travel to Cleveland and talk to Vicus.... Hi Vicus.

Vicus:Hi. I just want to ask, how do you think the new album compares to the old ones, and how is it different?

PJH: Vicus, that's a strange name. *laughs* What does it mean? Yes, I think that... I think the new record reflects how I am a lot more, and I feel that.... I've become a lot calmer in my old age, and maybe view things a little... maybe getting less introspective about things, and viewing things.... at a greater distance, in a wider perspective, and I think maybe that's how the music sounds too, just.... it seems a lot broader to me, instead of being quite a narrow, sort of tunneled sound. I think it's a reflection of how I've become over the last couple of years, really.

MRL: Do you listen to your older music at all?

PJH: I very rarely listen to any of my own music. Like, for instance, since finishing this record... hearing these songs tonight is really the first time I've heard them in a long long time, apart from playing them. I don't often sit down and listen to the records. I think once I've finished working on something, I like to get quite a distance from it.

MRL: Right. Let's talk to Neal.... in Milwaukee. Hi Neal.

Neal: Hi. I wanted to know how you got started off in your career.

PJH: I sort of fell into it... I never set out to be a musician, or never intended to... that that would be my lifestyle. It was always a hobby, and something I'd enjoyed doing in my spare time... and when the opportunity came that I could make a living from doing that, then I took it, because it's very seldom that that kind of thing comes along. So I thought I'd make the most of it while it was still around, because also it's a very transient kind of thing. I didn't know how long people were going to remain interested in me -- a year, two year, maybe less, so.... well, I'm still around four years later, so I'll see how much longer I'll carry on.

MRL: When you were growing up, did you -- were you surrounded by music at all, or, in a sense of..... did your family bring music into the household? How did you first get interested in music?

PJH: Umm... Music's always been a huge part of my... upbringing, it's as important to my mum and dad as food and water, really. And so it's -- I've just heard music constantly, since I can remember.

MRL: What kind of music did you listen to?

PJH: When I was growing up, it was mostly what my parents were playing, which was a lot of rhythm and blues, yeah, mostly blues music.

MRL: Yeah. Now, when you go on tour, particularly in REM stadium shows as opposed to maybe some of the smaller clubs that you'll eventually do in the United States and eventually move up from there, are you going to tailor the show any differently, or do you have to prepare differently for something like that?

PJH: Yeah, obviously, when I'm supporting REM, it's not my own show, and so you are restricted in how much you're given, in terms of stage design, lighting design.... so that when I am actually playing my own shows, and I have a lot more freedom in that kind of area, I can dictate exactly what I want.

MRL: And obviously, when you do the full show here in the States, you'll be playing what, two, three hours?

PJH: Uhhh... *laughs* I won't be standing if I play two or three hours.

MRL: Hey, Polly, thank you so much for doing the show tonight with us, and the CD is great, and we can't wait until the 28th when the record hits the stores. It's called "To Bring You My Love," and good luck with REM in Europe, and we can't wait to see you sometime in the spring here in the States.

PJH: Thanks, Tom, thanks for having me here.

[Tom's final pleasantries and next band deleted]

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