Shaping Your Own History With WENDY JAMES

Wendy James' musical career has mirrored the life of many of her
fans. From the rebellious punk stage to the seasoned, reflective
artist, James has endured a lifetime of music many in the
profession only dream of.
Starting with the wildly successful, provocative and infectious
Transvision Vamp in the 1980s - a band who oozed anarchaic intent
coupled with a sexuality that would be frowned upon today - and
moving through to her current solo career, James has always
maintained a strong sense of worth and self belief. Professionally
and personally.
While her music has understandably gone through the subtle nuances
of time and the public image might not be as openly flirtatious,
James maintains a youthful exuberance that sees her release her
tenth album The Shape Of History on October 25.
James joined HEAVY earlier this week for a chat about life, music
and art.
"There is a consistency to my songwriting," she measured when asked
to delve into the musical nature of The Shape Of History. "I often
say that my comfort zone is that CBGB/Max's Kansas City, mid 70s to
late 70s downtown new wave punk sound that the Americans did. Even
though I grew up with the English punks, it's actually that grimy
New York downtown scene that I really enjoy. So there's always that
in all of my albums, but The Shape of History is an expanded
outlook and sound. All of my albums have experimentation, but they
go off. So maybe there's a little country. Maybe there's a little
blues. Maybe there's a little bit of girl pop, and this album, if
it's got anything that marks it different to the albums, is the
fact there's a bit of California sound in there as well. And it's
called The Shape Of History because it is my tenth album and I did
start when I was a teenager in 1986 and so you can chart the course
of my life through all the albums I've made, and therefore you've
got a shape of history."
In the full interview, Wendy discussed her collaboration with
Australian photographer and editor, David Lee Dodd, who condensed
48 hours of old Transvision Vamp footage into a 3.5-minute music
video. She also talked about her album, The Shape of History, which
starts with a beautifully ambient piano intro for the track Sweet
Like Love. Wendy explained that she wanted to create a musical
interlude, similar to the opening of Woody Allen's movie Manhattan,
and worked with Dave Sherman to achieve this. We spoke about her
history and music and how the two merge together, the changing
musical landscape, her upcoming instore appearances, future tours
and more.


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