Deborah Harry - Interview

Interview, May, 2000 by Jill Cunnif

UNLEASHED: PURE ROCK FIERCENESS

JILL CUNNIFF: We have a picture of your little doggie in our album (Luscious Jackson's Electric Honey]. What's her name?

DEBORAH HARRY: Her name is Chi Chan, otherwise known as Chi Chi, otherwise known as Peepers. And she's a Japanese Chin. They call them Japanese spaniels. It was the forerunner of the King Charles spaniel and was brought to the U.K. on a sailing ship probably in the 1600s, perhaps even earlier, as a present from the Japanese emperor. This breed is first documented in 52 or 54 A.D. or something like that. Old, rare breed.

JC: Does she come with you on tour?

DH: No. I took her once, and it was really hard on her. She doesn't feel comfortable in strange environments, so she's always sort of anxious. She can't relax. So she stays with various friends. [ldots] Suckers. [laughs]

JC: I know you've talked about this a lot, but tell me the truth: What prompted Blondie's getting back together?

DH: I think it was premature senility. We all forgot what it was really like and over some martinis or something said, "Oh great, let's make another record." Not quite like that, but it might as well have been.

JC: When you got back on the road were you happy or reminded of something you dislike?

DH: Both [ldots] everything [ldots] the whole bucket full of slop. It was heartwarming and wonderful to have fans coming out of the woodwork and to see new fans. And playing is always great. The other stuff is the downside.

JC: Are there any band arguments ongoing from the past?

DH: When Chris and I first discussed putting a band together, we said we didn't want side men. We didn't want people just to be a blank wall that could be painted on; we wanted features and felt that that was an intrinsic thing about a band, that all the bands that we really liked had characters that stood on their own.

JC: So you picked people who had strong personalities?

DH: Yeah. It wasn't exactly a smart thing to do, because it caused a lot of friction. But it created something. That is a very hard thing to manage and has a certain energy that people don't necessarily want to take the chance of finding.

JC: Just for the record, as we all know, Luscious Jackson take a lot of cues from Blondie. We always mention you as a big influence.

DH: Thank you. Undeservedly, I think.

JC: No, I think you guys really blazed a trail in terms of crossing boundaries in music. That's something that people still aren't really doing, and it's partially because of the way the business is set up. When you started, I guess you could say you were new wave punk. What led to your branching out into songs like "Rapture" and "Heart of Glass"? Was the record company into it?

DH: We had established ourselves as doing punk-pop with touches of salsa, merengue, mustard [laughs], whatever, and they got along with that. Then when we got to the third record, Parallel Lines [1978], they rejected it.

JC: You're kidding.

DH: They refused it. Turned it down. They had a listening session with their executives and they said, "No. Do it over. Fix it." I think the next one was rejected as well. I think most of the records that we handed in were at that time considered too controversial and unmarketable.

JC: When "Heart of Glass" came out I was thirteen or so, and I lived in the Village. It turned me on to this whole world. Somehow we'd get into the clubs: dress up in makeup and high heels, go out to Max's Kansas City and CBGB. I'd be like, Where's Debbie. where's Debbie? Where's Blondie?

DH: Lying on the floor.

JC: I was very entranced by that era. When you look back on the rock scene in the late '70s and early '80s, was it fun for you?

DH: It had this sense of danger. It was private and exclusive in a weird way because nobody really knew or cared about it. And yet all these people were being as reckless as they could. People were exotic in their dress. People don't really even dress that way anymore: really having a sense of costume and personal style. I don't mean just going out and buying stuff off the rack that's glittery.

JC: It seems those kind of scenes don't crop up as much anymore.

DH: My thinking is there's a loss of regional soul. Everything is communicated either over the Internet or through TV. When I go to Europe, I find everything so American. It's impersonal and contrived. I'm concerned about those artists who are wondering about production deals instead of trying to find or express themselves. I think there's always going to be a desperation to being a teenager, but no one seems to be turning that into an art form.

JC: We're both longtime residents of New York, our lovely city. How do you feel about the turn it's taken towards Giuliani-land?

DH: Well, I don't necessarily think it's Giuliani. I think it's a sign of the times and of the economy. It's happened in New York last of all the major cities. It's part of the whole synthetic atmosphere or lack of vibe that we just talked about.

JC: I think a lot of people are wondering, "What's going to happen to this town?"