Blondie: Debbie Harry


Posted June 4, 2014 in Music

blondie
Image: Danielle St. Laurent

Blondie are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year with a tour that will bring them them to Stockholm and Cirkus in June. We spoke to our favourite 68-year-old pop icon about a rollercoaster career that is far from over.

Q: How does it feel talking about 40 years of Blondie – and a new album, too?

A: Feels good. I’m so happy to have new music and to be involved in this crazy world for so many years. And never expecting it to happen. And feel through it all that, for the ups and downs, I’ve had a very interesting experience. And I hope that at some point I can communicate all of this, that I can write some kind of a book or story that tells how it really felt to me.

I think that a lot of interviews are from the interviewers´ point of view. They ask a certain kind of question, so you try to answer their question. And I think maybe my interpretation might be a little bit different. It might impress people to know that I probably have made a million mistakes. (laughs)

Q: Have you?

A: Oh yeah, sure.

Q: But that’s what life is all about, isn’t it?

A: Absolutely, absolutely. If you don’t, what else have you got? I mean, is anybody that perfect that they don’t make a mistake?

Q: Do you still make a division between Deborah Harry, Blondie, and Dirty Harry?

A: Well, I haven’t done Dirty Harry in a while. I like Dirty Harry. Dirty Harry was a lot of fun. I think now the persona of Blondie has been so identified with me as the image of Blondie that I’ve sort of gotten used to it. And I think that Chris and Clem have gotten over the idea that it’s a band, and they realize that it’s important to have a signature front person. So, I guess it’s sort of easier for me now. In some ways I feel like it’s me, and in some ways I feel like it’s a creation, a persona, a character, in some way a characterization. But I guess mostly I think it’s me, and how I feel and my performance.

 

Q: But you must have felt absorbed by that person as well – at least to some degree?

A: Oh, I think it’s a little simpler for me now, yeah. A little simpler.

 

Q: You were never shy to use your sexuality in a playful way, where you?

A: No, never. But I was criticised for being too overtly sexual, which was very innocent compared to what’s going on now, certainly. We were recently talking about Wendy O’Williams, you know. And it was such a big deal back then. She showed her tits and she blew up cars on stage and broke TVs, and now it would just be normal, part of everyday. It’s funny when you think about the difference.

 

Q: We are at a point where everybody’s exposing themselves to the fullest. How do you feel about the Miley Cyrus and Rihanna making an art out of that?

A: Well, I think that they’re entitled to do what they feel or what they think is going to work for them. And I think that they look good. They don’t look bad. So, it’s a nice to have that good visual. I don’t know. It seems part of the standard for today really, doesn’t it?

 

Q: What is Debbie Harry into these days? What do you find interesting?

A: Oh, I guess ah… I don’t know. I mean, I think I’m more concerned about political things now, and environmental issues. And as an artist I sort of feel like I just want to do things as good as I possibly can, and basically, I think I’m really interested in the state of the world. And what I can possibly do – if I can do anything.

Q: So what would you change if you were president?

A: Oh, probably everything that I could. A lot of things. I can’t believe that solar energy is not the primary source of energy on the entire planet. My God! What are we waiting for?

Q: What do you make of the NSA spying on the world for years?

A: Oh, by us? I can’t imagine why anybody didn’t think that was happening. I mean, in the 60s all it was, was: “Oh well, Big Brother is watching.” And everybody automatically assumed that everybody was listening to everybody else. And as a matter of fact a very old, old friend of mine – Emile de Antonio, who was the film director for that movie Rush To Judgment from years ago about the Kennedy assassination – told me that his phone was tapped. And that was in the 60s. And of course I went haywire with that, because if his phone was tapped, then my phone was tapped. So, I mean, everybody always thought that anyway. So, what is the big news? And now it’s even easier to do, technically.

blondie3

Q: Do you still think you’re the daughter of Marilyn Monroe?

A: No, I meant that spiritually, I think. And as an influence.

Q: Any idea how you’re going to celebrate your 70th birthday?

A: Oh gosh, I hope in a good way! I hope I have a really good party.

Q: Is that a scary thought as well?

A: Too late for that. There’s other things that are much scarier.

Q: How do you stay in shape?

A: I exercise. I exercise with a trainer.

Q: Is plastic surgery OK, too?

A: Plastic surgery is OK. I’m not ready yet. But I think I’m getting ready for more surgery. I’m preparing. Whatever.

Q: However, the question is: How far can you take it until you turn into someone like Joan Rivers, who looks so artificial. Yet it fits her persona, because she’s like a teenager in a way.

A: I know. She’s so fun. I love Joan. I said to her once: “Oh Joan, I wish that we had gone to school together.” And she said: “Oh, you’re much too young for that. We would have never been in school at the same time.” I thought if… imagine what it would be like to go to school with a nut job like that. I mean, it would be so much fun. It’d be so great.

Q: Did you see that episode of Louis CK with her? There’s an episode where Louis CK and Joan Rivers meet in Vegas and they´re having a one night stand. It’s hilarious…

A: Oh. But it’s really her and him? Excellent, excellent! I have to see that! I haven’t seen that.

Q: How do you feel being called “a punk icon”? Does that reduce you to just one thing, to one facet out of many?

A: I don’t know. I don’t think that we played punk music strictly. I think we always did a mixture. And punk was more of a signature about a sensibility and attitude. So, in that sense we were, we were very punk.

Q: Can you recall your days as a “bunny” at the Playboy Club in NYC?

A: Yeah.

Q: Was it as glamorous as it sounds?

A: Actually it was very middle class, very bourgeois. A membership was not terrifically expensive. And at the club itself you could go there and have a nice evening and have some entertainment, very reasonably. And there were different levels of the club. Some of the floors – as you went upstairs – were more expensive, because of the different kinds of entertainment. But I think it was very mindful of all different levels of income actually.

Q: What was it like wearing those bunny costumes?

A: The girls there were part of the entertainment, part of the sort mystic, the excitement, the naughtiness of it. But on the inside of that job the girls were treated very, very well. There was a lot of benefits, health benefits, job security, good salary, good money. It was very, very sought after kind of job.

Q: So, it wasn’t degrading to women at all? Because the feminist movement in the late 60s really made it one of its main targets…

A: No, I think if they had really looked into it, you know, I think that they were more concerned with the degradingness of the appearance. And that it excluded all women, that they were careful in their selection and they wanted pretty girls. So I think that the feminist movement was concerned with that, that a lot of women would be not able to have that job. But basically, it was a good job for girls. And they could stay there for a long time. It wasn’t like you were given four years and kicked out because you were getting old. There were some women there that had been there for a long time. And they were protected in that job.

Image: Danielle St. Laurent
Image: Danielle St. Laurent

Q: You still got your bunny costume?

A: No, we weren’t allowed to keep them.

Q: Chris once photographed you as “Playmate of the Month”. Who would you make “Playmate of the Month” if you had a choice?

A: Oh, well there’s so many. There’s a lot of good girls now, many, many girls, yeah. I don’t know who I would choose. But there’s a lot. One of the girls that I thought was particularly punky – although I haven’t heard much from her lately – is Lady Sovereign. I thought she was very punky, very punky.

Q: Looking back: How did the 70s and 80s differ from today – if we talk about New York, the arts, society, and politics?

A: I think in the US we were sort of up against a very conservative regime for a long time. And now it’s sort of loosened up a little bit. And hope that it doesn’t go back to conservative in the next election. I don’t know.

Q: There are designer hotels on the Bowery now, and the Meatpacking District is owned by Robert DeNiro it seems…

A: Yeah, it’s crazy. And Furstenberg, I think she´s putting up a big building there. We saw her on the street the other day, looking at an empty lot, around the block from her boutique. So, I think, she owns the whole block there, too. But yeah, that’s weird.

Q: New York was pretty seedy and nasty in the 70s, wasn’t it?

A: I miss all the old days. Watching your back it made for a certain tension and excitement that’s maybe missing a little now, you know. Giuliani kind of fucked things over.

Q: Because that environment was good for the arts?

A: It seemed that way, yeah. I mean, I think a lot of artists could live there and do their art economically. But now that it’s become very gentrified, just difficult.

Q: Are you still based in Manhattan, while Chris moved to Woodstock?

A: He’s back in Manhattan. I’m in Manhattan. It’s home base.

Q: In the 70s your rent was unbelievably cheap, wasn’t it?

A: Yeah, it didn’t cost anything to live in the city, back then. In the 60s I had friends who had apartments that cost 20 dollars still. It was on the Lower East Side, you know, you could get a one room apartment for 25 bucks. It was a different era.

Q: Nowadays it´s thousands of dollars a week…

A: Yeah, I wonder. But it’s balanced by the technology helping people make music more cheaply, you can make a record in your apartment.

Q: That’s true. But does that make you nostalgic about the good old days and cynical about the state of things?

A: A little bit, but you have to. Regret is part of life and part of being happy, and there’s a lot of great art being produced now. I mean, there’s so many great TV-shows now.

Q: You mean on HBO?

A: Yeah, but still it’s switched with Hollywood. I mean, True Detective is so fucking great. It’s just awesome. It’s a whole that is shaping up to be as cool as Breaking Bad in a way.

Q: Do you still go to clubs a lot – as hinted in the music?

A (chuckles): I do actually. I guess I go out a fair amount. Last week I was at Up & Down, which is a new club on 14th Street. So that was a lot of fun. And I have a lot of friends, who are DJs. And I love to dance.

Q: There´s never been a shortage of clubs in New York City, has there? Starting with Max´s Kansas City and legendary CBGBs. What was so special about the place? The only thing I remember is the toilets, and they were disgusting.

A: Yes, pretty bad. We would all hold it. (laughs) Hold it and not go down there. I think maybe that song from The Ramones was partially about that: “Oh no, I don’t want to go down to the basement, cause down there.” (laughs) I don’t know, probably not. But as kids we never wanted to go down to the basement. Cause it was so dark and scary. And that toilet was certainly very scary.

blondie4

Q: But you had some great times there, obviously?

A: Yeah, sure it was a good hangout.

Q: Also you’ve been a regular at Studio 54, haven’t you?

A: Well, not so much Studio 54. I wasn’t ah… I mean that was sort of uptown. But of course, I’ve had my fun there for sure.

Q: Were did you go instead?

A: Mostly a club called Mother. Originally, it was called Jackie 60. And it was originated by Chi Chi Valente and Johnny Dynell. Johnny had a band back in the 70s called The Dynells. And he’s worked for many years as a DJ. And so they started this club, and it was a lot of fun. It was a theme nightclub. Once a week they would pick a theme and everyone would sort of dress up. And there would be entertainment, some kind of act, dancing, conversation, some naughty bits. So, it was a lot of fun, it was great fun.

Q: Honestly: Aren´t you missing those characters like Andy Warhol, Truman Capote and William Burroughs? You did know them well, didn´t you?

A: Yes, it’s very sad that they’re gone. But they were a terrific influence, and I mean, we have some pretty interesting writers and artists now, so. It’s always like that, you know, turn over revolution.

Q: How did you feel when the Warhol’s prints of you were selling for 5.9 million dollars at Sotheby’s? Did you get a percentage of that?

A: No, it wasn’t my painting.

Q: Still, that´s quite a compliment, isn’t it?

A: Ah… pretty good, yeah. (chuckles)

Q: Are you still interested in movies? Are you still active in that field?

A: Not very active in that. I’ve done a few things in very small theatres. But I haven’t done much on film.

Q: Would you love to, though?

A: Sure, I would. Sure.

Q: What directors or actors are you into? Who would you love to work with?

A: Well, there are so many. I should have a list. And I can never think of their names. But the Coen Brothers for sure. I don’t know, there’s a long, long list – believe me.

Q: One of the last movies you did was “Spun” by Jonas Åkerlund, which was a trip in itself…

A: That film is in the book of records for having more edits than any other film ever made. It’s chopped up. Yeah, it’s to brilliant effect. I mean, the effect of it is so appropriate. He’s really, really good. I love Jonas.

Q: You played a hardcore lesbian in that one.

A: Yes.

Q: Rumour has it you had quite a few female affairs over the years. Is that true?

A: Yeah.

Q: What’s better: Making love to a man or a woman?

A: Well, let´s say women are more sensual… (laughs)

Q: But for a long term relationship you´d prefer men?

A: Yeah. (laughs)

Q: Why did you never marry or become a mom?

A: It just didn’t work out that way. At the time I didn’t think that I would be particularly good at it. It seemed very frightening to me. And it didn’t seem natural to me.

Q: But you were thinking about adopting at one point?

A: Very long time ago, yeah.

Q: And that’s no longer on your agenda?

A: No, I think if it came into a situation that I felt a child needed me or children needed me for some specific thing that I could help them in some way. That would be good. I don’t know if I’m a particularly good person to live with. (laughs) I have no way of knowing. I’m nice to my dogs. I’m very good to my dogs. I think I would probably be good, but it’s not something that I felt. I think a lot of women yearn for motherhood. And it wasn’t something I yearned for instinctively.

Q: So what are your hopes and dreams in 2014? What goals does Debbie Harry still have?

A: Well, I think I would like to fall deeply in love. I want to do a really great tour with Blondie for our big anniversary. I would like for at least one of the new songs to be very popular. What else? Well, in terms of all of the issues that we talked about earlier with politics and human rights and ecology, you know, that we would make some progress in these areas. So, that life would be sustainable.

Q: Are you planning on any special events in connection with the 40th anniversary?

A: Well, I think that the whole tour will be that. Whether we have one that’s a special party as an anniversary special by invitation only, that’s perhaps something to think about. The other thing that’s happening is that Chris Stein is a photographer. And many of his pictures have been part of the Blondie catalogue and so on. And so he’s doing a book. It’s coming out in the fall from Rizzoli. So, he’s doing this new book and he’s writing all the captions, and it’s little stories about what was going on in the pictures. So, I’m looking forward to that. And I think that will be very, very special.

Q: Talking about falling in love again – what are you looking for in a man? What are your requirements?

A: Oh, I don’t know if I have any specific requirements. Just somebody nice, who has a good sense of humour and loves to have sex. What more could you ask for?

Q: A love for dogs maybe?

A: A love for dogs. (chuckles) Ah… well, either way.

Blondie is at Cirkus on June 10.

Words by Marcel Anders/The Interview People

SEARCH

NEWSLETTER

The key to the city. Straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter.

Norges Casino

NEWSLETTER

The key to the city. Straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter.

Skip to toolbar