An interview from MAX (issue 9, Sept 1996), a teeny mag from Singapore! Thankyou Adele.
Hi Sarah, how are ya?
Great! I'm actually in bed! It's been five minutes between each phone interview and I haven't had the chance to actually get up! I've been scoffing me breakfast in between interviews, trying to brush me teeth. I keep thinking "After the next one!"
'Stars' was big in Singapore and 'Elevator Song' is being played a lot. How do you feel about your international success?
Oh wow! It's quite a surprise, coz you always make a record and think nobody's going to like it. So if people do like it, it's always a pleasant surprise. The thing that got me most is that people speak English really really well. We went to Finland and the people there, English wasn't their first language but they had such an amazing grasp of it that they were singing along in English. It was really touching, you know.
What's been your best experience with Dubstar?
Cor blimey! There've been quite a lot really. I think Top Of The Pops, really. And getting a silver disc! We've got one now, so that's going to hang in the toilet, so everyone can see it!
Why did you guys call the album Disgraceful?
It's almost a dare to the journalists, "Go on, write all the worst reviews, say it's disgraceful, coz it's not." And "disgraceful" isn't used much any more in the English language, it's like "oh you're awful but I like ya." Not nasty, just a bit mischievous. And the cover's pretty disgraceful.
We got a different cover in Singapore. What was the original like?
It's a blue pencil case and it's got a pink balloon... strategically placed! But it's innocent looking and it questions your morality - it's disgusting to the mind that thinks it looks like the female's part (laughs).
You co-wrote 'Just A Girl She Said' - was it from personal experience?
It was written ehen I was working in a bar one night. I got really really angry - this man was just nasty and horrible to me. I only said "Hello how are you?", just a polite greeting, and he was just really ignorant, and he said "Oh I s'pose you didn't work hard in school that's why you're working in a bar." And he thought, "Oh, I'd just buy you a drink and it'll be alright," but I thought, "No, you're going to apologize to me, there's no need for you to be nasty to me like that." But he didn't apologize in the end and I went home hopping mad and I wrote that.
How did Chris and Steve convince you to be in the band?
It didn't take much convincing! (laughs) Basically I was pestering every musician in Newcastle to let me sing for them. And finally, I was with this boy and he decided to bring me to the studio and he said "Look, can you really sing or are you being a pain in the bottom?" and we went in the studio and recorded three songs which was just me and the acoustic guitar and Steve and Chris heard it and asked me to join and I said yes straight away! Coz I've seen them play a couple of times before, and I thought they were really good.
What was your first impression when you met them?
Steve I was terrified of because he's got a bald head and he looks quite aggressive even though he's not at all. Chris I thought was very strange coz he kept making strange noises. I was quite frightened by both of them. (laughs)
Are you working on your new album already?
Yeah, we wanted it out in August but there wasn't time. Steve writes a lot of stuff on the keyboard and Chris likes to sit at home with his guitar and four-track and I like to sit and write crappy six-line poetry. (laughs)
Do you play any instruments?
I got thrown out of the recorder group in school! (giggles). I played the violin as well - I sounded like a cat being strangled.
So how do you write songs? Do you sing into a tape recorder?
(sighs) Well. I'm going to have to start doing that. The reason I've avoided doing it, it's really stupid, but I hate the sound of me own voice. I hate the sound of me speaking or singing. It's pathetic, isn't it, it's really pathetic.
How could you hate your own voice?!
I'd hear Steve playing it back in the studio and I'm going "UGH! Turn it off!" and I'd run out. It's like seeing a bad photo of yourself - you have an idea of what you look like, or sound like and it's not what you expect.
Is it nice being famous?
I don't know. I don't think I'm really famous. I don't get recognised on the street at all. I always wanted to be famous as a kid. I think you see fame as having attention when you want it, you see it as going to glamorous parties looking beautiful and hanging out with beautiful people. But you don't see it when you're walking around the supermarket with a hangover. Someone from the blooming tabloids taking your photo - that must be SO annoying! Or you've gone to the gym and your face is all red, and you're going on the exercise bike and the picture appears on the front page of the Daily Mirror! You don't tend to see that side.
What do you like most about being Sarah Dubstar?
Putting on false eyelashes and singing!
You look terrific! What's your beauty regime?
I carry my bathroom cabinet everywhere with me! I'm not that beautiful really, it's all lights and makeup. If you could see me now! I'm nothing without my false eyelashes. I take a lot of vitamins, and I need nine hours of sleep a day but it's rare that I get that. I used to do quite a lot of exercise. When I get a house, I'd like to buy an exercise bike. My bum's getting a bit saggy. Sitting in a train eight hours a day tends to make your bum fall down your legs a bit. Being 25 doesn't help.
What does your mother think of you being a star?
I think she's a bit scared for me, because it's such a fickle business. She's a bit excited: everyone thinks she's the oracle of pop! (laughs) It's funny. They ask her all these questions "Has Sarah done this?" "Has Sarah done that?" and they keep asking her opinion on what's in the charts!
Have you received any fan mail? Marriage proposals?
Fan letters, not many, about four or five. We did some college balls in Cambridge, and I had about five proposals one night. Someone shouted, "Marry me!" and someone else sais, "No, marry me! and someone else said, "No, marry ME!"
Who are your heroes?
Janis Joplin, the Beatles, Madonna.
Have you met Madonna?
Oh no, I don't think I could. I'd be too nervous. In a way I want her to be a kind of mythical person. Once you meet your heroes, there's nothing more upsetting to find out they're people with problems just like you are. But in a way it's comforting too.
Favourite Madonna song?
Changes all the time. At the moment it's 'Borderline'.
Okay, the inevitable question: Do you have a boyfriend?
Yeah (giggles). He's 29, he's got blonde hair and he's very cute! (rumours have it Sarah is seeing a DJ on the London circuit)
Any plans for marriage or babies?
Every time we pass a wedding dress shop my boyfriend drags me away, "Don't even think about it, woman!" We've only been seeing each other eight months. It's still in it's early stages.
You know, a friend said that she likes to cuddle to Disgraceful.
(coos) Oooh! 'ow nice!!! That's lovely!