Favorite Stevie interview and Why

[Macfan4life]

This is my favorite Stevie interview. Let me count the ways. I know most of us have seen this a million times but this interview is so freaking good for so many reasons.
The interviewer does not kiss her butt and asks open ended but direct questions. Very provoking without being rude. I hate those interviews where they are all high and its a love fest over and over. Great range of topics.

Stevie looks pretty good here and she is about to hit a wall and her problems cant be hidden anymore. Yes she is high here since you can see her rocking back and forth near the end. But she is frail and before her weight gain around the RAL tour.

Its so 80's OMG shoulder pads and that dress Those gloves are just way too much. Its so funny about her commenting how she has influenced Madonna and other artists for the way they dress. However this is 1985 and peak Madonna craze and she is wearing Madonna inspired marterial girl gloves. Too ironic! But its right before HUGE BIG PUFFY HAIR was in style. So she looks pretty good here. Her hair was soon to be a frizz pot.

We get such amazing pre-interview clips of her being annoyed she cant check her face (and nose) before the interview. She does not seem thrilled to do the interview but once it starts she is a darling.

The interviewer knows her stuff. She asks why RAL is taking so long and the debacle of recording in a Dallas church where the musicians had to be kept flying in. Stevie beats around the bush for the delay because she is lying to herself.

OMG Stevie knows so much about MTV. She talks about Cyndi Lauper's "money changes everything" video about her flying over the audience in a garbage can and about Christine's "Love will show us How" video and mentions the guitar on fire on the piano. Stevie was a MTV junkie!!!!

Fleetwood Mac is an unknown. She implies she really may not have time for them and says they are going into the studio in July (1985?). She tries to be positive and says if they want my songs they will have them and if it was meant to be, it will happen. But she is not very certain she has time for Fleetwood Mac. Its not very reassuring she plans to join them.

Stevie talks about touring Europe and these other pipe dreams. I am guessing but this interview must have been done early spring 1985. RAL is still being worked on and she says by July she should be on the road. Well it got delayed even more and got pushed back till November. There are huge changes in Stevie's appearance from 1985 till the end of the RAL tour. She talks about still working on songs with Jimmy Iovine so either she is lying or the interview is earlier than I thought.

My favorite interview. Anyone know who the interviewer was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfQqHSgQ0Y

[24karatstevie]

This is one of my favorite Stevie interviews as well. I just love hearing her talk about her life and music. Plus, this interview has one of my favorite quotes of all time, "Summon Sister Honey, she's upstairs!" when the interviewer asks about her paintings

[Sanne2]

I thought this was 1984 instead of 1985?

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by Sanne2

I thought this was 1984 instead of 1985?

Rock a Little came out at the end of 1985, so the interview couldn't have been 1984. No one does publicity for an album a year ahead of time.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bwboy

Rock a Little came out at the end of 1985, so the interview couldn't have been 1984. No one does publicity for an album a year ahead of time.

True and I agree it was probably 1985. But there were so many false alarms about the release of RAL that it gets confusing. There was a Rolling Stone article around May 1984 that said "Stevie Nicks putting final touches on new alum." It sounded like the release was imminent but it would be another year and a half before it finally was released

[mitzo]

She looks lovely and is articulate and lucid here. Do we know what the issue was with the repeated delays of RAL? Was it Stevie being nuts, the record company desperate for radio-friendly singles, producers?

[Tango]

Thank you for putting this video link up. I wonder what church Stevie and co. were recording in. It's hard to imagine!

I love the song Sister Honey and it was great that she put the painting on display for the interview.

Of course: (update)
"Stevie used this downtime to record the first version of her new song, "Sara." This happened at a Dallas studio owned by Gordon Perry, an old friend of Keith Olsen's whom they'd known from Buckingham Nicks days at Sound City. Perry's studio was in a deconsecrated church, which provided a spooky and charming atmosphere. During the making of the first "Sara" demo--sixteen minutes long and referencing everyone in the band and its extended family's lives and loves. Stevie also became close with Gordon's wife, Lori Perry. Lori was a lovely, fair-skinned redhead, originally from Los Angels, and a talented singer and trained dancer. In addition to the "Sara" demo, Stevie also recorded the first demo version of a new song (mostly about Mick) called "Beauty and the Beast" in Dallas that night."
-excerpted from Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks, By Stephen Davis (2017) - soon to be available



https://www.dmagazine.com/publicatio...mber/insiders/

"Gordon Perry is a professional in one of the most competitive businesses in the world: the music industry. But at Goodnight Audio recording studio, housed in a renovated North Dallas Baptist church west of Stemmons Freeway, he’s looking for more competition.

Perry, who has arranged and produced music for pop star Stevie Nicks, is currently promoting the talents of singer/actress Lisa Hartman and two rock bands, Automatic (from Houston) and Big Deal (from Austin). At 37, Perry is determined to “dig in” and wait until the big-name record labels in Los Angeles and New York recognize the talent in Dallas. (Perry’s wife Linda, toured with Stevie Nicks on her 1981 tour)."


Okay, Linda, Lori - we know who he means.

[bombaysaffires]

I always find the beginning of this interesting... where the interviewer asks if she's ready and she says "I guess so" and doesn't look entirely happy, and then does this big sigh.... and then you see her flip the switch and put on her more upbeat interview persona... She's such a professional that she knows she has to put on a good face and be all upbeat in interviews, even if she's not feeling it. That's why I find it amusing when a lot of her fans think how she is in an interview is how she is in real life. "Sometimes she's an actress, but you'll never really know...." I don't mean she's being fake, I just mean she does her job, which is to make you think her life is great.

Also, though she seems quite lucid, look at her eyes. Her pupils are massively dilated. And she's in bright tv lights, so that's not natural. It's like her comment in the Oprah master class where she says she sees herself in videos and things now looking back, and thinks, wow, you're so high there. Couldn't yo u have laid off the drugs for even a little while? I see that here.

[ricohv]

Originally Posted by Sanne2

I thought this was 1984 instead of 1985?

This video actually WAS filmed in 1984. I remember clearly that the only part of it I ever saw on MTV was a VERY brief (15 seconds long maybe?) part that they used in a segment about upcoming albums. I remember loving her hair & the gloves and being excited about an album that would still take over a year to be released.
I remember this clearly because it was the summer before I started 10th grade (1984) & I had been sent to a reform home in Idaho. I was so bored that summer all I did was watch MTV -till I ran away never to return. So much for being reformed
*Ricoh*
p.s. Not trying to be a know it all-it's just that that memory makes me 100% POSITIVE that this was filmed in '84.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by ricohv

This video actually WAS filmed in 1984. I remember clearly that the only part of it I ever saw on MTV was a VERY brief (15 seconds long maybe?) part that they used in a segment about upcoming albums. I remember loving her hair & the gloves and being excited about an album that would still take over a year to be released.
I remember this clearly because it was the summer before I started 10th grade (1984) & I had been sent to a reform home in Idaho. I was so bored that summer all I did was watch MTV -till I ran away never to return. So much for being reformed
*Ricoh*
p.s. Not trying to be a know it all-it's just that that memory makes me 100% POSITIVE that this was filmed in '84.

Its possible. But if it was 1984 it had to be very late 1984 because she talks about upcoming July twice... once saying once the record was released she does not want to sit around for 2 months and July is when she should be hitting the road. Also she says the Mac is supposed to get in the studio in July. She talks like July is not too far off so I would bet it was early 1985.
However one clue that does make it possible for 1984. She said she just worked on several tracks for Jimmy to hear. Jimmy walked out of the RAL sessions late 1984/early 1985. So this could be right before he walks out which would make the interview earlier than most of us think.

Edit: On second thought I don't think it could be 1984 at all. If it was, Stevie would refer to July as "next year." The way she says July is if it was shortly upcoming.

[KateTheCursed]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Its possible. But if it was 1984 it had to be very late 1984 because she talks about upcoming July twice... once saying once the record was released she does not want to sit around for 2 months and July is when she should be hitting the road. Also she says the Mac is supposed to get in the studio in July. She talks like July is not too far off so I would bet it was early 1985.
However one clue that does make it possible for 1984. She said she just worked on several tracks for Jimmy to hear. Jimmy walked out of the RAL sessions late 1984/early 1985. So this could be right before he walks out which would make the interview earlier than most of us think.

Edit: On second thought I don't think it could be 1984 at all. If it was, Stevie would refer to July as "next year." The way she says July is if it was shortly upcoming.

Your putting an awful lot of stock in Stevie's concept of time. Even sober it's suspect, I can't imagine what it would have been like high.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Tango

Thank you for putting this video link up. I wonder what church Stevie and co. were recording in. It's hard to imagine!

I love the song Sister Honey and it was great that she put the painting on display for the interview.

Of course: (update)
"Stevie used this downtime to record the first version of her new song, "Sara." This happened at a Dallas studio owned by Gordon Perry, an old friend of Keith Olsen's whom they'd known from Buckingham Nicks days at Sound City. Perry's studio was in a deconsecrated church, which provided a spooky and charming atmosphere. During the making of the first "Sara" demo--sixteen minutes long and referencing everyone in the band and its extended family's lives and loves. Stevie also became close with Gordon's wife, Lori Perry. Lori was a lovely, fair-skinned redhead, originally from Los Angels, and a talented singer and trained dancer. In addition to the "Sara" demo, Stevie also recorded the first demo version of a new song (mostly about Mick) called "Beauty and the Beast" in Dallas that night."
-excerpted from Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks, By Stephen Davis (2017) - soon to be available



https://www.dmagazine.com/publicatio...mber/insiders/

"Gordon Perry is a professional in one of the most competitive businesses in the world: the music industry. But at Goodnight Audio recording studio, housed in a renovated North Dallas Baptist church west of Stemmons Freeway, he’s looking for more competition.

Perry, who has arranged and produced music for pop star Stevie Nicks, is currently promoting the talents of singer/actress Lisa Hartman and two rock bands, Automatic (from Houston) and Big Deal (from Austin). At 37, Perry is determined to “dig in” and wait until the big-name record labels in Los Angeles and New York recognize the talent in Dallas. (Perry’s wife Linda, toured with Stevie Nicks on her 1981 tour)."


Okay, Linda, Lori - we know who he means.

And also, the studio was called Goodnight Dallas not Goodnight Audio. Check the liner notes on her album, it is credited at Goodnight Dallas.

When people miss such obvious small stuff, it makes you wonder about the bigger stuff in their books........

[Tango]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

And also, the studio was called Goodnight Dallas not Goodnight Audio. Check the liner notes on her album, it is credited at Goodnight Dallas.

When people miss such obvious small stuff, it makes you wonder about the bigger stuff in their books........

True. But I've also seen mistakes on liner notes! I looked on line a bit and found this:

"Goodnight Audio Dallas Recording Studios"

Speak up Texans.

[ricohv]

Originally Posted by KateTheCursed

Your putting an awful lot of stock in Stevie's concept of time. Even sober it's suspect, I can't imagine what it would have been like high.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I swear, cross my heart...this was filmed in '84!

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by ricohv

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I swear, cross my heart my heart...this was filmed in '84!

I totally believe you. There is circumstantial evidence in the interview that can go both ways. Her hair in 1985 was frizzed out. Here it is not. Most revealing to support 1984 is she talks about Jimmy Iovine still working on RAL (something about her playing him more songs). That part reveals part of the album was still to be scrapped or worked on with other producers. Also, Tango was not even a dream yet and the Mac was not even working together.
What needs to be put in context is the constant delays of RAL that went on for well over a year. So when she talks about the record being finished....not really. So its possible in late 1984 Stevie thought her album would be out in spring 1985 or something. If I had to place a bet, I would say this interview is about March 1985.
Who knows. In any event its a great interview Would love to know who the interviewer was.