Bananarama @ CD:UK
29.07.05

Now here’s a girl band with staying power, not to mention girl power! Forget the Spice Girls trad sloganeering – 25 years after Bananarama formed in a London council flat, the remaining members, Keren Woodward and Sarah Dallin, are still a breath of fresh air. Sure they’ve had some hideous hairspray accidents, sported white dungarees with pride and watched their third member Siobhan Fahey jump ship (she went on to form Shakespeare’s Sister), but as a duo they’ve stood the test of time. Songs like ‘Love In The First Degree’ and ‘Venus’ are still fabulous dancefloor fillers, while their latest single ‘Move In My Direction’ takes a leaf out of Kylie’s electro-pop book. We spoke to Keren Woodward (brunette, beautiful, still living with ex-Wham star Andrew Ridgely) about banana suits, Robert De Niro and working in the pensions department at the BBC.

A lot of people seem to credit the Spice Girls for being the first girl group. Does that annoy you?
Do you know what? Virtually everyone we meet says we were the original girl band. But it is a different generation now. We were very do it yourself, and I think that’s where we differ from anyone who has come since. I always think the Sugababes might be a bit like us: a little sulky and two of them are mates from school. But, apart from that, we were just a completely different type of act. We’ve probably got more in common with indie bands who come up through the clubs.

In 1987 you said, “I’m sure there will come a point when we’ll look at ourselves and think it’s laughable to continue singing as a duo.” But you’re still here!
If someone had told me when I was 18 that, almost 25 years later, I’d still want to be doing it, I would have thought that was laughable. You have no concept of that when you’re younger, no concept of how you’re going to feel at a certain age. But, having got here, I certainly feel I’ve got a lot to give. I actually don’t feel like I’m any older than I was when we were in the middle of it. We’ve been having a real giggle. It’s like being back at school.

What were you like at school? Were you tearaways?
We were mischievous. We were probably classed as naughty girls, but not in the grand scheme of things, the way kids behave these days. We certainly weren’t beating up teachers. We were just a bit lippy.

You and Sarah left home together as teenagers. What happened?
I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and it was very frustrating. I think I must’ve been very disillusioned when I was 16! I just thought, “I’ll go to London. That’s where it’s happening.” I literally picked up the phone, called the BBC and said, “Can you give me a job?” And they said, “Yes, of course we can!” They stuck me in the pensions department because I had a grade A in maths! Sarah studied to be a journalist at the London College of Fashion and met Siobhan there.

You recently played the legendary G.A.Y club night at London’s Astoria. How was it?
It was fabulous! It’s just my favourite audience in the whole world! There literally wasn’t a person in the place not joining in, singing. As far back as you could see, hands were in the air. You could hardly hear what was going on onstage, they sang so loud! My 18-year-old son came because he was doing some filming for us for a DVD, and he just couldn’t believe it. He said, “It’s just like a rock gig!” He was completely blown away! I think he expected a bunch of gay men happily swaying side to side, but they went ballistic.

Now, the last time you played at G.A.Y was with Siobhan…
We did the 20th anniversary show and Siobhan came on for the encore, which was fantastic because she’d never done a live show with us. She quit just as we were going on our first world tour. Every live show we’d planned before, something happened: I got pregnant, Siobhan got pregnant, the girl thing getting in the way. We did the odd song in front of big crowds, but we’d never done a full on concert. It was amazing when she came on, I have to say, but it was only for one night.

Who made the first call to get in touch?
Well, we’d been speaking with Siobhan on a regular basis. But when she originally left, we didn’t speak for seven years - which is ridiculous. She met Dave [Stewart, from The Eurythmics] and moved to LA and that was it. Then she divorced Dave, came back and spoke to us! There was a long period of time when we didn’t speak but, when we did meet up, it was like nothing had happened. We’re like sisters or something.

Would you say that was the only time a man came between you guys as a unit?
I can’t say it was a man who came between us, because Siobhan was unhappy at that particular point and I think marrying Dave gave her that opportunity to go off and do something different. But I do feel that she was unhappy. I mean, she was unhappy anyway and it wasn’t just because of Dave. I’d hate to blame him!

You released a record in 1993 called Please Yourself. Was this a reference to… ahem, pleasuring yourself?
No, I think it was kind of, “Please yourself! If you want to buy it, it’s up to you. We don’t really care.” That was just before we decided to take a break. We’d been doing it for a ridiculous amount of time, day in and day out. Our hearts were still in it in one way, but I think we just felt negative vibes around at the time. It’s tough when you’ve had all this fabulous stuff going on and then, suddenly, everyone’s like [she shrugs]. It’s a very British thing - you feel like the media don’t like you and we were having troubles with the label. It wasn’t right, so it was the perfect time to sit back and revaluate and live life a bit. We couldn’t quite manage to stay away.

One of your most famous songs is called ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’. What happened when you met him?
It was amazing. We were such massive fans, and he called us in our little council flat that we all used to share. He said, “Hey, I hear you’ve written a song about me. Do you fancy coming out for a drink?” We were 21, quite shy and very nervous. He was probably about the age I am now, but he seemed like a big old man who was just so famous and a movie star and we were little girls. We had a few drinks before he even came because we had to take the edge off our nerves. Then we went to this bar and we’d told our friends we were going there and they were positioned around the bar at different tables. They weren’t allowed to come over though, because we thought: this is a bit embarrassing, we can’t go and meet him and then bring a big entourage!

Did he know what the subject matter of the song concerned?
I’m sure we discussed it, but I have no recollection. I must’ve been so shy and nervous that I have no recollection of anything that was said. I’m sure it was absolute drivel! I’d like to meet him again though; because now I feel I can handle it. I was so in awe at the time and, as much as I think he’s amazing, I just wouldn’t be like that now.

Your song ‘Venus’ is being used as the soundtrack to advertise lady razors…
Unfortunately, it’s not us singing and we didn’t write it either - so we’re earning nothing from it! But it does keep us in the public eye, and it means all the kids know the song when we go and do road shows.

Have you ever been asked to endorse any peculiar products?
We were offered a million dollars to endorse hair curlers and we just wouldn’t do it because it was that girl thing. They were only asking us because we were girls, and it used to really annoy us that they used to treat us like they could dress us up. It’s the same in photo shoots. They’re like, “Can you bring six outfits…” and you’re like, “No!” And they’re like, “We’ll bring some,” and we’re like, “Well, we’re not going to wear them!” Sarah and I were punky teenagers and Paul Cooke from the Sex Pistols produced our first song, so we did have that attitude. Big mistake wasn’t it?

One time, you had to unzip a man in a furry banana suit and dance around him…
I rest my case! They would never have asked a boy to do that. That was on a French TV show when we started. There was a period when we just went along with things, but then we looked back on it and realised it just wasn’t us. We put our foot down after a few very big mistakes. That being one of them.

Any others you care to mention?
Yes, a couple of shoots we did with Smash Hits wearing towels and rubber rings! A record cover with blow up bananas. We didn’t help ourselves! We were just chuffed to have a record out. We were 18-year-old girls, but not like they are now - we were really very naïve. We learnt as we went along; there was no big machine behind us, oiling the cogs.

You have the habit of joining The Prodigy onstage for a bit of a dance…
Last time I did it was at Knebworth when they supported Oasis. I was watching at the side and Keith dragged me on. I was in jeans and flip flops and I thought to myself, “What are you doing, you silly cow?” But I was so carried away with the moment! I’ve danced with them in Japan too. We met them in the early days - way before ‘Firestarter’ - and they were over there doing a rave gig and we were on the same bill. Only in Japan!  

When will you be releasing a new record?
The album is almost finished and it will be out at the end of September if we can think of a title! There’s a few really poppy tracks like ‘Move In My Direction’, a couple more trance-y, some electro, some are a bit rockier.

And then you’ll be hitting the road?
That’s what I want to do. The only time we’ve ever properly toured was in 1989, when we went around the world. It was just fabulous and that’s my favourite bit these days - getting up onstage.