You saw her at the ARIAs, you've seen her in high rotation on the channel - now it's time to read an interview that Nick Bennett did with Neneh Cherry, on 30 September at the Sheraton on the Park hotel in Sydney. And just for the record, everyone who went to the shoot said, even after her gruelling round of media interviews, Neneh was just lover-ly. As you'd expect. 

Nick Bennett: Neneh Cherry ... interview 1999?. 

Neneh Cherry: 205 actually (laughs) ... Actually, I went to a pub last night ... I just thought, I can't sit in this beige environment anymore ... and I've even become this static conductor. People come near me and get these electric shocks off me from all this carpet and stuff ... 

NB: So what do you think of the Australian pubs?

NC: We went around the corner to this place and it was like the video for 'Woman'. It was a weird place ... kinda expecting people to be drinking out of empty glasses and smoking their fags ... 

NB: You had a football crowd yesterday? 

NC: No, there was hardly anyone there ... it was just a TV screen and three really odd men with blank faces. I kind of freaked out 'cause they were old and white. I think it's from living in the States ... I felt like I'd walked into redneck territory ... and I felt really defensive straight-up. 

NB: Tell us about the theme in the video for 'Woman' ... 

NC: It's like what we've been talking about ... kind of sparse. I've done a lot of things where I've always been upfront. I think this time around I was really interested in working with video in a different way. I suppose the idea behind the video which Jamie Thraves has done was that I was gonna be a kind of a ghost in a way - surviving in the environent I'm in, this bar, through the song that I'm singing. 

NB: Cause it's quite a strong song isn't it? 

NC: Yeah, well I just felt it would have been a bit full-on to make a scene about it - it was nice to do something subtle. Jamie has used symbols like things missing: card games without cards, empty glasses, no cigarettes - to symbolise a lack of something in the people that are there, in that place. Something missing in their lives - maybe a woman!! 

NB: And have you heard anything back from James Brown? 

NC: No ... I don't think that JB even knows that the song exists ... 

NB: Has anybody said, send him a copy? 

NC: No ... I don't think I'd even have the nerve actually ... 

NB: With your creative team, you maintain a very close knit thing - has it been hard to keep it together over the years? 

NC: I think you learn to nurture your working relationships - and one certainly should, especially the ones that make it all worthwhile. I don't think I'd be doing what I am, unless I'd been in the situation that I'm in - in particular with Booga Bear and Johnny Dollar. I'd been working with Booga Bear well before the first record. That's when I first started writing, and then working with 'Manchild', that's when we kind of found Johnny Dollar. Chemistry is such a big part of it - having that exchange. And I think that's how this project is maintained. I think sometimes if you're solo, and you're being kicked around different camps, it's easy to end up with something that sounds like lots of different things.

NB: There was a lot of pressure on you, I think, when 'Homebrew' came out . . .with people 

saying it should be like this or that. Was it hard to maintain your creative licence on that record? 

NC: On the record making - no, because we just went ahead and made the record we wanted to make. But there was more hassle afterwards because the record wasn't a million-seller. We knew when making it, that it would be tough to get it off the ground ... and that it would take maybe 18 months ... we had to schlep it out. When it came out and didn't go clear straight away, everyone panicked and all of a sudden there was no time to do that - so that was harder. But I just think 'Homebrew' was like a reaction to 'Raw Like Sushi' - not a bad reaction, but it was just about being able to move on ... like taking the next step. And I suppose not getting into just imitating 'Sushi'... it was like widening the emotional spectrum and needing to be a bit more meditative and quiet ... 

NB: We're you really surprised at the enormity of 'Raw Like Sushi'? 

NC: 'Raw like Sushi' was mad . . . 

NB: Was it an experience that knocked you out of the water for a while? 

NC: It definitely changed things very fast. It didn't necessarily change my life; but before, I'd just gone with the flow and taken things much more as they came. And all of a sudden, I was in a position where I was having to anaylse things ... you know being watched. It was mad. 

NB: Could people understand the style then - 'Buffalo Stance' - cause it was really ahead of its time. 

NC: I think that it really encompassed a vibe that was around at that time, because the whole club thing had started to happen, like hip hop - still more underground than say, now. But it was definitely something that people could identify with. And 'Buffalo Stance' was like a song that bridged over that, while at the same time it was a pop record. It also shed a lot of stereotypes that people were bored with - it seemed to make them happy or relieved. 
 
NB: Do you think it's still a relevant record in the nineties? 

NC: It's funny - a lot of people say I grew up with that record. But I think for me now, when I hear it, it makes me laugh and sounds a bit dated. From my point of view, 'Man Child' has been a much more relevant tune. When I worked with Booga on that, it really opened the door for us ... it's been the thread that's gone through a lot of the other work we've done. Like 'Homebrew' or even 'Seven Seconds' ... 

NB: So 'Man' has been a natural progression for you? 

NC: Yeah, I think so ... yeah, absolutely. 

NB: You say that you've exposed yourself a lot more this time ... 

NC: Yeah, a bit ... I just think it's more of an open record. A bit more emotionally open, because the songs have been written as songs, written from one end to another, with either a guitar or piano, and they're a bit more kind of naked and charged. 

NB: Tell us about the phone call that came through when Youssou wanted to work with you ... 

NC: Well, we were just really surprised ... when I think of someone like Youssou N'dour and 

the musical heritage that he comes from - it's so rich. His vocal range, the melodies he works with ... you're talking like ten or fifteen scales - so much more complex. So I was a bit, like, 'I can't believe it ' ... that he wants to work with us, and we just discussed want we wanted to talk about and we felt that we had a time and a place to talk about something valid. 

NB: Racism? 

NC: Racism and surviving. I mean, not just in the sense of the black and white thing but in general for people. You're faced with an incredible amount of rascism in society ... whether it's sexually - whatever. So coming from different ends of the world - myself being Swedish-mixed with a bunch of other stuff, and Youssou from Senegal - the English connection, whatever, we just thought we'd work and play a bit with the languages. So we started the instrumentation and did most of the music, and then I wrote my little bits and we sort of had the chorus and then Youssou came in and we finished the song together. And what he added really opened the whole thing up - really took it to another dimension. 

NB: Tell us a bit about your live shows ... 

NC: Er, a bunch of songs! I've got a band together - six in all, and we've been out doing festivals. 

This is the second summer and it's been a good way of warming up - not being in the main spotlight and working things out. What we've done so far is quite rocky, but still using beats and stuff; but a fairly traditional set-up. Bass, drums, a little spacekid doing dee-jaying - that's Simon Richmond, and then maybe I'll add things to what we've got. A few strings and things like that as time goes on ... 

NB: Are you comfortable up there on the stage? 

NC: Well, it depends how things are going, but I like it a lot. I come from a background of playing live and it's been a very nice unleashing thing to get that back into what I'm doing, and that's something I kept in mind when making the album. 

NB: Neneh, thanks so much for your time and I can't wait to see you when you get back for some shows ... 

NC: Can't wait to get back mate!! (laugh, laugh ... giggle) 

Be brave. Be bald. Raw like Sushi. 

by Nick Bennett. Published on Australian Channel [V] in 1997.