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Dave Stewart, best known as 1/2 of the Eurythmics, has re-launched
his 70's group Platinum Weird with singer/songwriter Kara DioGuardi.
VH-1 will be airing a documentary about the history of the group
during the month of July.
Okay so I'm so confused because I read the press release and
the stuff on the websites. Maybe you all can tell me. What is
the Platinum Weird back story of the group in the 70s?
Dave Stewart-In the years before
I met Annie and between when I was signed to Island Music I
went a bit crazy. It was post Hippie-dom and pre-punk. They
were very sort of weird years for everyone I think in Britain.
I went a bit crazy and off the edge if you know what I mean
and ended up going back and forth to places like Amsterdam and
Berlin and in Amsterdam I met a girl I really connected with
and she came to England and I met her again and we started writing
songs and became a duo. We became really known in the London
sort of scene playing at that time people were playing at people's
houses, pubs but very quickly we got very known and then Elton
John signed us and we were making an album and the album was
going great and I was thinking, "Wow, this is going to be it,"
and then she just disappeared. So that was pretty briefly the
back story.
How did the group manage to keep a fan base when the album was
never released?
Dave Stewart-Because there
were bootleg things and as you know now the web people have
posted up little pictures and bootlegs and various bits of information.
But of course the more and more this is building about me re-launching
it, there have been a flurry of people on the web particularly
Eurythmic fans looking and finding little stuff and of course
there are people leaking stuff back then.
What led you to reform Platinum Weird at this time?
Dave Stewart-Well basically
I wasn't thinking about reforming it. It was about a very weird
piece of synchronicity that happened. I was busy working with
Kara and we meant to be working on something else but within
the first hour of meeting we really hit it off so much that
we handcuffed each other together and we had great fun writing
songs together. We came back to America and we wrote more songs
and these songs were immediately becoming an album of a great
new sounding kind of album. Then starting singing to an old
Platinum Weird song and it kinda flipped me out and then I had
a feeling like, "Oh this is like history repeating itself."
We decided to just keep the name Platinum Weird.
For this new album did you re-record the original songs or record
new songs?
Dave & Kara-We
kept some of the original songs and put a new twist on them.
Some songs on the album, about half of them are brand new songs
written by myself and Kara. And then the album was produced
by John Shanks which also gave it a whole new contemporary twist.
What can you tell me about the documentary that will be airing
on VH-1 about the group?
Dave Stewart-The documentary
kind of visually and story wise kind of explains what I've just
been telling you but it has a lot of other people in it talking
about that band at the time like Mick Jagger, Stevie Nicks,
Elton John, and then it has archive footage that Elton John's
record label had from back then. And then it cuts right into
the modern day and it talks about Kara and her past and it shows
how the power of the songs lives on. And then it ends with some
performances. It's a journey.
Dave, how does the Platinum Weird situation compare to your
situation with the Eurythmics?
Dave Stewart-Well musically
it's very different because it's more guitar oriented. It's
more rock with melodies and The Eurythmics started off as a
very electronic based and Kara is a completely different person
than Annie. And another thing is Annie and I used to live together
for the first four years as a couple. We haven't tried that
yet.
Will you all tour to support the project?
Dave Stewart-We are doing
all of this because we want to play the songs live.
Where is Erin?
Dave & Kara-We have
to get her name because she will be collecting royalties. I
don't know..this girl was very mysterious when I met her in
Holland and she was always kind of dreamy the thing is she said
she was called Erin Grace and I assumed that she was but we're
convinced that isn't what her name was or she would have stepped
up now. Maybe she will when the VH-1 documentary airs but I
would really like to know where she is.
What would you all say to the bloggers who feel like this
is just a made up story to promote a new album because a lot
of people doubt the story?
Dave Stewart-Well the thing
is in entertainment and the world of movies and films there
is a very blurry, blurry line between what's real and what's
not real. I remember when Bob Dylan first came along and he
said he was Willie Guthrie's son and for start he was called
Robert Zimmerman not Bob Dylan David Bowie was called David
Jones and where he was from was very different kind of made
a deal and fell to earth The thing is what is real and what's
not real is a blurry line. I could go through a list of bands
from Zepplin through to bands of today that have come from some
kind mythology or by the time they ended up in some kind of
magical arena so I don't really care what people think about
it.
Related Links-http://www.platinumweird.com
Platinum Weird interview copyright Dorrie
Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2006
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be
My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned
Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the
founder of Thabiz.com and
Imissthe80s.com and writes
for the Rap, Teen,
and 1980s section at
Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher.
Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries,
lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying
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Visit Dorrie on the web at www.sparkledoll.com
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Platinum Weird interview
may not be reprinted, copied or distribute without permission.
You may link to this interview.Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler,
thabiz.com July 2006.
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